A FINE RECORD.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 July 1919, Page 7

A FINE RECORD.

FROM PRIVATE TO BRIGADIERGeneral, Among the officers to arrive back home on the Prinzessin was BrigadierGeneral A. E. Stewart, D.5.0., of Milton, who lias been away from New Zealand for four years on active service. Bri-gadier-General Stewart has had exactly 81 years of soldiering, rising from the rank of private to that of LieutenantColonel Commanding the 4th Otago Volunteer Ba.ttalion. He has the Colonial Forces' decoration for twenty years as a commissioned officer, and also wears the Croix de Guerre, awarded on "behalf of the First French Army, with which his battalion co-operated near Ypres in July,

As a soldier of tiie enterprising and fearless type, General Stewart has a high reputation. After an interesting experience in holding the lines of communication of the Western Egyptian frontier agaiflut the Senuaai, he left for France with the New Zealand Division in March, lfllO. In the early Somme fighting his batalion (the Second Rifle Brigade) was given ,the task of capturing the Flers support-trench and the northern part of the village of Flers. /The battalion did heroic work, capturing all objectives and repelling a strong counter-attack. In recognition of this the D.S.O. was awarded to the battalion comamnder, and various other decoration to officers and men. In January, 1918, General Stewart (then lieutenant-colonel) took over the Second Infantry Brigade, when General Braithwaitc was invalided. On being relieved by General Hart he received orders to take over and disband the Fourth Infantry Brigade for the purpose of forming an entrenching group. "The Fourth Brigade," said General Stewart, In the course of an interview, "was one of the finest brigades in the division, and it was particularly unpleasant to see it melt away into an entrenchinggroup. From the viewpoint of officers and men keen on doing their duty, I found no soldiers: like them. lamin a position to give this credit because of being associated with the brigade only for a short time. Their efficiency was due to the personality and training under General Hart and Major Eastwood. I may be pardoned for saying also that the Third Brigafle, with which I was most intimately acquainted, was the finest fighting brigade in the.divsion, due n great measure to the soldierly qualities of Brigadier-General H. T." Fulton and Major R. G. Purdy, both killed in action."

In the critical days of March, 1918, General Stewart was ordered at short ■notice to take over temporary command of the Third (Rifle) Brigade, when the division was about to proceed south to Amiens to assist in stopping the German advance after ,the retirement of the Fifth Army. He comamnded the brigade in the hazardous fighting at Mailly iWailly, and in the sharp action in front of Colinchamps. General Pultoii then returned from leave, but within twentyfour hours of resuming command he |mst a soldiers' death, and General Stewart was appointed to the permanent command of the'brigade. General Stewart \va3 a familiar figure up and d'owu ■the line until the middle of July, IMS, when he was shot by a sniper while crawling over a parapet in the front 'tranches. He was for some time in hosin Rouen and Broekenhurak and jin ; |Beptember, 1918, took command of the Zealand Training Depot at Sling, !_whicli, in January qf this year, was iiwMe. the chief demobilising centre, reuntil .lelisve&by fieneral [f?oung about the middle of April, 1919.