TWO MAJOR—Father and Son

New Zealand Listener, Volume 9, Issue 215, 6 August 1943, Page 8

TWO MAJOR—Father and Son

OSSIBLY the youngest major serving in the Middle East, Major R. J. Moor, an artillery officer with the 2nd N.Z.E.F. (right), is only 23, and is the son of a major. Both father and son are interesting in their own rights, for Major F. W. Moor (left), who is Staff Officer and Quartermaster in the Medical Service, Army Headquarters, writes marching songs that are being sung by camp concert parties here and played by regimental bands in India. His son, who was in the territorials before the war, has shown how promotion in the field comes to men who prepared themselves for the job off the field. Majot Moor the younger, joined the Territorial Force artillery in 1936, and attended every technical course of

instruction available. He enlisted in September, 1939, and gained his commission before the year was out. He was in Greece and Crete, and with the eighth Army in Tunisia. In March of this year he became a temporary major, and two days later he celebrated his 23rd birthday. The father, himself, was overseas in the last war, and his civil occupation is t'e inspection of hospitals. When off duty from the Medical Service, he writes the words of marching songs, and sometimes the air as well, and gets a friend to arrange them for the piano. His "Troopship Ahoy" has been sung from 1YA by Mary Negus, and the "Army Tank Song" has been played by a band in India.