at Damour on 6 July when our forward infantry were pinned to the ground by heavy hostile machine gun fire Lieutenant Cutler, regardless of all danger, went to bring a line to his outpost when he was seriously wounded. Twenty-six hours elapsed before it was possible to rescue this officer, whose wound by this time had become septic necessitating the amputation of his leg. Throughout the Campaign this officer's courage was unparalleled and his work was a big factor in the recapture of Merdjayoun. London Gazette Diplomatic and vice-regal career Following the war, Cutler began a long career in the Australian diplomatic service. At the age of 29 he was appointed High Commissioner to New Zealand (1946–52). Other postings within the Commonwealth followed; he served in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) (1952–55) and was the Australian Minister in Egypt during the Suez Crisis in 1956. As a result of his service in Egypt, Cutler was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1957 New Years Honours. Cutler acted as Secretary-General of the South-East Asia Council of Ministers meeting in Canberra in January 1957 and became Chief of Protocol of the Department of External Affairs (1957–58). Cutler was also State President of the Returned Services League in 1958. He was Australian High Commissioner in Pakistan, (1958–61), and Australian Consul-General in New York, (1961–65), during which period he was the Australian delegate to the United Nations General Assembly in 1962, 1963 and 1964 and was the Australian Representative to independence of the Republic of Somalia in 1960. For his diplomatic services to Australia, Cutler was honoured by The Queen as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in December 1965. He was further honoured as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) in 1970. He was appointed a Knight of the Order of Australia (AK) in 1981. His final diplomatic posting, in 1965, as Ambassador to the Netherlands, was cut short in 1966 when he returned home as Governor of New South Wales, an office he served for a record 15 years, through four Premiers, and a change of government after eleven years of conservative rule. Such was his popularity that the Labor Premier, Neville Wran, extended his last term until 1981. As the longest-serving state governor, Cutler occasionally acted as Administrator of the Commonwealth of Australia in the absence