Seven New Zealand Defence Force personnel, including the Army officer who until recently led the NZDF’s medical services, and the officer who led the New Zealand Defence Force’s first contingent of engineers to Iraq, received honours in the Queen’s Birthday list. Brigadier David Le Page, of the Royal New Zealand Army Medical Corps is to be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Lieutenant Colonel Steve Taylor and Major Roger Margetts are to be additional Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Dr Donald Stewart, a civilian specialist senior medical officer, and Warrant Officer Class One Murray Nelson are to be Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Leading Marine Technician Matthew Overton and Cdr David Toms are to be additional Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Brigadier le Page, who became Director-General of the NZDF medical services in 1999, and is currently on sabbatical leave doing clinical work, has served throughout the world, including Iraq, Macedonia and Timor Leste.
His deployment to Macedonia, where he was based at a refugee camp treating people fleeing from Kosovo, was one of the most challenging jobs he has had during his time with the NZDF, he says.
“It was a relatively short deployment, but we were dealing with very traumatised people. Our medical team provided care for those people with minimal facilities where normally their conditions were such they would have been treated in a district hospital. I have worked with wonderful people over many years in the Defence Force.”
Lieutenant Colonel Taylor, from the New Zealand Intelligence Corps, was New Zealand’s senior national officer with the first 60-strong engineer contingent which deployed to Basra in Iraq in 2003.
The high threat level in Iraq was “just part of the job”, he says. “The engineers did an incredible job, considering the challenges they faced. I had oversight of their taskings, and represented New Zealand’s interests to the coalition leadership. Part of my job was to ensure our engineers were only employed doing the humanitarian tasks the New Zealand Government had agreed to.”
Lieutenant Colonel Taylor has served in the Middle East and Bosnia, and says his deployment to Iraq has been “the most challenging and professionally rewarding in my career so far. I learned a lot about the conduct of operations in a high threat environment, and the importance of soldiers’ welfare.”