GROUP RESERVE COMMANDER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 84, Issue 85, 12 April 1940, Page 4

GROUP RESERVE COMMANDER

COLONEL F. K. TURNBULL HEADQUARTERS AT WANGANUI It was announced yesterday that Lieutenant-Colonel F. K. Turnbull, D. 5.0., M.C., Reserve of Officers, Wanganui, has been appointed group commander of the No. 6 Group of the National Military Reserve. His headquarters will be at Wanganui and the district covered by the units under his command will include Wanganui city, Palmerston North, Foxton, Levin, and portion of the Main Trunk area. Lieutenant-Colonel Turnbull joined the Main Body of the First New Zealand Expeditionary Force in 1914 with the rank of lieutenant. He was at th*’ landing at Gallipoli, and served throughout the war with the Wellington Regiment, the First Battalion of which he led into Germany at the close of the war, having risen to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the field and having been appointed battalion commander. He was mentioned in despatches three times and won the Distinguished Service Order and the Military Cross. The National Military Reserve is composed of returned soldiers. There ere two companies in Wanganui, No. 1, commanded by Cap! am H. M. KeesIng, M.C., and No. 2 by Captain E. H. L. Bernau. There is one company in Palmerston North, one in Marton, one ir. Taihape, and a platoon at. Foxton and another at Levin. Lieutenant-Colonel Turnbull’s command will be on a brigade basis and later brigade officers will be appointed.