Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Christopher Bernard Mullane is a retired officer of the

New Zealand Army , image = New Zealand Army Logo.png , image_size = 175px , caption = , start_date = , country = , branch = ...

, and an advocate for veterans' affairs.

Early life

Mullane spent his childhood in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand, and was educated at St Peter's College. Mullane was honoured by his old school in 2015 as an "old boy of distinction."Old boys of Distinction 2015, 17 June 2015
(Retrieved 21 December 2015)

Military career

Mullane rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the New Zealand Army. He served in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. In the mid 1970s he served as an exchange officer at the

U.S. Army Infantry School The United States Army Infantry School is a school located at Fort Benning, Georgia that is dedicated to training infantrymen for service in the United States Army. Organization The school is made up of the following components: * 197th Infantr ...

Fort Benning Fort Benning is a United States Army post near Columbus, Georgia, adjacent to the Alabama–Georgia border. Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve component soldiers, retirees and civilian employees ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. During his exchange he was appointed as Chief of the Leadership Branch, Command and Tactics Department at the School. He was awarded the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

for "exceptional abilities and dedication to duty in each of his assignments". Mullane's contribution to the US military was in the form of a leadership manual which was widely used in the US Army. But due to an administrative oversight, even though he had the medal, the award documentation was never officially approved before Mullane returned to New Zealand. The oversight was corrected and the medal was officially presented to Mullane on 18 June 2012, 33 years after he received the medal, by

United States Army Pacific The United States Army Pacific (USARPAC) is an Army Service Component Command (ASCC) designated by the Secretary of the Army (SECARMY); it may also serve as a Joint Task Force headquarters. It is the army component unit of the United States Indo ...

deputy commander, Major General Roger Matthews. In the 1982 Queen's Birthday Honours, Mullane was appointed a Member of the Military Division of the Order of the British Empire. In the

2009 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2009 were announced on 31 December 2008 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Barbados, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Christopher and Nevis,Saint Christopher. to ...

, he was made an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, for services to Vietnam veterans.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mullane, Christopher Foreign recipients of the Legion of Merit Living people New Zealand Army officers New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire New Zealand military personnel of the Vietnam War New Zealand people of Irish descent Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit People educated at St Peter's College, Auckland People from Auckland Year of birth missing (living people)