WITH THE TROOPS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 189, 22 July 1940, Page 7

WITH THE TROOPS

ADVENTURES OF THE WAR (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service). EGYPT, June 22. Two New Zealand soldiers and a bright-eyed little squirrel had their first glimpse this week of the camp of the First Contingent in Egypt. The men were four months late in arriving here —but the adventures which befell them during those four months are the envy of every other member of the force. Tales of life on tea plantations in Ceylon, experiences in a raging typhoon, a two days' train journey across India, and Italian bombing raids on Aden were related by the pair with the vividness of first-hand accounts. Entering hospital in Colombo when the convoy of the First Contingent called there, they had made their way to Egypt by a round about route after waiting 'in vain for a direct passage. The men are Private G- J. W. Gor- j ton, of InvercargiM, and Private C. J W. D. Tait, of Pio Pio, near Te < Kuiti, whose father's home is at Al- I Auckland. The squirrel is I Tait's living memento of Ceylon, where he rescued it from a dog. He ' and the quaint creature have be- 1 come the closest of friends. Gorton and Tait spent more than 1 three months in Ceylon, most of the time in an inland convalescent ] camp, where they had the company : of British sokliei-s, sailors and airmen. Thell were close, incidentally, to a camp containing German internees and prisoners of war, who seem • ed contented and w T ell treated. Three weeks were spent by the pair with a New Zealand couple, Mr and Mrs J. K. Olney, formerly, of Timaru, on a tea plantation cf which Mr Olney is manager. It was during this time that they experienced the typhoon, said to have been the worst the country had known. Plantations were flattened by the terrific wind and. deluge of rain, rice fields were scoured out, bridges swept away, roads blocked and many lives lost., "The gale hadn't blown itself out when Ave received word to report to Colombo to re-embark," Tait said. "It was a nightmare trip to the port. We travelled in a bus until it could go no further, 'humped' our packs for a few miles, and finally got through in a car after clearing storm wreckage and broken telegraph lines from the road at various points." The journey proved to haye been made in vain, however, for passages out of Colombo could not be secured. After a further wait, arrangements were made for the two men to cross to India and travel overlanil to Bombay. The train journey was a long and trying one, with the heat so intense, according to Tait, that it was impossible at times to sit on the leather seats of the carriage. Reaching Bombay, the New Zealanders boarded a ship bound for Egypt, and arrived at Aden just before Italy entered the war. There the biggest thrill of all was in store for them —the spectacle of five raids by Italian bombers on the town and harbour. "At about midnight on the second riight, the sound of air raid alarms sent us hurrying up on deck" Gorton related. "The sky was aliv 1 with searchlights, and we spotted a ione bomber, high up. The raider was given a wonderfully warm reception when the shore batteries quickly opened fire. The noise was deafening, and our ship was rocked by the concussion of the gunfire. Still, the raider must have been more uncomfortable than we were, because he disappeared after harmlessly dropping *tliree bombs. "The next few hours brought us more excitement. Five 'planes came over together, and were given a still warmer welcome. I saw two of them shot down; a searchlight followed each for a while as it fluttered towards the ground. Almost every ship in the harbour, war vessels and merchantmen alike, seemed to have opened fire, and we could clearly see the barrage of bursting shells around the aircraft. "Several bombs were dropped, but we learned that no serious damage was done, although there were a few casualties among the natives. We saw a bomb explode on the water only a few hundred yards from us—believe me, we began to realise there was n v, ar on!" Thrice more during their stay at Aden the New Zcrfinnders heard the warning sirens and saw Italian bombers drrven from the night sky. Gorton also described - how they pass ed in the ha '■) .-v.li'' an Kalian freight■'r whose »•)•!•>' Je-u! ai tempted

scuttle her. The ship had been seized just in time and the water pumped out of her hull. Their liner was given a strong naval guard in the final stage of the journey. And so at last the two "stragglers" came to the camp in Egypt, bronzed of skin and filled with strange tales, Tait's curious mascot clinging to his uniform with tfny claws. "Say what you like about 'Eileen' being here," Tait declared. "It's no secret. She has already bitten the colonel on the nose." THEY ALSO SERVE Words of encouragement in the waiting game which they and other Allied forces in the Middle East arebeing called upon to play were heard by hundreds of New Zealanders who listened this week to the inauguration of a series of special radio programmes for the Services. The heartening message came from General Sir Archibald Wavell, Com-mander-in-Chief of fche British land forces in the Middle East, in whose command the First Contingent of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force is serving. General Wavell assured his forces that thley would have their part to play in the ultimate victory, and were indeed playing it now by their presence here. "Our task for the moment is the hard one of waiting," the General said. "We soldiers would all rather have been with our comrades in the West, meeting the shock and grappling with the foe. Our mission at present is to keep a large and most important part cf the w r orld, which includes the junction between West and East, safe for fredom and for sanity. Facing the Menace. "But while we are waiting and preparing ourselves, we need not clench our teeth or knit our brows or shake our lists. Still less need we grow apprehensive or draw long and solemn faces; nor are we in the least likely to do so.'" After referring to the new programmes, General Wavell remarked that it might sound strange to some that he should be speaking of light entertainment when the Allies were facing one of the great crisis of' their history. He continued: "It is in keeping with our traditions that we should face even lso great a menace lightly. "The British soldier has always gone into battle Avith ai jest, and when not actually fighting has relax ed into his normal easy humour and good nature. His only recorded bat-tle-cry is 'St. George for Merry England,' and his war songs are simple, usually humorous and often ribald,, hardly ever bombastic or patriotic .'. . "•Our easy optimism and careless outlook have often brought us '.to the edge of disaster, but our staying power and ability to endure a long war have always brought us victory in the end. That staying power is largely due to the saving sense of humour and to the ability to relax when not in action."