Freyberg, Bernard (1889-1963), Baron Freyberg, was a British military commander in World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945). Freyberg also served as governor general of New Zealand from 1946 to 1952. In New Zealand, the governor general is the official representative of the British monarch.
Bernard Cyril Freyberg was born in London on March 21, 1889. The Freyberg family moved to Wellington, New Zealand, in 1891. Young Bernard was educated at Wellington College and later studied to be a dentist. After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Freyberg went to the United Kingdom to join the Royal Navy. In 1915, he was badly wounded during the failed Allied campaign to seize the Gallipoli Peninsula. Freyberg then transferred to the British Army. He was again badly wounded during the 1916 Battle of the Somme, winning the Victoria Cross, the highest award for valor in the British armed services. Wounded yet again in September 1917, Freyberg returned to action in January 1918 as a brigade commander. He remained in the Army after the war until health problems forced him to retire in 1937.
During World War II, Freyberg returned to military service and commanded the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. In 1941, he commanded the Allied forces in Crete. In 1942, Freyberg was again seriously wounded during fighting in North Africa. In 1944, he led New Zealand troops during the bloody Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy. After the war, Freyberg accepted an invitation to become governor general of New Zealand. He was elevated to the nobility in 1952, receiving the rank of baron. Freyberg then returned to the United Kingdom, where he sat in the House of Lords. He died on July 4, 1963, following the rupture of one of his many war wounds.
See also ANZAC ; Cassino ; Crete, Battle of ; Governor general ; Somme, Battle of the .
