Most decorated · 15 medals and honours, 3 for gallantry
Major-General Stephen Weir
Steve Weir was a New Zealand regular gunner, born in 1904, who commanded the 6th Field Regiment and then the 2nd New Zealand Division's artillery in the Second World War, and briefly the division itself. He won the DSO at Sidi Rezegh and a bar at Alamein, and was later made CBE, CB and KBE and decorated by Greece and the United States. He does not belong in a list of New Zealanders who served in the First World War: he was a boy of 10 to 14 when it ended.
He did not serve in the First World War: he was born in 1904 and first served in 1923.
15medals and honours
3of them for gallantry
His medals and honours
Won for gallantry
Gallantry award
Distinguished Service Order
18 November to 2 December 1941 (Operation Crusader) · Sidi Rezegh and the Libyan desert, North Africa · Lieutenant-Colonel (acting), 6th Field Regiment, New Zealand Artillery, 2nd NZ Division
Gazetted: Announced in New Zealand 19 March 1942 (Wanganui Chronicle, 20 March 1942, as 'Temp.-Col. C. E. Weir, Auckland'). London Gazette issue not found.
Weir took the 6th Field Regiment into the Crusader offensive in Libya in November 1941. The citation, quoted on the Online Cenotaph, praises the determination and bravery with which he commanded the regiment at Sidi Rezegh and in the attacks that led to the opening of the corridor to Tobruk on 27 November. On 1 December the Germans counter-attacked with a heavy force of tanks, and the citation says he fought the regiment until its guns were overrun. His handling of the guns was called 'beyond praise' and an inspiration to the whole regiment. He was close to capture himself, supervising the withdrawal of his guns at Sidi Rezegh, in the same fighting that saw the divisional artillery commander, Brigadier Reginald Miles, taken prisoner. Within days Weir was promoted colonel and made Commander Royal Artillery of the division in Miles's place. Te Ara and the Cenotaph citation both tie the DSO to Sidi Rezegh.
Wikipedia and a Press article of 19 July 1943 say the DSO was for the Greek campaign (April 1941). The contemporary citation and Te Ara say Libya, Nov-Dec 1941, and the March 1942 announcement fits that. Greece claim treated as an error.
Counted in his gallantry totalSource: https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C36181 ; https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/5w17/weir-stephen-cyril-ettrick ; https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WC19420320.2.17
Bar: a second award
Bar to the Distinguished Service Order
23 October to 11 November 1942 (Second Battle of El Alamein) · El Alamein, Egypt · Brigadier (temporary), Commander Royal Artillery, 2nd NZ Division
Gazetted: Citation released by NZEF in Cairo 21 December 1942 (Timaru Herald, 24 December 1942). Online Cenotaph cites NZ Gazette, 21 September 1944. London Gazette issue not found.
As Commander Royal Artillery of the New Zealand Division, Weir had to bring a large number of artillery regiments into action and control them through nearly three weeks of continuous fighting at Alamein. The citation says his guns fired between 7000 and 8000 rounds each in that time, and that the success of the operation on 2 November (Supercharge) owed much to the skill and efficiency of the artillery under him. Te Ara adds that he had pioneered the revived creeping barrage and centralised control of divisional artillery in the desert, and that his careful planning of the Alamein fire plan was crucial to the division's success. He is credited with developing the concentrated 'stonk' bombardment. The bar was announced only about six weeks after the battle.
Cenotaph's 'NZ Gazette 21 September 1944' date is much later than the December 1942 press release; probably the date of formal NZ Gazette printing.
Counted in his gallantry totalSource: https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C36181 ; https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD19421224.2.34 ; https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/5w17/weir-stephen-cyril-ettrick
Foreign gallantry award
Cross of Valour (Greece)
1945 · Greece (Patras and the Peloponnese) · Major-General (temporary), 46th (British) Infantry Division
Gazetted: No gazette found
In January 1945 Weir's division was sent to Patras, as part of the British intervention in the Greek civil conflict. It disarmed guerrilla forces across the Peloponnese before returning to Italy in April. Te Ara says that for this service the Greek government awarded him the Cross of Valour. The Greek order's own citation and date were not found, so what he did to earn it is known only in this general form.
