Col. N. W. McD. Weir N.Z.S.C.

Camp News (Northern Command), Volume 1, Issue 12, 19 July 1940, Page 2

Col. N. W. McD. Weir N.Z.S.C.

Officer Commanding the Northern Military District f • Colonel N. W. McD. Weir, N.Z. Staff Corps, Officer Commanding the. Northern Military District, was recently appointed Honorary Aide-de-Camp to His Excellency the Governor-General. This officer has had a long ancLdistinguished military career which began with eight years’ service in the N.Z. Volunteers prior to joining the Royal Military College at Duntroon in 1911. At the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 he was gazetted a Lieutenant in the N.Z. Staff Corps and proceeded on active service to Egypt and Gallipoli where he was severely wounded and left lying under fire for several hours. Fortunately he recovered fairly rapidly and at the end of 1916 was appointed musketry instructor to the N.Z. Expeditionary Force. After the war his first appointment in New Zealand was as Group Commander, Invercargill. Next followed a period of service as Area Officer and Adjutant of the 7th (Southland) Mounted Rifles and from May, 1921, until September, 1926, he was the Staff Officer in charge of No. 12 Regimental District, Invercargill. During the years he served in Southland he took a very keen interest in the . Otago Acclimatization Society and deer stalking won his enthusiasm. This is probably his main hobby to this day. He ranks high among the best marksmen and sportsmen in the Dominion. In October, 1926, he was appointed Staff Officer in charge of No. 5 Regimental District, Wellington, and about four years later became General Staff Officer of the Central Command. His next assignment was G.S.O. (1) Training and Staff Duties at Army Headquarters. In addition to these responsibilities, in 1936 he was appointed O.C. G.H.Q. Training Depot, Trentham. He proceeded to England in command of the N.Z. Coronation Contingent in March, 1937, and afterwards qualified at the Senior Officers’ School at Sheerness. When he returned to New Zealand he was attached to Army Headquarters until appointed G. 5.0., Northern Military District in November, 1937. Colonel . Weir has been in command of the Northern District since' the beginning of 1939.