Lieut.-Colonel H. D. McHugh

Camp News (Northern Command), Volume 1, Issue 25, 18 October 1940, Page 2

Lieut.-Colonel H. D. McHugh

M.C., N.Z.S.C.

Camp Commandant, T rentham

Lieutenant-Colonel H. D. McHugh, M.C., N.Z. Staff Corps, who was appointed Commandant, of Trentham Military Camp on 11th December, 1939, commenced his military career with the Dunedin Engineer Cadets in 1903. Six years later he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and subsequently transferred to the Christchurch Senior Cadets. He continued to render efficient service in the Territorial Force and joined the N.Z. Expeditionary Force in 1915. The following year he was appointed Captain and seconded to the Ist N.Z. Cyclist Company in France. z For gallantry and devotion to duty in the field he was awarded the Military Cross in 1917. To quote the London Gazette of 14/9/17, “his exceptional coolness under fire set a splendid example to the whole of his battalion.” Before the end of the War he won a bar to the Military Cross for further distinguished service and returned to NeW Zealand second in command of the N.Z. Cyclist Corps. In 1921 he was gazetted a Captain in the N.Z. Staff Corps and in 1927 promoted to the rank of Major. i He relinquished his appointment as Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster-General of the Northern Military District "in April, 1939, and concentrated his energy on the duties of Area Staff Officer, Auckland, until he accepted the direction and control of the camp at Ngaruawahia on the outbreak of the present War.