NEW ZEALANDER'S V.C.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 March 1916, Page 5

NEW ZEALANDER'S V.C .

AND THREE MILITARY, CROSSB& I.WESTITURE'AT BUCKINGHAM ; PALACE. '• - London, February 3, King George to-day honored a nuttt« J»er ot men o£ the New Zealand force at Gallipoli by investing them with the decorations they had gained. The King, in pinning the Cross to Corporal Bi>sctt's breast, shook liands warmly with hiju and complimented bin} as one of the many Now Zealanders who had rallied to the Motherland. In the« turn, Captain L. M. Shera, Lieutenant W. O. Bishop and Lieutenant F. K. TurpbuU received the Military Cross decoration, fh?y had been escorted to the Pahw* by a contingent of New Zealandere, pre-! ceded by their band. The decorated heroes on leaving th» Palace then went, still under escort, t® the Hotel Windsor, in Victoria street, where Sir Thomas Mackenzie entertain* ed them all to lunch.

The High Commissioner, in. Ills speefilj of congratulation to Corporal Baesett, dwelt 011 the way in which he and hi* comrades had done honor not only to British armies, but to New Surprise was expressed, lie said, in v«rf many quarters, at the small pumbar o4 honors that had fallen to New Zealaßdera in view of the part they had,J>l*y?3 —only one V.C.! The decorated hero spoke a modest and manly senjenee t>l thanks, and later .Sir "Thomas; at M# request, said that his (Corporal Bassett's) one regret was thai his comrade* who had equally done their part were not honored with him Old and experienced soldiers, men who had seen what they had done, said the High JSommilsioner, hail expressed the view that what New Zealanders had done was never surpassed, . . . And yet only one V.g. The High Commissioner, in lntroSuc' ing Captain .Shera, recalled that the gallant captain's father and Sir JanM Mills (who was also present at the luncheon) and himself had been ill tl\o New Zealand Parliament together. Jtieuteriant Bishop's father and the High Commissioner were lads together, attyl (sotto voce) he was a lad—Bishop pare, as they say 011 the nestern front. Captain ' Shera. in returning thank* for himself and the two associated with him in the day's ceremony, spoke with feeling,, too, of the many other inen Fho had doiie magnificently. • :