WELLINGTON REGIMENT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 110, 12 May 1938, Page 6

WELLINGTON REGIMENT

YEARS IN RETROSPECT MEMORIES OF AUGUST. 1914 A SHORT HISTORY It seems but yesterday that the Wellington Regiment of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, which is to celebrate its reunion on Saturday and Sunday, came into being at Awapuni Racecourse, Palmerston North. Actually it is almost a quarter of a century ago (August 1914), and men who were in the flush of youth then are now looking back with middle-aged pride, on their association with a unit which did well for itself in the strenuous years following its birth. Original Formation When war broke out in August 1914, it was decided to form infantry battalions from each of the four military commands in New Zealand. Thfi M military commands were Auckland. R Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago Within each command were a num ber of territorial regiments. In the Wellington district, for instance, thert was the 7th. Wellington West Coast Regiment, centred at Palmerslcii North and embracing Wanganui, the 9th. Hawke’s Bay Regiment, the 17th. Ruahine and the 11th. Taranaki's. Each of these regiments, it was decided. should contribute one company to what was to be known as the Wellington Regiment of the N.Z.E.F. It came into being with a West Company, a Hawke’s Bay Company, a Taranaki Company, and a Ruahine Company, forming what afterwards became the first battalion of the Wellington Regiment N.Z.E.F. Latci. when the New Zealand forces ovciseas grew in status from a brigade to a division, the Wellington Regiment was added to by the creation of a second battalion and, later still, by a third battalion—a unit of short, but meritorious life. The First Officers The late Lieutenant-Colonel W. G. Malone, of Taranaki, was appointed to command the Wellington Regiment on its formation, and he had witn him Majors H. E. Hart, J. W. Brunt, W. H. Cunningham, E. H. Saunders and R. Young; captains J. A. Cameron, C. F. D. Cook, E. P. Cox, A. Greene (chaplain), G. Home, M. McDonnell, J. M. Rose, W. J. Shepherd, J. L. Short, G. N. Waugh (veterinary); lieutenants D. Bryan, H. R. Cowan, A. J. M. Cross, T. A. Davidson, W. E. Furby, E. S. Harston, L. W. A. Hugo, L. H. Jardine, R. Lee, A. B. McColl, H. E. McKinnon, L. S. McLernon, C. B. S. Menteath, M. Moigan, B. H. Morrison. W. F. Narbe>, F. K. Turnbull, M. Urquhart, E. .i. H. Webb, G. C. Wells, and E. R. I Wilson. Baptism of Fire As the regiment’s first concentration point was Palmerston North, sc it is to-day that the annual reunion takes place in that centre. To recounl the doings of the regiment from th< time ot its formation until its triumphal march into Germany in i 1918 would fill a volume. Baptism of fire came during defence of the Suez Canal, late in January 1915. The regiment remained on the canal until the end of February, and on returning to Zeitoun made preparations lor the landing at Gallipoli. It served with conspicuous gallantry at Gallipoli, playing a special part in the storming of Chunuk Bair, winning to its summit and holding there bitterly waiting for reinforcements that took long in coming. It. was during the fighting at Chunuk Bair that gallant Colonel Malone was killed. He had fought with the courage of a true soldier and died as a soldier would wish to die, on the field facing the enemy. His tenacious spirit al Chunuk Bair seemed to Jive with the regiment all through the after years It was a case of let the regiment perish before the hill so dearly won be let go. Major W. IL Cunningham, well known in Wanganui and now resident in Wellington, took command on Colonel Malone’s death. Entry to France After the evacuation of Galfipol' the regiment went to France, saw service there till the end of the war and played important parts in the battles of the Somme, Messines, the capture of La Basse Ville, the battle of Passchendaele, the fighting round Colin Camps and Maily Maillett, when the German push of 1918 inflicted retirement on the British Fifth Army and finally the storming of the German defences from August, 1918, to the end of the war, November 11, 1918. Wellington’s name figured prominently in the taking of Loupart Wood, the assault by flanking movements of Bapaume, the storming of Bancourt Ridge, the piercing of the Hindenburg Line, over Welsh and Bon Avi> Ridges, the taking of Crevecour, th« capture of Briastre and finally th< flanking of Le Quesnoy. Those years held gladness and sorrow, joy and pain, achievement and failure, but through them all the name of the regiment lived gloriously. At Palmerston on Saturday, adorned with the familiar amber and black ties and wearing the distinctive badges of the various companies, men who shared whatever those years had to offer wil assemble round the festive board. Old songs will be sung and the mists of the past will weave a spell about the gathering, transporting those old comrades to another world. On the Sunday, in solemn array, they will march to church and with the King’s Colours of the regiment brought forth from safe keeping, will heed the words of the soldiers’ poet: “Lest We Forget.” A strong Wanganui contingent wifi be present, several having hired » ’bus which leaves at 5.30 p.m. on Saturday.