Counted here as foreign gallantry because of its name (a valour decoration), but the sources describe the award as for service in Greece, not a specific act. If the caller wants a strict acts-of-gallantry count, drop this one (gallantry 2, total unchanged at 15). Award date and wording unverified.
Counted in his gallantry totalSource: https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/5w17/weir-stephen-cyril-ettrick ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Weir ; https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C36181
Every other medal and honour (12)
1939-1945 Star1939-1945 · Middle East and MediterraneanOperational service overseas with 2NZEF from 1940.Africa Star (with 8th Army clasp)1940-1943 · Egypt, Libya, TunisiaService in North Africa; the 8th Army clasp (not counted separately) fits his service under Eighth Army.Italy Star1943-1945 · ItalyService in the Italian campaign from late 1943.Defence Medal1939-1945Listed by the Online Cenotaph; qualifying service not stated.War Medal 1939-19451939-1945Awarded for full-time service in the war; the oak-leaf emblem worn on it is the Mention in Despatches counted below, not a second item.New Zealand War Service Medal1939-1945New Zealand's own medal for those who served in the Second World War.Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)1944 (services at the Sangro and Cassino) · ItalyTe Ara says Weir was made CBE for his artillery work in Italy: marshalling the fire support for the New Zealand Division's crossing of the Sangro and acting as artillery commander of the New Zealand Corps at Cassino.…Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB)1945 · ItalyAppointed Companion of the Bath in the Military Division for gallant and distinguished services in operations in Italy. He was then commanding the British 46th Division, the only Dominion officer to lead a British…Legion of Merit, Commander (United States)1946-1948The United States made Weir a Commander of the Legion of Merit for his wartime service. The 1948 Gazette lists 'Legion of Merit, Degree of Commander' for Major-General (acting) Cyril Ettrick Weir, CB, CBE, DSO…Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal1953 · New ZealandAwarded in the 1953 distribution as a senior serving officer.Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE)1 January 1960 (New Year Honours, New Zealand list) · New ZealandWeir was knighted in the 1960 New Year Honours, in the New Zealand list, in the closing months of his term as Chief of the General Staff (1955-60). The Gazette entry lists Major-General Cyril Ettrick Weir, CB, CBE,…Mentioned in Despatches1942 to 1945 · Middle East and ItalyTe Ara says he was mentioned in despatches for exceptionally meritorious service on four occasions in the war; Wikipedia says the same. One emblem, counted once. A Dec 1942 press snippet places the first mention in…
His story
Born on the Otago Peninsula
Youngest of ten sons of a farmer, Cochrane Weir. Attended Otago Boys' High School. He was 10 when the First World War began and 14 when it ended; four brothers served in it, he did not.
Worked in the Stamp Duties Department in Wellington, joined the 6th Mounted Rifles in 1923, won the New Zealand cadetship at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich in 1925, and was commissioned in the Royal New Zealand Artillery in September 1927.
Posts in Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland, relief work after the Napier earthquake of 1931, adjutant of the 1st Field Artillery Brigade from 1933, captain in 1935.
Seconded to 2NZEF, helped raise the 4th Field Regiment and 7th Anti-Tank Regiment, then took the 6th Field Regiment overseas in early 1940 (commander of troops on HMT Ormonde). Served in Greece in April 1941.
Fought the regiment at Sidi Rezegh until its guns were overrun on 1 December, and won the DSO. Became Commander Royal Artillery of the division and was promoted brigadier in January 1942.
Marshalled the artillery for the Sangro crossing and served as artillery commander of the New Zealand Corps at Cassino, earning the CBE. In September 1944, when Freyberg was injured, he commanded the division at Rimini and in the Romagna until mid October.
Given the 46th Division as temporary major-general in November 1944. Took it to Greece (Patras) in 1945, then to Austria; made CB in 1945, awarded the Greek Cross of Valour and the US Legion of Merit.
Commandant Southern Military District, Quartermaster-General from late 1951, Chief of the General Staff from August 1955, KBE in the 1960 New Year Honours, then Ambassador to Thailand (also accredited to Laos and South Vietnam) from 1961 to 1967.
The ranks he held, and the badge a soldier of that rank wore. These are simplified illustrations.
