PERSONAL PARS

Serial Waves, 14 September 1940, Page 21

PERSONAL PARS

Officers of Field Rank and Padres who served in the last war.

16/A Rly. Operating Coy. Major F. W. Aicken. Major Aicken enlisted in August and went to Western Samoa as a Sergeant in the Railway Engineers. Returning to N.Z. he left with the sth Gallipoli Divisional. Signals and served in Egypt and France. He received his commission in 1918 at the Bedford R. E. School. While a Lieutenant,. Major Aicken was mentioned in despatches. ....... Lieut.-Col. P. A. Ardagh, d. 5.0., m.c., fr.a.c.s. O.C. Surgical Division, 2nd n.z. General Hospital, S.M.O. Transport 12. . .„ r This officer served as Captain in the N.Z.M.C. from 1916 to 1919, being at G.H.Q. in London for a few months in 1917, and later with the 3rd Field Ambulance in France under Lt.-Col. Hardie Neil, D.S.O. after the second Paeschendale show, being among other places at Bailleul, Dickiebrish, Ypres, the Menin Gate in the Polderhock Chateau battle in early December 1917, and at Hooge Crater, serving mostly in advanced dressing stations.

After serving, at Ypres in January 1918, with the Engineers, he was appointed R.M.O. to the ist Battn. Auckland Infantry Regiment,with which he remained until after the Armistice. He was with this Bn. at Mailly Maillet on the Somme in March 1918 when the N.Z. Division hurriedly entered the gap near Amiens where Fritz had broken through, was wounded Hebulerve in April 1918, again in June and again during the big advance in August. He accompanied the Bn. during the break through the Hindenburg Line and the advance to Masnieres Canal, where he was awarded the Military Cross.

At Crevecourt, where between Oct. Ist and Oct. 3rd, 1918 the Bn. captured 1,200 prisoners in a few hours, (sustaining heavy losses in so doing—one Coy. coming out 39 strong, led by their only remaining N.C.O.) —-Lt.-Col. Ardagh was recommended for the V.C., being awarded the D.S.O. After the Armistice, at which time he was mentioned in despatches, he went with the Bn. to Immigrath, 11 miles from Cologne, as part of the Army of Occupation, eventually returning to N.Z. as S.M.O. of the “ Arawa.”

It is of interest to note that Lt.-Col. Ardagh’s wife served throughout the War as a nurse in No. 3 x General Hospital. Chaplain Captain F. H. Buck, M.C., Bachelor of Arts, Licentiate Theology 14th Forestry Coy. ordained Priest by Bishop of Yukon in 1916, enlisting as private Yukon Infantry Company, commanded by Capt. George Black, Commissioner of Yukon. This unit later became 17th Machine Gun Co., sth Can. Division. Promoted Hon. Captain and Chaplain June 1917 . and attached Can. Reserve Artillery, Witby Camp. Served in France as Chaplain 46th Can. Infantry Batt. 10th Brigade, 4th Can. Division. 1922 Chaplain 19th Lincoln Batt. St. Catharines, Ontario. Then retired to Officers Reserve. Arrived in N. Zealand 1937 and held post Vicar at Chevoit and . Picton, Diocese 'Nelson'. ’ Chaplain Nelson

Marlborough mounted Rifles 1938-9. Awarded M.C. during capture of Deocourt-Queant Switch of Hindenburg ' line by ' Canadians Sept. 3rd, 1918. Major H. E. Crosse, M.C. Major Crosse sailed from • N.Z. with the 11th Reinforcements, and on arrival in England was posted to the 2nd Bn., N.Z. Rifle Brigade at Armentieres in May 1916, and was wounded half an hour after the, capture of Fleurs on the 15th Sept. 1916. He returned to France with the 4th Brigade in May 1917, and remained with the Division until January 1919. After the 4th Brigade was broken up he returned to the 2nd Bn., N.Z., Rifle Brigade, serving from time to time on Divisional H.Q. as D.A.A.G., D.A.Q.M.G., G. 5.0.2 and on the Armistice being signed became Staff Captain, 3rd N.Z. Rifle Brigade. Major R. Trevor Smith, O.C. 13th Railway Construction Coy. As an engineering cadet in the Public Works Dept, he enlisted in 1915, being posted to the Field Engineers and leaving N.Z. with the 14th Reinforcements. After further training in England, Sapper Smith joined the Fist Field Coy., N.Z. Engineers in France early in 1917, remaining with his company throughout the various engagements in which the N.Z. Division took part. One of his regular jobs as a Sapper was to survey the front lines and outposts after advances, when conditions for aerial photography were unsuitable. Another type of work in which he specialised was demolitions, and many charges were calculated and laid under his direction while a Corporal in the Company. After the Armistice he accompanied the Division to Cologne, remaining, until . after New Year of 1919 and returning to N.Z. in April 1919, since which date he has had extensive experience in civil railway construction as an Engineer in the Public Works Department. Major F. G. Dill, E.D. 24 (AK) Rifle Bn. ' This officer- has served in the Auck. Mtd. Rifles since 1911 having attended his first camp with that

