MACHINE MISSING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 July 1942, Page 2

MACHINE MISSING

AIR TRAGEDY FEARED SIX MEN ON BOARD. INCLUDING MAJOR-GENERAL MEAD. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The Minister of Defence, Mr Jones, announced yesterday with deep regret that Major-General O. H. Mead, of the New Zealand Military Forces, together with another Army officer and four members of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, has been reported missing during an aircraft flight over a sea route. “Intensive searches are being carried out in the area where the aircraft was last reported, but unfortunately without results so far,” said the Minister. The personnel involved are:— Major-General O. H. Mead, C.8.E., D. 5.0.; wife, Mrs Mead, Otane, Hawke’s Bay. Lieutenant J. C. Leslie, N.Z. Military Forces; wife, Mrs Leslie, c/o Mr T. J. Coulter, Kaitaia. Flying Officer D. A. Anderson, R.N.Z.A.F.; wife, Mrs Anderson, 106 Paratai Drive, Orakei, Auckland. Pilot Officer C. G. Ibbots'on,' R.N.Z.A.F.; mother, Mrs D. A. Ibbotson, Heaton Terrace, Brooklyn, Wellington. Sergeant R. H. W. Wybourne, R.N.Z.A.F.; mother, Mrs E. K. Wybourne, Gloag Street, Waverley. Leading Aircraftman A. N. Clayton, R.N.Z.A.F.; wife, Mrs Clayton, 65 Hamilton Road, Cambridge. Major-General Owen Herbert Mead is aged 50. He was educated at Marlborough College, New Zealand. In 1911 he was commissioned second lieutenant in the Nelson Regiment, and lieutenant in 1913. He left New Zealand with the Canterbury Regiment in 1914, and served in Egypt, Gallipoli, and France. He was promoted captain in 1916 and major in 1917. The same year he was officer commanding the 3rd Brigade Officers’ School, and later promoted lieutenant-colonel. He was twice wounded and twice mentioned in dispatches, and awarded the D.S.O. He held the command of the Ist, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions, Canterbury Regiment till his return to New Zealand in 1919. In 1939 he was appointed Adjutant-General and next year was promoted to brigadier and the appointment of officer commanding, Southern Military District, and brigadier commanding the 3rd Division. He was made a C.B.E. in 1940. He was appointed to the Fiji command early this year in the rank of major-general. Major-General Mead married, in 1926, Barbara, daughter of Charles A. Loughnan, and he has two daughters.