INVESTITURE CEREMONY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 212, 7 September 1945, Page 3

INVESTITURE CEREMONY

PRESENTATIONS OF AWARDS IN WELLINGTON (P.A.) Wellington, Sept. 6. By command of His Majesty the King, the Governor-General, Sir Cyril Newall, held a ceremony of investiture in the Town Hall, Wellington, last night. Awards and were presented to 58 members of the three services, commissioned and other ranks. The citations, read before each decoration was pinned on the breast of the recipient, were a cross section of New Zealand military history in the present war, and a reminder of the courage, initiative and skill of the men who had added lustre to her arms. Citations to the Army awards recalled the dark days but the unfaltering courage of Greece and Crete and the Western Desert advances, and so onwards to Italy and victory. Those for the Air Force took the minds of the gathering back to the days of Singapore, and then, in the European theatre, to the mounting of air strength until the time when British and other Allied planes flew over enemy terirtory almost at will. There was one decoration for an Air Force officer who made a gallant escape from Hongkong and received what is, for this arm of the forces, a rare decoration, the Military Cross. The following is the list of recipients:—

Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (C.8.E.) Brigadier Norman William McDonald Weir, Wellington; Air Commodore Sidney Wallingford, Wellington. Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.L Colonel Sidney Frank Hartnell, E.D., New Plymouth; Lieut-Colonel Charles Staunton John Duff, Wellington; Lieut.-Colonel Albert Ernest Lambourn, ED., Petone; Lieut.-Colonel Nicholas Pery Wilder, Waipukurau; Major Eric Roy Harford, New Plymouth. Member of the Royal Red Cross (R.R.C.). Principal Matron Miss Eva Constance Mackay Hastings. Distinguished Service Cross. Temporary Lieutenant Leonard Elliott Newall, R.N.Z.N.V.R., Wellington. Military Cross and Bar. Major Andrew Russell Wilder Ormond, Wallingford Hawke’s Bay. Military Cross. Major the Honourable Clarence Farringdon Skinner, M.P., Motueka; Major Crosby Standish Morris, Wellington; Major Ernest Leonard Joseph Marshall, Wellington; Major Alan Lionel Loma.;, New Plymouth; Major William Roy Carswell, Dunedin; Major Weson George Handley, Maxwell, 'Wanganui; Major William Joseph Gregory Roach, Wellington; Acting Squadron Leader Edmund Douglas Cross.ey, R.N.Z..A..F., Wellington; Cap. tain Frederick Francis Edmund Polhill, Waipukurau; Lieutenant Alfred Charles Hansen, Nelson. Distinguished Flying Cross.

Acting Squadron Leader John Rae Hutcheson Lower Hutt, Flight Lieutenant Basil Howard Gray, Waverley; Flight Lieutenant Raymond Joseph Ernest Peterson Petone; Flight Lieutenant Frederick James Read, Wellington; Flight Lieutenant Robert Inglis Laing, Wellington; Flight Lieutenant George Stevens, Rata; Flight Lieutenant Harold Reginald Hamerton, Patea; Flight Lieutenant Gilbert Sydney Halley, Palmerston North; Flight. Lieutenant Allan Mason Forbes Alexander, Wellington; Flying Officer Allan Fisher, Taumarunui. Air Force Cross. Wing Commander Donald William 'aird, Wellington. Associate of the Royal Red Cross (A.RJLC.). Lieutenant Harry Redfearn Martin ;laga Bay; Corporal Wiwi, Teneti, aipiro Bay, Sast Coast. Distinguished Service Medal. Petty Officer Aubrey Edward James Ldlton, Upper Hutt. Military Medal. Major John Wa.lace Bateman, Palmerston North; Lieut. John Henry rrankiin, Napier; Second-Lieutenani Robert Carmichael Young, Rai Valley, Marlborough; Sergeant Arthur Bayliss Otakeho, Taranaki; Lance-Sergeant William John Clark, Wellington; Corporal Earl Priddle, Blenheim; Corporal Cyril Alfred Dornbush, Marton; Gnr. Thomas William John Tombleson, Otoko, Gisborne; Driver Jack Malone Childerhouse, Tarakohe; Private Keepa Rangi, Tolaga Bay. Distinguished Flying Medal. Flight Lieutenant Herbert Keith Minton, Masterton; Flying Officer Peter Devine Akaramio, Marlborough; Pilot Officer Edward Henry Smith, Makomako, Pahiatua. British Empire Medal (Military Division). Captain John Ormond, Waipukurau; Lieutenant Eric Rowland Firth, Trentham; Sergeant lan William, Walther, R.N.Z.A.F., Wellington. Colonial Auxl.iary Forces Officers’ Decoration. Chaplain Secom,-class Alfred Greene, M.C., Wellington. Efficiency Decoration. Lieutenant-Colonel William Francis Shirer, Wellington; Temporary Lieu-tenant-Co.oncl Carroll Norman Devery, D.C.M., Wellington; Temporary Lieut.-Colonel Cecil McLean Smith, Wellington; Major Gerald Harcourt Weir, Auckland; Major Alfred Thomas LlcLaw Scott, Wellington; Major Marcus Dalby Harvey Palmerston North.