Edward Puttick
Draughtsman, military leader
Died when: 86 years 29 days (1032 months)Star Sign: Cancer
Lieutenant General Sir Edward Puttick, KCB, DSO & Bar (26 June 1890 – 25 July 1976) was an officer who served with the New Zealand Military Forces during the First and Second World Wars.
The first New Zealand-born soldier to reach the rank of lieutenant general, he was Chief of the General Staff of the New Zealand Military Forces from 1941 to 1945.
Born in 1890 in Timaru, Puttick served in the Territorial Force prior to the First World War.In August 1914 he was part of the Expeditionary Force that occupied German Samoa.
He later served with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade during the Senussi Campaign and on the Western Front.He was commanding the 3rd Battalion of the brigade in March 1918 when he was wounded and later repatriated to New Zealand.
Puttick joined the New Zealand Staff Corps in 1919 and held a number of command and staff positions for the next 20 years.
During the Second World War, he commanded the 4th Infantry Brigade in the Battle of Greece, for which he was awarded a bar to the Distinguished Service Order he had won in the previous war.
Following the Allied evacuation from Greece he commanded the 2nd New Zealand Division during the subsequent Battle of Crete.In September he returned to New Zealand as Chief of General Staff, New Zealand Military Forces, and served in this capacity until late 1945.
He retired from the military the following year and died in 1976.
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