Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Bernard Mullane is a retired officer of the

New Zealand Army The New Zealand Army (, ) is the principal Army, land warfare force of New Zealand, a component of the New Zealand Defence Force alongside the Royal New Zealand Navy and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Formed in 1845, as the New Zealand Mil ...

, and an advocate for veterans' affairs.

Early life

Mullane spent his childhood in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, 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 (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. 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 Infan ...

Fort Benning Fort Benning (named Fort Moore from 2023–2025) is a United States Army post in the Columbus, Georgia area. Located on Georgia's border with Alabama, Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve compone ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. 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 Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...

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 which serves as the Army service component for United States Indo-Pacific Command. It may also serve as a Joint Task Force headquarters. The command has forces in Alas ...

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. t ...

, 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 r ...

, 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 Military personnel from Auckland Year of birth missing (living people)