Walter McKinnon

Major General Walter Sneddon McKinnon, (8 July 1910 – 20 May 1998) was an officer in the New Zealand Army. He joined the military in 1935 and served in the Second World War with various artillery units of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. After the war he held a series of senior positions in the army, culminating with a term as Chief of the General Staff from 1965 to 1967. In his retirement, he was Chairman of the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation.

Early life McKinnon was born in Invercargill. He earned a degree in science from the University of Otago before joining the New Zealand Military Forces in 1935. He married Anna Plimmer in 1937, and the couple went on to have five children, four sons and one daughter.

Second World War When the Second World War broke out, McKinnon was in England on an artillery training course. He joined the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force and served with the 3rd New Zealand Division during the campaign in the Solomon Islands. He attended the Joint Staff College in the United Kingdom in 1948 and then commanded the Southern and Northern Military Districts. In 1953, McKinnon was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.

After a three-year period in Washington, D.C., as head of New Zealand's Joint Services Staff, McKinnon was appointed adjutant-general of the New Zealand Army in 1958. Three years later, in the 1961 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. The following year, he was made quartermaster-general and then in 1965, he was appointed Chief of the General Staff. In this role he persuaded the government to send an artillery battery to serve in the Vietnam War. He retired from the army in 1967 having been made a Companion of the Order of the Bath the previous year.

Later life In his retirement, McKinnon served as Chairman of the New Zealand Broadcasting Commission. He died in Wellington on 20 May 1998,