MILITARY AWARDS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LX, Issue 17061, 14 August 1917, Page 6

MILITARY AWARDS.

FRENCH DECORATIONS

HONOURS CONFERRED ON NEW

ZEALANDERS

(From Captain Malcolm Ross, Official Correspondent with the New Zealand Forces.) NORTHERN FRANCE, Aug. 1.

• General Anthoine, of the French Army, has just paid a visit to the New Zealand Headquarters, where he decorated several of our Force with the Croix de Guerre. The recipients were members of a brigade SDd pioneers that recently did excellent work assisting to dig in guns on the French front. The ceremony was quite an impressive one—the unit concerned providing a guard of honour and a military band and the Army Corps and Divisional Commanders and members of their staffs being present. Not. the least impressive part or the ceremony was when General Anthoine pinned on the breast of General Plumer's tunic the Croix de Guerre, in honour of his victory in the battle of Messines.

The New Zealand officers who received the medal were:—

Lieutenant-Colonel W. S. Austin. Lieutenant-Colonel J. G. Roache. Lieutenant-Colonel A. E. Stewart. Lieutenant-Colonel G. A. King. Other ranks awarded the decoration were:—

Sergeant T. Jones and Sergeant M J. Rillstone. Rifleman G. N. Mc'Naight. Rifleman C. H. Warren. •Rifleman S. R. Furby. Rifleman S. C. Sturgess. Rifleman A. Laughlin. Private Pua Tawihana. Private Toi Karini.

Of these, Sergeant Jones and Rifleman Warren were killed and the other non-coms, and men wounded in carrying out the work.

An interesting though sad feature of the ceremony was that owing to the absence of the killed and wounded their medals were pinned on the breasts of their junior commanding officers.

The Military Medal has been awarded to the following for gallantry in the field:—

Corporal W. A. Sinton. Corporal F. G. Lynch. Private K. S. Moore. Private T. H. Crawford Sapper L. C. Whitelaw.