Major Norman Frederick Hastings, DSO (14 July 1879 – 9 August 1915) served as Officer Commanding New Zealand's 6th (Manawatu) Squadron, Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment.

After serving with British military units during the Second Anglo-Boer War in South Africa, he worked as an engineering fitter with the New Zealand Railways Department workshops at Petone.

He enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force at the outbreak of World War I, and served with distinction before dying of wounds after the attack on Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli, in August 1915.

He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (second only to the Victoria Cross for officers), was Mentioned in Despatches, and was one of only 14 members of the New Zealand Army to receive the French Legion of Honour decoration during the war.

[4] On 1 June 1909, Hastings was appointed Commander of the Dominion Scouts, E Squadron 2nd Mounted Rifles Regiment, a volunteer unit in Wellington, holding the rank of acting lieutenant.

[1][5] During this period Hastings settled in Petone where he commenced working for the New Zealand Railways Department as an engineering fitter and foreman, and with his wife raised two children: Francis Norman and Marjory.

[11] The outpost was then handed over to another squadron who came under a sustained attack throughout 29 May and were forced to withdraw on 30 May, while the Wellington Mounted Rifle Regiment continued the battle without rest for 28 hours.

[12] The unit history noted that during this time, Hastings "... performed most useful and hazardous work ..." closely reconnoitring the enemy's position and furnishing "... a most accurate report on the situation, which proved of great value".

[13] As the outpost was relinquished around midnight on 30 May the Ottomans aggressively followed up the withdrawing troops until Hastings led an advance along the ridge that enabled heavy fire to be brought down on the enemy's position.

[14] In early August 1915, Hastings was heavily involved in the Allied offensive that attempted to break the deadlock of the Gallipoli campaign through the simultaneous push for the heights above Anzac and lodgement of a new British force at Suvla Bay.

After dark on 6 August the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade commenced its task of clearing the Ottomans from the lower slopes of the Sari Bair range beginning with the Old No.

Promoted in the field to major, Hastings commanded the 6th Squadron on Chunuk Bair on 8 and 9 August as the New Zealanders attempted to hold the position against fierce Ottoman counterattacks.

His evacuation was significantly delayed by the terrain and congested approaches to the heights, and the dangers encountered by his stretcher bearers, but he was successfully admitted to the casualty clearing station down on the beach.

The inquiry was concluded at Serapeum on 3 March 1916, where Colonel William Meldrum, the commander of the Wellington Mounted Rifle Regiment, determined that Hastings had probably died of wounds received in action on 9 August 1915.