DISCOVERY IN VIENNA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26770, 13 May 1948, Page 8

DISCOVERY IN VIENNA

NEW ZEALAND PENNANT FIFTH INFANTRY BRIGADE P.A. WELLINGTON, May 12. A pennant which belonged to the sth New Zealand Infantry Brigade was discovered recently in a military museum in Vienna. It was returned this week to Major-general N. W. McD. Weir, chief of the New Zealand General Staff. The officer who sent the pennant back to New Zealand was Brigadier A. J. Edney, assistant commissioner at the headquarters of the Allied Commission for Austria (British element) in Vienna. Some years ago Brigadier Edney, then a major in the Royal Engineers, was on loan to the New Zealand forces. He returned the pennant “with the good wishes of the British Army in Austria." The pennant, of tussore silk, is 3ft long. Its colour is grey, with a border of dark blue at the base and the inscription, “ N.Z. V Infantry,” worked in gold. The sth Infantry Brigade was first commanded by the late Brigadier James Hargest. It is believed that the pennant is one of several made for the sth Brigade before official pennants were introduced, by the women of Southland, where Brigadier Hargest lived before the war. The brigade has some small pennants for use on cars and motor cycles and two larger ones to be flown from poles. The pennant returned from Austria is believed to be one of the larger ones, and further-inquiries about its history are being made. In the meantime, the pennant has been handed over to Major-general H. K. Kippenberger, editor-in-chief of the war history branch of the Department of Internal Affairs. General Kippenberger is a former commander of the sth Brigade.