FIVE DEATHS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24606, 14 May 1941, Page 6

FIVE DEATHS

EXPEDITIONARY FORCE LATEST CASUALTY LIST TWO OTAGO MEN WOUNDED (P.A.) WELLINGTON. May 13. The following casualties to members of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force are reported:— KILLED IN ACTION The following were killed in action:— Gunner William James Dunlcavy; mother. Mrs Bertha Dunleavy, Auckland. Sapper Donald Edward Speirs; wife. Mrs F. E. Speirs, Christchurch. DIED OF WOUNDS The following died of wounds:— Driver Arthur Albert Adderson; father. Mr A. A. Adderson, Masterton. Private William Clarke; mother. Mrs Ada Mary Clarke, Invercargill. Lance-corporal Richard Francis Williams; mother. Mrs F. M. Williams, Heme Bay. WOUNDED The following were wounded: — Staff-sergeant Robert Emil Olf Anderson; mother, Mrs E. M. Anderson, Port Chalmers. Private Clarence Lee Moore; friend, Miss Madge E. Moore, Dunedin. Second - lieutenant George Austen Robinson; wife, Mrs J. S. Robinson, Masterton. Private Arthur Cobden-Cox; father, Mr H. Cobden-Cox, Christchurch. Gunner William Alexander Lang; wife, Mrs E. Lang, Mamaku. Lance-corporal Kenneth John McKegney; mother, Mrs E. McKegney, Nelson. Corporal Colin William Penney; aunt, Miss D. R. Penney, Rotorua. Sapper Cyril Percy Robinson; mother, Mrs Ethel Robinson. Christchurch. Lance-corporal Rupert Rose; friend. Miss P. Bennett, Waipara. Gunner Harold Robert Scarlett; wife. Mrs Jean Scarlett. Auckland. Sapper Richard Tollemache: wife, Mrs E. Tollemache, Auckland. Sapper E. B. Watkins; mother. Mrs E. Watkins, Hamilton. Gunner Richard Hewlett Morger; wife, Mrs S. D. Morger,, Auckland. AIR FORCE CASUALTIES The following Air Force casualties are announced: — Flying Officer Ronald William Gair, previously reported missing and believed killed, death now presumed by the Air Ministry; father, Mr C. J. Gair. Wellington. Pilot Officer John Alastair Graham, previously reported missing, now reported missing and believed killed in action; father, Mr J. Graham, Hastings. Flying Officer John Clement Julius Lylian, R.A.F., missing and believed killed in air operations; sister, Mrs A. G. Stride, 3 Riverston terrace, Church road, Belfast. Flying Officer Lylian was born at Ashburton. DUNEDIN OFFICER'S DEATH LIEUT. (THE REV.) FERGUS McLAREN, M.A. Included in the casualty list published yesterday was the name of Second-lieutenant (the Rev.) Fergus Blair McLaren, of Dunedin, who was killed in action in Greece. The Presbyterian Church of New Zealand is, as a result, deprived of one of the 1 finest of its young men. Born in April, 1914, he received his education at the Mornington School, Otago Boys' High

School and Otago University, graduating from the University with an M.A. degree in 1937. He then spent three years in the Theological Hall at Knox College, being president of the Theological Students'- Association in his final year. When war broke out he abandoned a plan he had made to go to'Edinburgh to complete his studies, for he felt compelled to offer his services in what he considered to be the cause of right and of Christendom. In the belief that he could best help his fellows by enlisting as a private, he did so immediately after he had attained ministerial status and been licensed by the Presbytery of Dunedin to preach in the Mornington Church. He was chosen in the Trentham Camp to train for a commission at Trentham. and when he was awarded one was regarded as one of the most promising of the younger officers.

Lieutenant McLaren was highly popular among a wide circle of friends, particularly men and boys in Dunedin and Central Otago. and was justly esteemed for his quiet yet fearless championing of ideals that were held by him to be just and righteous. He was an active member of the Dunedin branch of the Institute of International Affairs and of the Dunedin branch of Toe H. He had passed through all ranks in the Scout movement from Wolf Cub to Rover Leader and Scoutmaster, and was a recognised authority on Scouting, particularly in its openair aspects. He was extremely interested in social work, especially in the public works camps, and was W.E.A. tutor during one summer vacation in the Central Otago camps. He was the type of young man that can ill be spared from the world of to-morrow, but he has left a noble and inspiring memory.