Most decorated · 15 medals and honours, 0 for gallantry
Wing Commander Gerald Stedman
Gerald Stedman was a Canterbury Mounted Rifles sergeant of the 1914 Main Body who became an airman, flying R.E.8s over Mesopotamia with the Royal Flying Corps and earning a Mention in Despatches. He then helped create New Zealand's air force, trained pilots at the Wellington Aero Club, and returned as a Wing Commander in the Second World War. He ranks here for 15 medals and emblems across both wars, though none is a gallantry award.
15medals and honours
0of them for gallantry
His medals and honours
Every other medal and honour (15)
His story
Sails as a sergeant
Embarked with the Canterbury Mounted Rifles in the Main Body; he had been living in Christchurch and was single.
Source: Auckland Museum Online Cenotaph record C55983 (award list and embarkation data, read via api.aucklandmuseum.com)Gallipoli and Palestine
Served at Gallipoli and in Palestine with the NZEF; later accounts say he was commissioned from the ranks (second lieutenant, October 1915 per the Noonans text).
Source: Hawera Star, 18 February 1937; Noonans auction catalogue lot text (as returned by a web-search summary; the page itself was blocked by a bot check)Joins the Royal Flying Corps
Transferred to the RFC (Noonans text says June 1916; the 1937 Press says early 1917, learning to fly at Heliopolis). By August 1917 he was a flight officer at Cramlington in England.
Source: Press, 19 February 1937; Evening Post, 28 August 1917 (EP19170828.2.55)Mesopotamia with 63 Squadron
Posted to Mesopotamia, flew R.E.8s, became a flight commander in No. 63 Squadron and served until the Armistice.
Source: Hawera Star, 18 February 1937 (Papers Past HAWST19370218.2.27); Press, 19 February 1937 (CHP19370219.2.114)Mentioned in Despatches
Named in General Marshall's Mesopotamia despatch of 15 April 1918 as a Lieutenant, formerly RFC.
Source: London Gazette issue 30867, supplement, 27 August 1918, p.9983 (thegazette.co.uk), Marshall's Mesopotamia despatchFarming, then the air force
Returned to New Zealand in 1919, farmed at Eketahuna, and joined the Territorial air force in 1923 as one of its original members.
Source: Noonans auction catalogue lot text (as returned by a web-search summary; the page itself was blocked by a bot check); Hawera Star, 18 February 1937 (Papers Past HAWST19370218.2.27); Press, 19 February 1937 (CHP19370219.2.114)Aero club instructor
Squadron Leader commanding No. 2 Squadron RNZAF (Territorial); chief instructor of the Wellington Aero Club from about 1930, having trained more than 100 pilots, then of the Canterbury Aero Club from March 1937.
Source: Hawera Star, 18 February 1937 (Papers Past HAWST19370218.2.27); Press, 19 February 1937 (CHP19370219.2.114)Second World War
Commanded RNZAF Station Taieri (No. 1 Elementary Flying Training School) from 23 October 1939; promoted Wing Commander and moved to Rongotai in January 1942; his last appointment was in the New Hebrides.
Source: Press, 26 January 1942 (Papers Past CHP19420126.2.41); Noonans auction catalogue lot text (as returned by a web-search summary; the page itself was blocked by a bot check)
Rank and insignia
The ranks he held, and the badge a soldier of that rank wore. These are simplified illustrations.
His ships
Afterwards
After the war Stedman farmed for several years at Eketahuna before aviation took over. He was one of the original members of the New Zealand Air Force in 1923, earned promotion to squadron leader for relief flying after the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake, and was a Master of the Guild of Air Pilots with nearly 4000 flying hours by 1937. He instructed at the Wellington and then Canterbury Aero Clubs, and in the Second World War commanded the Taieri flying-training station and later served in the New Hebrides. He died on 11 December 1971.
Later awards, not counted here: Pacific Star; Defence Medal; War Medal 1939-1945; New Zealand War Service Medal; Efficiency Decoration (probably).
His sign
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.
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.
Sources
- Gerald Lomax Stedman, Online Cenotaph, Auckland War Memorial Museum.
- Online Cenotaph record C55983 (Gerald Lomax Stedman)
- London Gazette 30867, supplement, 27 August 1918, p.9983 (Marshall despatch, MiD)
- Hawera Star, 18 February 1937: Squadron-Leader Stedman
- Press, 19 February 1937: Pilot Instructor to Aero Club
- Press, 26 January 1942: Squadron Leader G. L. Stedman
- Evening Post, 28 August 1917: On Service
- Noonans lot, past catalogue 383, lot 18609 (page blocked by bot check; text seen only in a search summary)
What we could not confirm
SERVED WW1: yes, as a New Zealander (Main Body sergeant, Canterbury Mounted Rifles, then RFC). Nothing argues against listing him as a New Zealander of that war; note he served in the RFC/RAF (British forces) from 1916-17.
No gallantry award found. His only WW1 honour is a Mention in Despatches (counted as one item, not gallantry). Despite his two service numbers (7/612 and 1085), no DSO, MC, DFC or AFC turned up.
Total of 15 = the Cenotaph's 14 listed items plus the Mention in Despatches emblem, which the Cenotaph shows only as 'oak leaf' on the Victory Medal. Verified independently: 1914-15 Star (Gallipoli service), MiD (London Gazette), and WW1 service. Other items are Cenotaph-only, and the Noonans text refers to an ED.
Doubt: the 'Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service Medal' may be a mislabel or duplicate of other long-service entries; without it the total is 14. If all single-source Territorial/commemorative items were excluded the corroborated floor would be about 8.
Conflict: date of transfer to the RFC: Noonans text says June 1916; the 1937 Press says early 1917. Rank: Noonans says Captain from 11 April 1918, gazette says Lt. (the despatch is dated 15 April 1918). The Press (1942) says he commanded 63 Squadron at the Armistice; the 1937 Hawera Star says flight commander.
The Gazette lists 'Stedman, Lt. G. L.' only by initials; identification rests on the match with Noonans and the Press statements that he was mentioned in despatches while with 63 Squadron.
The Noonans page could not be opened (bot check, not bypassed), so the biographical details attributed to it come from a search-tool summary only.
Cenotaph says born 27 Oct 1891; Noonans text says born at Timaru; WebFetch of the Cenotaph record showed '13 medals' but its award list has 14 entries.