Monrad Metzgen - Military Service

Military Service

Captain Metzgen had a military record that was equally impressive. He joined the British Honduras Mounted Infantry on 1 March 1906 and the next year he went with the force, under Major F.M. Maxwell, to quell a riot at the Stann Creek Railway. The same year he accompanied the force again to Sapodilla Caye on the "City of Belize" to assist in preventing filibustering on the coast of General Bonilla of Honduras.

In 1915 he applied to join the War Contingent but his application was not approved owing to the number of Civil Servants that had already obtained permission to enlist. He was appointed 2nd Lieutenant of the British Honduras Territorial Forces in June, 1918 and on the formation of the Defence Force in 1928 he was appointed a Lieutenant of this Force. He was in charge of the Defence Force during the first two days after the terrible Belize hurricane of September 1931 and the hard work he put in on the occasion, rescuing the injured and dying, burying the dead and feeding the homeless, won the admiration of all.

The planter and the agricultural cause generally had and still have a stalwart friend in Capt. Metzgen. He has the distinction of being the founder of the British Honduras Agricultural Society and the successes of the great agricultural and industrial exhibitions staged under the auspices of the Society in 1928 and 1931 were due largely to his capable and tireless direction.

In 1927 he convened at Belize an agricultural conference which brought together planters from all sections of the Colony. He was a most useful member of the Agricultural Advisory Committee appointed by His Excellency the Governor and Chief Justice Greenidge as Chairman.