OFFICER'S LETTER

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 7, 2 September 1940, Page 8

OFFICER'S LETTER

WHAT HAPPENED WHEN HE[ WENT FOR A WALK From a letter received in Whakatane comes the following extract:— "One day two brother'officers and myself, stationed at Aldershot, de-; cided to go for a walk. We travelled for some eight or nine miles and then began to wonder' just where avc were. With the total absence of signposts of any description We cast round for some means of finding our whereabouts and at last spied a small boy. We asked him how far it was to the next village and the name of the village and so on. He eyed us -with distrust and answered: "You /won't get anything out of me. For all I know you are German spies with-those funny peak ed caps on." Our mirth only increased his suspicions and! the last we saw of him lie was 'going for the lick of his life'—probably to report us at local headquarters. "All the children seem to be trained along similar lines and a bona fide enquirer finds it very difficult to elicit any information."

TANEATUA SOLDIER IN EGYPT INTERESTING SIDELIGHTS ON THE LIFE THERE 'Of much'interest, both in material and pleasant, easy literaiw style, is a letter from a former Taneatua soldier with' the First Echelon ,in Egypt. Covering a week's work and play,'the letter is written in diary form by Corporal Frank Harlow. The length (it would take about three columns) and reference to private matters., prohibits its publication in full, but extracts throw a sidelight on the days spent with the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. "Friday Well., to get back to the week-end (spent in Alexandria). After a swim and a stroll on Sunday morning we went back to the hotel for lunch and afterwards strolled round again. Met the Irish bombardier of the. night before and talked Avitli him for a while and then met Up with some Coldstream Guards and a Petty Officer off the "Ark Royal." AVe had a look round some of the business houses but being Sunday, the main ones were shut. We wandered into one, an office supply, store, and a in perfect English bid up 'Good Afternoon.' The owner was a Hebrew of about. 35. possessing the ability to speak ten languages fluently and make himsielx understood in another seven or eight. We had a pleasant half-hour or so with him before going back to the hotel for dinner and then

"home' to camp ...... What a pleasant surprise when w r e got home Mail, and I just stood by the lamp and fairly devoured it . . . Pay Day. "Wednesday: I was Regt. Orderly and was kept busy all morning. The afternoon was a lot better was away at cricket and there were few officers about .. . . That night the corporals of the Artillery and Divisional Cavalry held their first dinner in the Naafi. It was a great success Our Colonel came over for a while .... . "On Thursday night we were given something new. The searchlights were giving a wonderful tlisplaj' over Cairo andl one out Giza way was trained on the big Pyramid. "Saturday: This morning we spent getting paid and in the afternoon I had went over to the Artillery, lines and had a yarn with—and—. To-day was very hot and to-nigh< again we had the dust up. There was a great searchlight display again to-night, over 30 beams and some of them covered. The Pyramid has been lit up again, too. Am going to shave and get ready for an early start to-morrow morning, am going out with the Young Farmers' Club." Then follows a description of a visit ..to the Giza Research Station, an outline of which was published in the BEACON some days ago. The writer concludes:— "I finished off the day by hunting up St. Andrew's Church of Scotland and arrived there in time for the service at 6.30 p.m. The service is very much the same as in New Zealand. There was not a very big congregation of civilians, but quite a number in uniform, including Captain and Mrs Spence. He Avas at Ngaruawahia with us. ~ After the service we went into the Church Hall and for the sum of 1 piastre were able to procure two cups of tea and one doughnut. Sat and yarned with some Tommy volunteers and then home "