Second LieutenantSeptember 1927 · Royal NZ ArtilleryShoulder strap: one pipLieutenantDecember 1928Shoulder strap: two pipsCaptainMay 1935Shoulder strap: three pipsTemporary Major / acting Lieutenant-Colonel1939-40Shoulder strap: crown and one pipColonelDecember 1941; brigadier January 1942 (Te Ara; a 1943 Press article says earlier) · then BrigadierShoulder strap: crown and two pipsTemporary Major-General4 September to 17 October 1944 (acting GOC 2NZ Div); again from November 1944 (46th Division) to September 1946Shoulder strap: crossed sword and baton, one pipMajor-GeneralAugust 1955 (Chief of the General Staff)Shoulder strap: crossed sword and baton, one pip
His ships
HMT OrmondeCommander of troops, 1940Outward voyage to the Middle East; dealt with a food-quality protest at Bombay (Wikipedia).
Afterwards
After the war Weir fell seriously ill in 1946-47, then commanded the Southern Military District (1948-50), attended the Imperial Defence College, served at the War Office, and was Quartermaster-General from late 1951. As Chief of the General Staff (1955-60) he oversaw growing New Zealand involvement in South-East Asia and carried out the end of compulsory military training, though he disagreed with it. He was knighted in 1960 and advised the Nash government before retiring from the army in October 1961.
He was New Zealand's ambassador to Thailand until 1967, accredited also to Laos and South Vietnam and NZ's representative on the SEATO Council, and backed sending combat troops to Vietnam in 1965. He died suddenly at Tauranga on 24 September 1969, leaving his wife Betty and three sons. Te Ara calls him perhaps the most outstanding senior officer to come out of 2NZEF.
Later awards, not counted here: DSO (1942); Bar to DSO (1942); MiD x4; CBE (1944); CB (1945); Greek Cross of Valour (1945); US Legion of Merit, Commander (1946/48).
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.
DOES NOT QUALIFY AS A WW1 NEW ZEALANDER: born 5 October 1904 (Te Ara, Wikipedia; Cenotaph says 1905), so aged 14 or under at the Armistice. His first service was Territorial Force, 1923. Cenotaph lists only WWII, Malayan Emergency, Korea and Vietnam as his wars. The Press (19 July 1943) says four of his brothers served in the Great War. There is no evidence of any WW1 service, contrary to the premise of the brief ('NZ Field Artillery WW1'). Also he was a Major-General, not a brigadier general.
Online Cenotaph lists Korea Medal (EIIR), United Nations Medal for Korea and New Zealand Operational Service Medal. NOT counted: the Cenotaph's Korea embarkation line is for a bombardier of K-Force (R22440250), apparently a different man whose entries got merged into this record; Weir was CGS/ambassador, not in Korea; the NZ Operational Service Medal was not established until long after his death in 1969. The Cenotaph's 'NZGSM awarded' note is also unexplained.
Cenotaph lists KBE 1946 and CB 1946: wrong. KBE was 1 January 1960 (LG 41911); CB was July 1945 (LG 37161).
CBE (LG 36850, 21 Dec 1944) is missing from the Cenotaph list and has been added.
Cenotaph's 'DSO and bar' entry reconciled as two items (DSO + bar), not as DSO listed twice.
DSO reason conflict: Wikipedia and a 1943 Press article say Greece (April 1941); the citation and Te Ara say Sidi Rezegh, Nov-Dec 1941, and the March 1942 announcement fits that. Citation used. London Gazette issue numbers for DSO and bar were not found; NZ press dates given instead.
Cross of Valour (Greece) counted as a foreign gallantry award because of its title, but sources say only 'for his service in Greece' (disarming guerrillas), not a specific act. If excluded as not a true gallantry award, gallantryCount = 2; totalMedalsCount stays 15 either way.
Mentioned in Despatches four times (Te Ara, Wikipedia), counted as one item. Dates of individual mentions not found.
Defence Medal and NZ War Service Medal: from the Cenotaph list only; entitlement plausible, no separate source. 1939-45 Star, Africa Star and Italy Star likewise inferred from his service and the Cenotaph list. Pacific/other clasps not claimed.
Possible extras not found and not counted: any 1937 Coronation Medal, 1935 Jubilee Medal, NZ Efficiency or Long Service award, or Thai/Vietnamese honours during his ambassadorship.