unit on the Avondah Race, Course in May of that year as a trooper. " ; ...... Sailing with the main Body N.Z.E.F as a Corporal in the A.M.R., he served in Egypt, at Gallipoli, Sinai and Palestine,, being seriously wounded at Rafa in 1917, invalided back to N.Z. and discharged from the N.Z.E.F. as unfit for further service. After 18 months on the territorial reserve of his unit he came back on to the active list in 1920 with the rank of 2 /Lt. and has been promoted successively from rank to rank, until in June 1939 attained the command of his Right— known as the A (E.C.) M.R. —with the rank of Lt.-Col., having served in the one Regiment both in peace

and on active service and having held every rank -from Trooper to Lt.-Col. Medals and decorations held. 1914-15 Star. General Service Medal. Victory Medal. King George and Jubilee Medal. Efficiency Decorations. x Major J.H. Jull, H.Q., Railway Operating Grant, N.Z. Engineers. Major Jull entered Mentham Camp in April 1915 with the 2nd Bn. N.Z. Rifle Brigade and proceeded • overseas as Sergeant in C Coy. of that Bn. in October 1915. He arrived in Egypt in November of that - year and served in •the MerJa Matruh campaign. In April 1916, he went to France and served with his Battalion at Ha uplines and Bais Grenier and again at the Somme where he was wounded on September 15, 1916. Joining up with the N.Z. Light Railway Operating Coy. in England in 1 February 1917 he served as a W.0.1. with that Unit in France and Belgium until November 1918. From November 1918 until March 1919 he served on the French Broad-Gauge Railway on the sector between Valenciennes, and Mans. Major C. Langbein. 19th Army Troop. Major Langbein enlisted in the Ist N.Z.E.F. on 4 August 1914 as a Gunner in D Battery N.Z.

Artillery. His service covered practically all the campaigns in which the N.Z. troops were engaged, Western Samoa, Gallipoli, Egypt, France and England. At the Armistice he was with the 15th Battery.

Chaplain Major J. W. McKenzie, M.M., E.D. Major McKenzie served during the Great War, with the N.Z. Field Ambulance as a stretcherbearer. Leaving with the 6th Reinforcements his 4 years of service took him to Lemnas, Egypt and France, where he gained the Military Medal. Returning to N.Z., Major McKenzie was appointed a chaplain of the Presbyterian Church in which capacity he ha served with distinction in the Territorial forces rising to the rank of Lieut. -Colonel and receiving the Efficiency Decoration. At the present time he is Senior Chaplain of the Presbyterian Church. ’ Major G. T. Poole.

c ~p----'J 7 J"- 17th Railway Operating Coy. Enlisting in May 1915, Major Poole left N.Z. as a Private in 3rd Battalion of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, with which unit he served in Egypt and France. Commissioned in 1918, after special training at Trinity College, Cambridge, he-was posted back to his old Battalion as Signal Officer, Returning after the Armistice,. Major Poole became an officer in the 2nd Engrs. Coy. Auck, He retired from the Army in 1917 but was called up for service with the National Military Reserve in 1939. He was given the command of No. 6 Coy., Palmerston North. Enlisting in December 1939 he was posted to the 17th Railway Coy. as 2 I.C. Major Closey, E. D. Major Closey served during the Great War. He received a commission in 1918, serving in that capacity until the Armistice. The Major saw much fighting and some of his experiences as a member of the P. B. I. make thrilling reading. After the war he continued to serve as a territorial in his old regiment the 16th Vaikatv. He was wellknown to many of us as C.O. Ist Composite, Battalion.

It is interesting to note that he has held ever rank including that of W. 0., in his old regiment.