Four locals have earned King's Birthday honours for 2025. Throughout the day Nelson App has shared the stories of the four recipients.
Close to four decades in the military has awarded retired Rear Admiral Jim Gilmour another stripe.
Now at ease in Collingwood after concluding his Naval service in November 2024, he’s been honoured by the son of the late Queen whom he’d sworn allegiance to upon joining the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) in 1985.
Made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2025 King’s Birthday Honours for his proficiency in the New Zealand Defence Force, a fitting excuse to voice the military phrase, “Bravo Zulu” (well done).
Jim says he was “grateful” to be recognised, and the attribution landed with his whānau and the “extraordinary” Kiwis he’d worked, with both civilian and in uniform.
It may be palpable that Jim made haste to the Navy being born and raised in Devonport, but it was the practicality that enthralled him amid his latter years at Marlborough Boys’ College.
“I thought of that as a pretty good way of getting free transport back to Devonport, and I thought what I'd do is give it a month or two so it's not obvious, and I left 39 years and 10 months later,” he says.
“I'm very proud of what the New Zealand Defence Force stands for and the values that it espouses… the thing I take away from it is just how much opportunity there is to advance yourself if you apply yourself.”
Jim’s formative years encompassed conducting training, bridge watch-keeping, helicopter control, and a navigating officer role.
In 1990 he was selected for pilot training and for 14 years flew fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, including with the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s No. 3 Squadron.
In 2008 Jim was promoted to command the newly-commissioned HMNZS Canterbury, spearheading maritime relief operations following the 2009 Samoa tsunami and the 2011 Canterbury earthquake.
Another echelon for Jim was added in 2011, commanding Combined Task Force 151, which was part of a Combined Maritime Force comprising international naval vessels, to conduct counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.
“Somali pirates were coming up in small boats, getting on board ships with ladders and grappling hooks, and taking command and taking them to anchorages off the coast of Somalia,” he says.
“That was really disruptive to global trade… and we embarked in a United States ship, and we were at sea for three months.
“It was a real privilege, and we had an opportunity to deter piracy and actually intervene at one point.”
In 2016, as maritime component commander, Jim led the multinational maritime response for the Kaikōura earthquake relief efforts.
He lauded the personnel's mahi (work) to evacuate people, enabling him to “keep a soft hand on the wheel”.
These included personnel from Australia, the USA and Canada, who were in Aotearoa for the RNZN's 75th anniversary when the quake struck.
Commander Joint Forces New Zealand was his next post between 2018 and 2024, responsible to the Chief of Defence Force for operational-level planning, command and control of all joint and/or combined (international) operations and NZDF exertions.
Jim helmed NZDF forces in support of the government’s responses to the Christchurch mosque attacks, the Whakaari (White Island) eruption, Covid-19, the fall of Afghanistan, the Ukraine war, the 2022 Tonga volcano eruption, Cyclone Gabrielle, and ongoing missions abroad.
Bowing out from the military, Jim’s next mission is a little more composed, converting his and his wife’s 2016-purchased Collingwood holiday home into their permanent base.
“I think I added some value throughout my career, and a lot of it was very pleasing… living in Golden Bay is a phenomenal place to settle after a long and busy career.”
