Military Funeral

Camp News, Volume 1, Issue 26, 7 June 1940, Page 5

Military Funeral

MAJOR G. A. GIBBS. Impressive Ceremony. The funeral of Major G. A. Gibbs, Quartermaster and Staff Officer to the Director-General of Medical Services, my Headquarters, Wellington, was held with full military honours on Friday morning, 31st May after Requiem Mass at the Basilica. There was a large attendance of the late major’s fellow-officers, including representatives from Army Headquarters as well as many civilian friends. The funeral march was played by the Trentham Military Camp Band and the firing party consisted of members of the New Zealand Regular Forces from the Army School, Trentham. The Requiem Mass and the service at the graveside were conducted by the Very Rev. Monsignor T. Connolly.

At the conclusion of the church service the flag-draped coffin was placed on a gun-carriage drawn by mechanical transport, and preceded by the band and the firing party, the cortege moved along Hill Street to Tinakori Road. A special vehicle was required to carry the mass of flowers.

Upon arrival at the cemetery the band, playing the Dead March, led the cortege into the Soldier’s Cemetery. After the firing party had fired three volleys over the grave the buglers of the Trentham Band sounded the “Last Post.” At the conclusion of the impressive ceremony a representative of . the Wellington Returned Soldiers’ Association and military officers present dropped red poppies into the grave, while the lines “We Shall Remember Them” were recited.

The pall-bearers were Colonel F. T. Bowerbank, 0.8. E., Director-Gen-eral of Medical Services, Army Headquarters, Lieutenant-Colonel E. S. Finn, D. 5.0., Director of Dental Services; Lieutenant-Colonel I. S. Wilson, M.C., Assistant Director-General of Medical Services, Army Headquarters; Lieutenant-Colonel F. Kemp, senior medical officer, Central District Mobilisation Camp, Trentham; Colonel F. M. Spencer, Officer Commanding the 2nd N.Z. General Hospital; and Lieutenant-Colonel M. B. Tweed, Assistant Director of Medical Services, Central Military District Wellington. The bearers were non-com-missioned officers from the 2nd. N.Z. General Hospital, Trentham. The late Major Gibbs served during the early part of the last war with the “Old Contemptibles,” and the Wellington branch of the Old Contemptibles’ Association provided bearers to carry- the coffin from Major Gibbs’s late home to the gun-carriage and then into the Basilica.

The chief mourners were the late major’s wife Mrs. Gibbs, Mrs. H. B. Shepherdson (a daughter), Mr. G. A. Gibbs, jun. (a son), Mrs. Gibbs, jun., and Mr. Shepherdson. Officers present included Colonel O. H. Mead, D. 5.0., Adjutant-General, Army Headquarters; Lieutenant-Col-onel A. B. Williams, D. 5.0., Commander of the Royal N.Z. Artillery; Lieutenant-Colonel A. E. Conway, N.Z.S.C., Director of Military Training Army Headquarters; Colonel I. T. Standish, C.M.G., D. 5.0.; Lieuten-ant-Colonel C. W. Salmon; Lieuten-

ant-Colonel W. R. Burge, M.C., Director of Ordnance Services, Army Headquarters; Majors Innes and H. E. Erridge and Captains Sutcliffe, Mellows, and Sharp, all Army Headquarters; Captain C. N. Devery, Headquarters, Central Military District; and Lieutenant G. 'F. McCulloch, M.8.E., N.Z.P.S., Army School, Trentham.