caption serviceyears servicenumber branch commands death_place death_date birth_place allegiance awards battles birth_date rank image article_title name
colonel corps , may 1940 c.h. simpson as chief signal officer of i 1914 -- 1946 vx79 australia australian army 6th company infantry brigade 39th infantry battalion 3rd division signals heidelberg , victoria 23 august 1964 st kilda , victoria australia commander cross volunteer decoration mentioned in despatches -lrb- 2 -rrb- of the order of the british empire military first world war 13 april 1894 major general simpson 001823.jpg colin hall simpson
 colin hall simpson
colin hall simpson

major general colin hall simpson , cbe , mc , vd -lrb- 13 april 1894 -- 23 august 1964 -rrb- was an australian army officer who rose to the rank of major general as signal officer in chief during the second world war .
he was one of the founders of amcal , the largest retail pharmacy chain in australia .
simpson joined the first australian imperial force in 1916 , and served on the western front in the battle of messines and battle of passchendaele .
he was twice wounded , and was mentioned in despatches and awarded the military cross .
after the war he worked as a pharmacist , and rose to the rank of colonel in the militia .
he transferred to the australian corps of signals on its formation in 1925 .
during the second world war he participated in the campaigns in greece and syria as chief signals officer of the i corps .
he returned to australia in 1942 to become the australian army 's signal officer in chief .
he also became the first australian corps of signals officer to reach the rank of major general .
