Army officer fulfils career and family goals at Gallipoli  

Lieutenant Colonel Yardley is the contingent commander for the 2026 New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Türkiye.

He is leading a 38-strong NZDF party made up of Navy, Army and Air Force personnel and civilian support staff, who will play crucial roles in leading the combined Australian and New Zealand services marking the failed campaign.

Lieutenant Colonel Yardley will also be the first member of his family to visit Gallipoli and the battlefield where his great-grandfather fought 111 years ago.

His great-grandfather, Private Francis Rochford, landed at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915 with the Canterbury Battalion.

Two weeks later, during a disastrous assault against Turkish machine guns at a killing field called the Daisy Patch, he was seriously wounded by shrapnel and evacuated to England.

After recovering, he returned to New Zealand and continued his service as a member of the New Zealand Army permanent staff, later working as an instructor at Trentham Military Camp.

“His decision to fight for 'King and country' clearly had an impact on our family,” Lieutenant Colonel Yardley said.

“It inspired my grandfather, my father, and ultimately myself to serve.”

Born in Singapore, where his father was serving at the time, Lieutenant Colonel Yardley grew up in Ōakura in Taranaki, was educated at Coastal Taranaki School (formerly Okato College), joined the NZ Army in 2006 and is currently the Commanding Officer of the Joint Military Police Unit at Trentham.

His career has included a wide range of operational deployments, including the Solomon Islands, Afghanistan, Iraq and Korea.  

This will be the ninth international Anzac Day ceremony he has attended in uniform. And while every Anzac service is memorable, this one is personal. 

"This is the place ANZAC started. This is where New Zealand's national identity was forged and this is where my family's military history began.

“Leading the NZDF commemorative contingent at this most sacred of sites is a great honour and privilege.

“Like the rest of our party, I’ll be able to walk the same beaches, hills and gullies that our former comrades in arms did during a conflict that defined our country over a century ago,” Lieutenant Colonel Yardley said.