SIXTY-FIVE YEARS OF AGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 November 1942, Page 2

SIXTY-FIVE YEARS OF AGE

and serving in n.z. forces. CORPORAL’S SPLENDID RECORD. A paragraph in the “Times-Age” a few days ago referred to the death in the north of the oldest soldier in the New Zealand forces. Corporal F. S. A. Butler, of the A.F.V. School, Waiouru, who is at present home on leave at Greytown, can claim to be one of the oldest, if not the oldest, man serving today in the New Zealand Forces. He is 65 years of age. He joined the Imperial Army in April, 1899, and went to South Africa in October, 1899, at the time of the Boer War. He served three years there, and holds both medals (Queen s and King’s) with four bars on one and two on the other. After having served in the Imperial Army for 12 years, he joined the Mercantile Marine, in which he was serving when the Great War broke out. He arrived in England on August 6, 1914, and joined his regiment, then going to Gallipoli and France. From France he went back to sea. He was blown up .in the English Channel, picked up and' eventually landed in New Zealand. He then joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force as instructor, and took his discharge in 1918. He holds two medals for South Africa, the 1914-15 Star, Mercantile Marine and Victory Medals. He is still serving in the A.F.V. School in Waiouru. He joined up in this war on November 31, 1941..