"I WISH YOU WELL"

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 227, 18 October 1940, Page 7

"I WISH YOU WELL"

MR CHURCHILL'S SPEECH TO SECOND ECHELON '(From the Official War Correspondent with .the New Zealand Forces in Great Britain) Somewhere in Britain, Sept 4. Mr Winston Churchill's visit to the New Zealand camps, of which Daventry will have told you something, took place under a cloudless sky on the hottest afternoon of an ■unusually good summer. The Prime Minister was late in arriving, but lie stayed his full time, moved freely among the training and paraded troops, and, at the larger of the two ■•concentrations which had been arranged for him, give us a taste of the rich Ghurchillian phrase that so •aptly expresses the spirit of the British people in this time of trial and test. "Soldiers of New Zealand," he •saiA—"ln the name of the British Government I wish to tell you how ver3 r glad we are to have had you with us du2}jj£ these last lour months: so critical for our island home and so fateful in the history of the British Empire. When you came, our forces in this island were i>yi no means as strong as they are to-day—not to go into detail. When you first came, a comparatively small army of the enemy might have wrought much havoc here before they had been finished off. But now we have very powerful armies here; •and if, as some think, that bad man is inclined to try hie venture, Ave feel sure we shall give a good account of ourselves. And again I say ■we are very glad that troops from New Zealand would bear their part an the defence of this ancient State "and island—the heart of the Empire: the cradle and the citadel of free institutions throughout the world. "This is not the first time I have seen a New Zealand brigade or division on the eve of battle. 1 saw your division in '1.917 when Sir Douglas Haig reviewed them. I sat by his side. In those days I made the munitions for the Army. Nor is it the first time I have seen your general, my honoured friend Bernard Freyberg, in the midst of-war alarms It is a long time ago since, as First Ford of the Admiralty, I signed the necessary papers to procure him a commission as sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve,, from which he rose to high com-' mand—by unexampled valour in attack, by training in knowledge of the militar3 r . art, and by being a veritable salamander in the fire of the enemy. You are in good hands. I trust you in utmost confidence to him. He has never led finer men in all his experience of Avar. And ther« is one thing I will tell you about him: He may set you some hard tasks; he will never be able to tell you to do anything that he has not done himself.

"We in this island are now bearing the accumulated weight of the malice and tyranny of the eneniy. iWe do not feel unequal to it.. We are sure we shall prove ourselves not unequal to the task of once again being the champion and the liberator of Europe. WC do not feel lonely when the sons of our great Dominions overseas —lands where they breed the finest lighting races -—come back here, or come to other parts of the British Empire, there to bear their part in this great contention. "I wish you well. I wish you great good luck. May God protect you. I am sure you will crown the name of New Zealand with new honours, •with a luster which avill not fade as the years pass by. "Of all the wars we have ever fought, nonejias been more honourable, more righteous, than this. None'has been by us. In none has weight been thrown upon us. rvoni none shall we emerge with a esnse of xluty done. "May fortune rest upon your arms. May you return home with victory to your credit, having written pages into the annals of the Imperial iA.rmy which will be turned, over by future generations whenever they •wish to find a model for fine military conduct."