29 Facts About Ragnar Garrett

Ragnar Garrett served as Chief of the General Staff from 1958 to 1960.

Ragnar Garrett was adjutant and quartermaster in several regiments of the Australian Light Horse before undertaking staff training in England, which he completed just as the Second World War broke out.

Ragnar Garrett was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his staff work.

Ragnar Garrett took over Southern Command as a lieutenant general in October 1954, and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1957.

Ragnar Garrett attended Guildford Grammar School before entering the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1918.

Ragnar Garrett graduated in 1921 and was posted to the Australian Light Horse as a lieutenant.

In November 1923, Ragnar Garrett was seconded to the British Army, and spent the next twelve months attached to the 2nd Dragoon Guards in Bangalore, India.

Ragnar Garrett was posted to the staff of Army Headquarters, Melbourne, in March 1936, and departed for England in November 1937 to attend the Staff College, Camberley.

Ragnar Garrett was promoted to major in July 1938, and returned to Australia upon the outbreak of the Second World War.

Ragnar Garrett joined the Second Australian Imperial Force in November 1939, and was appointed brigade major of the 18th Brigade under Brigadier Leslie Morshead in January 1940.

The campaign was controversial in that it appeared to have little impact on the main drive against Japan; Ragnar Garrett was quoted as calling it "an absolute waste of time".

Ragnar Garrett was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his "skill, direction, and supervision of the highest order" in having "prepared and guided all staff work to meet every conceivable requirement in the complete reorganisation of forces in New Guinea"; the honour was promulgated in The London Gazette on 19 July 1945.

Ragnar Garrett oversaw the brigade's return to Australia before its disbandment in March 1946.

Ragnar Garrett was posted to Japan in March 1947, becoming Brigadier-in-Charge of Administration for the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in July.

In December 1949, Ragnar Garrett resumed command of the Staff College, Queenscliff.

Ragnar Garrett became Deputy Chief of the General Staff in February 1953.

In December 1953, Ragnar Garrett succeeded Major General Eric Woodward as Adjutant-General and Second Military Member of the Military Board.

Ragnar Garrett was promoted temporary lieutenant general in October 1954 and appointed GOC Southern Command, which was headquartered in Melbourne and controlled, as of April 1953, several major Citizen Military Forces formations including the 3rd Infantry Division, the 4th and 6th Infantry Brigades, the 2nd Armoured Brigade, and two artillery groups.

Ragnar Garrett was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the Queen's Birthday Honours on 13 June 1957.

Ragnar Garrett succeeded Lieutenant General Sir Henry Wells as Chief of the General Staff on 23 March 1958.

Ragnar Garrett was raised to Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1959 New Year Honours.

Ragnar Garrett championed the pentropic structure to overcome what he saw as the weakness of the traditional battalion for overseas deployments, and to ensure compatibility with the US Army's pentomic formations.

Ragnar Garrett was concerned not only with changing the Army's organisation but with upgrading its equipment; by the early 1960s the Army would acquire the FN 7.62mm rifle, the M60 machine gun, the M101 105mm howitzer, the M113 armoured personnel carrier, and new mortars and radios.

Ragnar Garrett advocated strongly for the Army to operate its own helicopters and light aircraft; the Australian Army Aviation Corps was eventually established in July 1968.

Ragnar Garrett was scheduled to retire from the Army on his sixtieth birthday in February 1960 but the government extended his term.

Ragnar Garrett retired on 30 June 1960 and was succeeded by Lieutenant General Reg Pollard, whom Garrett had recommended for the post in the face of opposition from the Minister for the Army, John Cramer, who had attempted to appoint Major General Ivan Dougherty, a retired CMF officer.

On retiring from the military, Ragnar Garrett became principal of the Australian Administrative Staff College, a private institution delivering courses to senior business and government personnel at Mount Eliza, Victoria.

Ragnar Garrett recommended that the Army should have a division prepared for war at all times.

Ragnar Garrett served as honorary colonel of the Royal Australian Regiment and the Royal Western Australia Regiment from 1960 until 1965, when he was appointed Chairman of the Western Australian Coastal Shipping Commission, a position he held until 1970.