AWARDED D.S.O.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 December 1942, Page 4

AWARDED D.S.O.

VETERAN OF TWO WARS FINE RECORD OF SERVICE IN NEW GUINEA. AT PRESENT SOMEWHERE IN THE BUSH. (Special Australian Correspondent.) (Received This Day, 1.5 'p.m.) SYDNEY, This Day.. A New Zealand-born A.I.F. infantry officer, Major William T. Watson, whose decoration with the D.S.O. has just been announced in the list of New Guinea campaign awards, may not know for some weeks that his bravery has been recognised. He is somewhere north of the Owen Stanley Range. Major Watson, who also served with the A.I.F. in the last war, was a famous Rugby footballer and several times was captain of Australian international sides. Ase a private in the last wax', Major Watson served with the Australian force which captured Rabaul and German New Guinea. The islands fascinated him and he returned there at the end of the war, being at various times a recruiter of native labour, gold prospector and plantation manager. He made a fortune, married and settled down in the United States, where his wife, daughter and three-year-old son live in Colombus, Ohio. When the present war began, Major Watson was at home in the United States but seventeen days later he arrived in Sydney and tried to enlist in the A.I.F. At the recruiting depot he was told that he was too old, so he joined the militia and was sent back to New Guinea. Immediately he arrived, because of his knowledge of the island and its people, he was given special duties and became a member of the A.I.F. When the officer commanding the Australian units defending Kokoda against the first Japanese push was killed, Major Watson took over the command of the Australians in that area. Later, at Port Moresby, he was offered a headquarters position, but he declined and “went bush” again. Now, three months later, he is still somewhere in New Guinea, his whereabouts being unknown.