Most decorated · 15 medals and honours, 1 for gallantry
Colonel Eugene O'Neill
Dunedin surgeon Eugene O'Neill served in three wars: as a surgeon-captain in the Boer War, as a Medical Corps officer who earned the DSO for his bearer work on the first days at Anzac Cove, and as a volunteer ship's surgeon in the Second World War. He ended the Great War as a Colonel with the DSO, CMG and three mentions, and he is among the most decorated New Zealanders because of a long run of campaign and service medals.
15medals and honours
1of them for gallantry
His medals and honours
Won for gallantry
Gallantry award
Distinguished Service Order (DSO)
25-26 April 1915 · Gaba Tepe (Anzac), Gallipoli · Major, New Zealand Medical Corps, 1 Field Ambulance
Gazetted: London Gazette 29215, supplement, 3 July 1915, p.6540
O'Neill was the senior New Zealand Medical Corps officer with 1 Field Ambulance when the Main Body landed at Anzac on 25 April 1915. The gazette entry is brief: it credits him with exceptionally good service and with showing initiative and resource while commanding a bearer subdivision on 25 and 26 April near Gaba Tepe. A bearer subdivision was the stretcher-carrying element of a field ambulance, whose work was to find the wounded under fire on the steep scrub-covered ground behind the beach and carry them down to the dressing stations. His name appears in the same gazette as other Anzac DSOs, among them Hart, Shout and Wallingford. The citation gives no further detail, so the particular incidents behind it are not recorded in the sources read.
Cenotaph says 'London Gazette, 3 June 1915' in one line and '3 July 1915, p6540' in another: the gazette itself (read) is 3 July 1915, issue 29215. Gazette gives the place as Gaba Tepe (Cenotaph spells it 'Gape Tepe'). Cenotaph calls him CO of 1 Field Ambulance; the citation says 'bearer subdivision'.
Counted in his gallantry totalSource: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29215/supplement/6540/data.pdf
Every other medal and honour (14)
Queen's South Africa Medal (clasps Cape Colony, Rhodesia, Transvaal, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902)1901-1902 · South AfricaSailed as surgeon with the Sixth Contingent in 1901 and served through to the end of the war; the five clasps are one medal.1914-1915 Star1914-1915 · Egypt and GallipoliQualified by service in Egypt and at Gallipoli from 1914-15.British War Medal (1914-1920)1914-1918Awarded for Great War service overseas.Victory Medal1914-1918Awarded for Great War service in a theatre of war.Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG)1919Appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1919 New Year Honours 'for services rendered in connection with the War'. He was then Colonel O'Neill, commanding 2 New Zealand General Hospital…1939-1945 Star1939-1941Listed for his service as a volunteer surgeon with the New Zealand Merchant Navy, 1939-41.Pacific Star1939-1941 · PacificListed alongside his Merchant Navy surgeon service.War Medal 1939-1945 (with oak leaf)1939-1945Awarded for full-time service in the Second World War; the Cenotaph says it carries an oak leaf.New Zealand War Service Medal1939-1945Issued to New Zealanders for Second World War service.Volunteer Officers' Decoration (VD)Long service as a volunteer officer; date not found.Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers' DecorationLong service as an officer in the colonial auxiliary forces; date not found.New Zealand Long and Efficient Service MedalLong and efficient service award; date not found.New Zealand Territorial Service MedalTerritorial service medal; date not found.Mentioned in Despatches5 Aug 1915; 28 Jan 1916; 28 May 1918 · Gallipoli; Western FrontMentioned three times in Great War despatches (Hamilton May 1915 and December 1915; Haig covering September 1917 to February 1918). Counts as one item for the emblem.
His story
Boer War surgeon
Embarked on the Cornwall on 30 January 1901 as Surgeon-Captain with the Sixth Contingent, NZ Mounted Rifles. He was captured by the Boers on 14 May 1901 and released the same day, reportedly after some blunt words with his captors.
The ranks he held, and the badge a soldier of that rank wore. These are simplified illustrations.
Surgeon-Captain1901Shoulder strap: three pipsSurgeon-Major1903Shoulder strap: crownMajorAug-Oct 1914Shoulder strap: crownLieutenant Colonel1916Shoulder strap: crown and one pipColonel15 August 1918 (confirmed final rank 4 June 1919)Shoulder strap: crown and two pips
His ships
CornwallTroopship, Boer WarSailed 30 January 1901 with the Sixth Contingent.Ruapehu or Hawkes Bay (HMNZT 5 or 9)Troopship, WW1Embarked 16 October 1914; Cenotaph is unsure which transport.
Afterwards
O'Neill returned to Dunedin and civilian surgery; he held the FRCS, and was a member of the Otago Institute. When the Second World War began he volunteered as a surgeon with the New Zealand Merchant Navy, serving from 1939 to 1941 as a civilian. He died on 24 April 1962 at 87 and is buried at Karori Cemetery, Wellington.
The sources found give almost nothing about his Merchant Navy ships. The WWII Star, Pacific Star, War Medal and oak leaf appear on the Online Cenotaph only.
Later awards, not counted here: 1939-1945 Star; Pacific Star; War Medal 1939-1945 with oak leaf (possible further mention); New Zealand War Service Medal.
This is the Service Record sign as we would make it from his record: his rank, name, regiment, number and date of embarkation. The medals on the sign are worked out automatically, so the medals listed above are the ones to rely on.
The Service Record
Photograph
We haven’t hosted a photograph here
Rather than copy someone else’s image onto our own site, we’d rather send you to see it where it’s properly held: his full record at the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Online Cenotaph.
DSO gazette date: Cenotaph gives '3 June 1915' in one line and '3 July 1915 p6540' in another; the gazette itself (read) is 3 July 1915.
Cenotaph says 2nd Reinforcements, the NZEF project says Main Body; sailing date 16 October 1914 matches the Main Body.
Mention in Despatches: three mentions, counted ONCE as the emblem. WWII War Medal 'with oak leaf' might be a separate WWII mention, which would arguably be a second emblem; not counted.
VD and Colonial Auxiliary Forces Decoration are both listed by the Cenotaph; holding both for the same service is unusual, so possibly one is a data-entry duplicate. Counted as two (14 if only one is real).
All WWII medals and the VD/CAFD/NZ LESM/NZ Territorial Service Medal come from the Online Cenotaph only and could not be cross-checked.
Pacific Star and 1939-45 Star for a civilian Merchant Navy surgeon are plausible but unverified.
Gazette pages for the three mentions (5 Aug 1915, 28 Jan 1916, 28 May 1918) were taken from the Cenotaph and the NZEF project, not opened.
Sources conflict on birth (nzwargraves shows placeholder dates); 1 February 1875 from the Cenotaph used.
He served in WW1, so nothing argues against listing him; but he was a medical officer, not a combatant.
