AWARD OF M.B.E.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3294, 30 July 1943, Page 5

AWARD OF M.B.E.

2ND.-LIEUT J. R. SPENCE OFFICIAL CITATION FORMER WAITAKARURU BOY For untiring energy and disregard for his personal safety on the battlefield in order to complete the job for which he had volunteered, SecondLieut. J. R. Spence (then W.0.1.) of Waitakaruru, was awarded the M.B.E. The official citation which has now reached Waitakaruru, reads as under: “On the night of July 21-22, 1942, during an attack on El Mireir ' depression his regiment lost a total of 13 six-pounder guns and portees, together with various light vehicles. An officer and W.0.1. Spence immediately organised a party from the regiment and proceeded to salvage every available gun and vehicle in order to repair, the loss. In the following nine days, from a total of nine guns and portees salvaged, seven guns and eight portees were put into first-class serviceable condition. ' Apart from these much valuable material, including MT weapons and equipment was salvaged. Much of this work was performed by the officer and W.0.1. Spence on their own, working long hours, sometimes under cover of darkness and sandstorms, through minefields and often under fire. With the re-equipping of the regiment as his main object, W.0.1. Spence showed untiring energy and on occasions disregard for his personal safety in order to complete the job.”

The officer with Second-Lieut. 'Spence was Lt.-Col. Mitchell who was awarded the D.S.O.

Second-Lieut. Spence, who is 28 and single, has been in the New Zealand military forces since 1936, when he enlisted as a gunner in the Royal New Zealand Artillery. For some time since the outbreak of war he was engaged as. an instructor and he left New Zealand as a sergeant in a field regiment of the Third Echelon. Together with his brother, Charles, who served in the famous Scots Guards, and came to New Zealand prior to the outbreak of war in the Doric Star, the trip before she was sunk, Warrant Officer Spence served in 'Greece, Crete' and all the later campaigns.

He is a nephew of Mr and Mrs C. Wallace, of Waitakaruru, with whom he has lived since a child. His father is a brother of Mrs Wallace, and resides in England.

He was educated in Auckland and lived with Mr and Mrs Wallace for some time at Miranda. Second-Lieut. Spence later paid many holiday visits to the Hauraki Plains and was well known among the residents there. He received all his promotions, from gunner to Second-Lieut., in the field.