New Zealand (born in Britain)
Bernard Freyberg
1889–1963 Battalion commander, Royal Naval Division, 1916; brigade commander, 1917–1918
Born in Richmond, Surrey, Freyberg grew up in New Zealand. In 1914 he went to England and, after approaching Winston Churchill, gained a commission in the Hood Battalion of the Royal Naval Division. In April 1915 he swam ashore at night to light flares as a diversion for the Gallipoli landings, winning the DSO. On 13 November 1916, commanding a battalion at Beaucourt on the Somme, he was wounded repeatedly yet captured the village and 500 prisoners, earning the Victoria Cross. A temporary brigadier general in 1917, he won two bars to his DSO in 1918, the second for seizing a bridge at Lessines on 11 November. He served as Governor-General of New Zealand from 1946 to 1952 and died on 4 July 1963.