The Director-General of the Multinational Force and Observers, Ambassador R. Stephen Beecroft, awarded Ron Mark, Minister of Defence and Minister of Veterans Affairs the Distinguished Service for Peace Award, the MFO’s highest honour, for his service in Sinai.
i just wonder what “distinguished service” work the man did to deserve this highest of awards..fm
I hope he is going to give back the Army blanket on the sofa, he must be broke if he kept one !!
Never mind he’s got a nice new shiny non-NZ Medal to add to his “Rack” I hope he asks permission for this one!
It would be discourteous and ungracious not to recognise the Multinational Force and Observers Medallic award to Ron Mark. However, in parallel, it would also be churlish not to recognise the New Zealand Defence Force [NZDF] military personnel who served in the Far East [Malaysia/Singapore] during 1960 – 1964 and 1966 – 1975 and have not as yet received their medallic award. It must be an embarrassment to the Australian Defence Force [ADF] hierarchy and military personnel to know that their NZDF counterparts who carried out the identical duties and responsibilities have not received any tangible award or recognition. Note that, many moons ago, those ADF Military personnel were duly awarded their appropriate Australian Service Medals together with Veteran status and associated benefits.
The MOD/NZDF/VANZ Departments should take heed, redress the balance and look kindly upon these now ageing servicemen and women, whose very simple but immensely proud aspiration of having a medal on their chests as a mark of Service to New Zealand ergo by implication, to mankind, is just. To ignore their claim submitted in all humility, is a national crime, and perhaps the saddest of all issues, is that many in our country are not aware of this appalling deprivation, and were they to know, might have something to say direct to the Prime Minister.