Brigadier Gwynydd Purves Wynn - Aubrey Meredith, died on 5th May 1975 aged 88 years. Brigadier Meredith was born in Swansea, Tasmania on the 19th April 1887 and educated at the Launceston Grammar School. He was appointed Lieutenant in the Royal Australian Artillery on 10th December 1910. In 1916 and 1917 posted as a company officer to No 9 Company RAA, Thursday Island. His WW1 AIF service was brief. He was appointed ‘Captain AIF’ in July 1918 ending in England in early 1920.
In 1924, after successfully attending the Royal Artillery College, Woolwich, he was awarded the postnominal ‘pac’ (passed the final examination of the Advanced Class Artillery). Using his newly acquired ordnance qualifications, he returned to Australia and was appointed Inspector of Armaments on the Munitions Supply Board. Later in that year he returned to England to study the manufacture and development of munitions.
At the rank of Major, he was appointed Officer Commanding Royal Australian Artillery, Western Australia in 1932. While in Western Australia, the then Major Meredith was involved with what came to be known as the ‘Great Emu War’. The Western Australian government had decided to reduce the large number of emus that were destroying crops by employing the Army to shoot them using several light machine gun detachments. The effort was a failure.
In 1938 he became Commanding Office 1st Heavy Brigade RAA at North Head Sydney, and subsequently Comd Coast Defences 2MD.
After a twelve-month appointment as Director of Mechanisation at Army Head Quarters, Melbourne in 1940 he became Commander Coast Defences, 1st Military District. He became Commander Fixed Defences Brisbane on 30 June 1942 and Commander Fixed Defences Queensland L of C Area on 4 January 1943, and subsequently became Commander Brisbane Fortress in mid-1943.
He retired from the Australian Army in 1947. He was not content to remain in retirement for in 1950 he joined the US Eighth Army in Japan as a Department of Army civilian and was appointed to the Tokyo Arsenal, as head of the Small Arms Section. Later, in 1952, he was transferred to Korea as senior civilian adviser on Ordnance, investigating and solving technical artillery problems.
When the Korean War finished, he stayed on to train and advise Korean Army Officers in Ordnance work. In 1957 at the age of 70 he retired for the second time and returned to Australia.
Brigadier Meredith was awarded two decorations by the Republic of Korea, the CHUNGMU DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL WITH GOLD STAR, for his 'Exceptionally meritorious service' and the ULCHI DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL, for the 'dominant role he played in the achievement of a high standard of Ordnance operations within the Republic of Korea'. He was also awarded a Certificate of Achievement by the US Eighth Army.
He was a soldier loved by his troops and highly regarded by all those who knew and served with him.
An extract from his Record of Service is available at: (https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=9100948 ) |
