VETERAN OFFICERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17112, 18 March 1919, Page 7

VETERAN OFFICERS.

GOOD RECORD OP SERVICE.

WEARERS OF DECORATIONS. M PROMOTION FROM RANKS. M Several officers who have risen from the fig ranks, and who have been decorated for H their services on the battlefields, were in- g| eluded in the Main Body draft that y| arrived in Auckland by the Hororata yes- 111 terday. |18 Second-Lieutenant Birnie, of Remnem, |ij enrolled in the Waikato Mounted Rifles, 111 but in Egypt was transferred to a machine- N gun section. At Gallipoli he sustained || shell-shock, and was invalided to England. 9 Returning to Egypt he joined the Seventh pi Battery New Zealand Field Artillery, with g| which he went to France. He was HI wounded at the battle of the Somme in a 1916. but subsequently took part in tho SB battle of Mes6ines. Later, he received his || commission, and was awarded the Military j| Medal. Before going on active service ho ffl was well-known in North Auckland as a M bridge-builder for the Public Works De- j|| purtment. He is a son of Mr. John Birnie. 9 of Maurice Avenue, I'emuera, who had H six sons members of the .New Zealand E:;-||| peditionary Force, three of whom made®, the supreme sacrifice. Battery-Sergeant- |j Major Robert Birnie was killed in the® battle of the Somme. He was a member | of the Main Body, with which he served right through the Gallipoli campaign, for® his services in which lie was mentioned® in despatches and awarded the D.C.M. Sergeant Chas. Birnie was invalided homo in 1916, but returned to the front in February, 1917. He was wounded in Flan Kg ders five months later, and succumbed inß| August. Trooper Arthur Bimie, who died of wounds on November 14. 1917, saw 1 service in Palestine with the Mounted Rifles. Lieutenant George Birnie, of the 1 Rifle Brigade, th: other surviving son nflj Major Birnie, is still on sen-ice. fit || took part in the last action at Bapaume, 1 and all the other officers of his company being killed or wounded, took commands , [or two days, when he himself waS| , wounded. Ho returned to England, aiul 1 ' according to latest advice was still all J Brockton camp, expecting to leave (oH 1 home in February. Hi 1 Captain G. A. Avey, of Mount Eden ' left with the Main Body as a sapper ! and saw service on Gallipoli and in Francs 3 where he gained rapid promotion, and waH 11 awarded the Military Cross. He was ca|flj i tured by the Germans shortly after t!;H e Battle of Messines, and was held iH y prison camps in Germany until after tli jjj 3 cessation o! hostilities, when he was nil e patriated. i'? s Second-Lieutenant 0. E. Burton eai g d service on Gallipoli Peninsula, and sub«|| • quently proceeded to France, where hjgjv 0 received his commission and was awarde !■ the Military Medal. He was woundcffll d at Passciien'daele, in the German offensi\«| 0 in April of last year, and for the tlnrH y time in September last. A son of Mra R. Burton, of Papatoetoe. he was ed® cited at the Auckland Grammar Scho.'B kept terms at the Auckland University i. College, and prior to his departure f||| e the front was teaching at Ahuroa, Norl | ~ Auckland. ||| Ie Second-Lieutenant E. M. D. Ohlsou leg! , New Zealand as a rifleman with the fii |g ~ battalion of the Rifle Brigade. He serv. d against the Senussi in Egypt, and wJH - s afterwards transferred to France, who , he took part in the battles of the Somm j Messines, and Passchendaele. He wl wounded in the latter fight, and was iHj validcd to England. After recovering, 11 1 was selected for a commission and sefl|| A to Oxford for training. Lieut;. Ohls-1 rs was educated at tho Auckland GrammM ts School, and prior to joining the Ex[ ditionarv Forces was in _ tho office B| " e . Messrs.'Earl and Kent, solicitors. He Mi e " a son of Mr. F. J. Ohlson, headmastli l,e of the Mangawhau school, all of whcK to three sons are members of the Dominioigj|j iy army. One son, Lieut. Athol W. M, OH ty son,* D.C.M., returned on March 7. a | If at latest advices the other son, Rillcm® as' F. B. Ohlson, was still ii France* p: