The New Zealand Bravery Decoration, NZBD, Part 2, G to L,
Instituted in 1999 as part of a Government move to
replace British awards for gallantry with distinctive
New Zealand awards.
The New Zealand gallantry decoration replaced
The Queen’s Gallantry Medal,
The Air Force Cross and
The Air Force Medal.
Awarded for
“acts of exceptional bravery in situations of danger”
NZBD
Robert Bruce GIBSON 3 May 2008
Constable NZP
Citation
On 5 June 2005 at 9.20 am, a man drove into the St Lukes shopping centre carpark in Auckland after being pursued by Police for driving dangerously through inner-city Auckland.
Once in the carpark the offender, who was armed with a cut-down AK47 style assault rifle, tried unsuccessfully to hijack a car occupied by a mother and her six-year-old daughter.
The offender then tried to hijack a second car, but was distracted by the arrival of a Police car driven by Constable Pennington and Constable Gibson.
Seeing the Police officers arrive, the offender approached the Police car and pointed the rifle at Constable Pennington.
He pulled the trigger, but the gun failed to fire as it had not been properly cocked.
Undeterred, the offender continued to approach the car still aiming the rifle at Constable Pennington.
While this was happening, Constable Pennington retained his composure and hastily made a radio call to Police Control.
Constable Gibson dived out of the car.
The offender continued to struggle with his rifle and when he finally managed to chamber a round, he fired a shot into the roof of the carpark.
Not knowing in which direction this shot had been fired, Constable Pennington also dived out of the car.
Realising that both Police officers were now lying prone on the opposite side of the vehicle, the offender fired several shots through the rear passenger door of the Police car in an attempt to kill them.
One of these shots passed close to Constable Gibson’s head.
The offender then ran off and attempted to hijack a further two vehicles at the car park entrance.
During this time, both constables moved to a position where they could observe the offender.
Believing that several members of the public were in grave danger, Constable Pennington stepped out from behind cover to attract his attention.
Realising the Police officers were still alive, the offender ran back into the carpark firing at them.
Both constables ran up a ramp and, once they believed they were clear of the offender, they warned other members of the public who were in the vicinity to get clear of the area and then called for back up.
During this time, the offender finally managed to hijack a vehicle containing a man and his elderly parents and drove off with them still in the car.
During the ensuing pursuit of the hijacked vehicle, the offender fired on Police a further three times and was eventually apprehended by the Armed Offenders Squad.
Throughout this incident, both these unarmed Police officers displayed great bravery in confronting an armed offender who was intent on killing them.
Working as a team, they made sure members of the public were warned of potential danger and managed to prevent at least two attempts by the offender to hijack vehicles in the car park.
They also kept Police controllers informed throughout the incident, which facilitated the subsequent arrest of the offender by the Armed Offenders Squad.
Terence Albert HOOD 23 October 1999
Citation:
On the evening of 4 July 1989 Mr Hood, a security guard, accompanied an electrician as he carried out routine tests on newly installed 11,000 volt oil circuit breakers in the MED substation located in an area under construction at the Defence Department Building, Stout Street, Wellington.
The electrician noticed there was a serious problem as one of the circuits breakers had been installed with no oil in the contact chamber.
As he switched off the circuit breaker it exploded throwing out molten copper and flames.
It also threw the electrician against a wall opposite the exit and blasted Mr Hood backwards out of the door.
However, hearing the cries from the electrician, who was on fire he came back into the room past the burning equipment and dragged the electrician to safety and used his bare hands to extinguish the man’s burning hair and clothes.
Mr Hood’s actions saved the life of the electrician.
Graeme James HUNT 23 October 1999
Citation:
At Flaxmere on 21 April 1996, Mr Hunt was at his home when he heard a noise like a gunshot.
Going outside, he saw a police car on the street in front of his house.
He ran to the vehicle, accompanied by his two daughters, aged 12 and 10 years, where they discovered a shot police officer lying by the car.
As Mr Hunt attempted to assist the officer, another bullet travelled in front of Mr Hunt, lodging in the driver’s door of the car.
Looking up, he saw a man in another car pointing a rifle at him through the vehicle’s window, only some 5 to 6 metres in from of the police car.
At this time Mr Hunt was with the constable between the two doors of the police car, the eldest daughter was standing in front of the car and the youngest behind her father.
Mr Hunt moved quickly to the rear corner of the police car, before a further shot was fired, which also lodged in the driver’s door.
The other car then left the scene, after which Mr Hunt returned to the constable, whose wounds were unfortunately fatal.
Mr Hunt placed his own life at risk to help the fatally wounded police officer.
Dr. Lydia Grace JOHNS - PUTRA 23 June 2014
Citation
When the 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck Christchurch on 22 February 2011, Dr Lydia Johns-Putra had been attending a conference of Australasian urologists.
Dr Johns-Putra joined fellow doctors to assist those injured in the quake and was directed by Police to the collapsed Pyne Gould Corporation building.
She joined anaesthetist Dr Bryce Curran, a firefighter and a Police officer in a rescue operation for a man who was trapped inside the building.
The man was in danger of bleeding to death with his legs pinned between a concrete pillar and a collapsed floor section.
There was no way to remove the concrete safely and a decision was made to amputate both of his legs.
The man was administered morphine and ketamine to provide anaesthesia and tourniquets were applied to his legs.
Dr Johns-Putra then began the amputation procedure lit by torches and using a hacksaw and penknife.
She grew fatigued from the effort of operating the saw in a confined space and passed the hacksaw to the Police officer, the firefighter and Dr Curran who took turns in completing the operation.
An aftershock occurred during the operation.
The man was then placed in a tarpaulin and carried to waiting ambulance staff outside the building.
Dr Lydia Johns-Putra and the rescue team carried out a lengthy operation with minimal equipment in a confined, unstable and dark space whilst under the constant threat of aftershocks.
The man survived due to their efforts.
Heath Courtney JONES 2 April 2011
Sgt NZP
Citation
On 7 May 2009, Sergeant Heath Jones was one of the first Police Officers to arrive at the scene of the fatal shooting of Senior Constable Len Snee, and the wounding of Mr Len Holmwood, and Senior Constables Grant Diver and Bruce Miller, by Mr Jan Molenaar in Chaucer Road South, Napier.
Sergeant Jones advanced into the immediate scene of the incident with several colleagues while under fire from Mr Molenaar.
Once the position where the wounded Senior Constable Miller was lying had been located, he, along with Constable Kevin Rooney and Senior Sergeant Anthony Miller, moved over to where he lay to protect him.
It was about this time that a group of three Armed Offenders Squad members passed close by, attracting the attention of the gunman who fired five to 10 shots from a high-powered rifle that kicked up dirt and stones very close to where they were crouching.
Also about this time, Detective Sergeant Smith decided to use a red civilian car parked nearby to remove Senior Constable Miller from the scene.
Sergeant Jones provided cover with his rifle while Detective Sergeant Smith drove the car to where Senior Constable Miller lay and, with the assistance of Senior Sergeant Miller and Constable Rooney, successfully evacuated Constable Miller from the scene.
Having assisted in the evacuation of Senior Constable Miller, Sergeant Jones and others withdrew from their position and established a cordon point at the northern junction of Chaucer Road South and Guys Hill Road.
It was here that they were advised that the wounded Senior Constable Diver was located at No. 45 Chaucer Road South, two doors away from gunman Jan Molenaar’s house at No. 41.
A plan was formulated in which an evacuation party consisting of Detective Sergeant Clere, Detective Sergeant Smith and Mr Stephen Smith, an Advanced Paramedic from St John Ambulance, would take a stretcher to where Senior Constable Diver was hiding and attempt to remove him from the scene.
The plan included provision for a ‘hot extraction’ using an ambulance, should the group be fired upon at any stage. Sergeant Jones gave his ballistic vest to the paramedic and remained at the cordon point while the evacuation party set out.
Having successfully recovered Senior Constable Diver from his position at No. 45, the evacuation party began its return journey to the cordon point, however, they encountered difficulty due to the steep gradient of the hill.
Seeing this, Sergeant Jones, without his ballistic vest, ran down the hill, took over from one of the other Police Officers at the front of the stretcher and assisted the group to safety.
Sergeant Jones played an important role in the events that took place on the morning of 7 May.
He displayed exceptional bravery and put his own life in danger during the successful evacuation of Senior Constable Miller from his exposed position near the gunman’s house, while under fire, by providing cover while his colleagues protected Senior Constable Miller and then placed the wounded officer in the car.
He performed a second act of bravery that morning by going to the assistance of the group evacuating Senior Constable Diver, even though he had earlier given his body armour to the paramedic in the evacuation team.
Geoffrey Frank KNIGHT 29 January 2005
Constable NZP [Rtd]
Citation:
Shortly after midnight on 4 June 2001, Constable Knight attended a violent domestic incident near Tapanui.
The two occupants of a house had been traumatised by the actions of the male occupant's brother, who had broken into the house and assaulted the male occupant, causing serious injury.
He threatened to kill the female occupant and her children and had unsuccessfully attempted to open their fire-arms cabinet.
By this time, the female occupant and children had sought safety in a bedroom.
Unable to gain access to them, the intruder retreated, armed with a knife and threatening to kill.
At this point, Constable Knight arrived alone and called for Police backup, which he knew would be up to 30 to 40 minutes away.
The intruder reappeared, resisted arrest and engaged in a violent struggle with Constable Knight, who managed to restrain him for approximately 30 minutes until local Fire Brigade members arrived to assist.
The offender was subsequently charged with numerous offences.
Georgina Rose LANGFORD 2 December 2013
Citation
On the night of 21 April 2011 Ms Georgina Langford, aged 21, was at home at an isolated rural address near Nelson, with her mother and bedridden stepfather.
A family member arrived, pursued by his father who was suffering from paranoia and who intended to kill his son.
The father then arrived at the house with a 12 gauge Remington 812 shotgun, in a highly agitated and emotional state.
Ms Langford and her mother met him at the front door, where he demanded to know where his son was.
They knew he was unstable and had already assaulted his son.
Ms Langford’s mother attempted to make him leave by pushing him and the shotgun away, but he brushed her aside.
Ms Langford then attempted to push him and the shotgun out of the house, but he also pushed her aside and shot his son in the chest at almost point-blank range.
Despite the immediate risk to herself, Ms Langford then grabbed the barrel of the gun with both hands, and tried to pull it from the man.
Her mother told her to let the gun go, which she did, and the man left the house.
Ms Langford then called for emergency services.
While she was doing this, the man returned to the house with the gun, and took the phone from her.
She then went into an adjoining room, where her stepfather was bedridden with Multiple Sclerosis.
He told her to leave the house, and she went outside and hid in bushes until the armed man left the property.
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