"ENGLAND"

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 239, 18 November 1940, Page 5

"ENGLAND"

MEMORIES FOR SECOND ECHELON KINDNESSES SHOWN (From the Official War Correspondent attached to the New Zealand Forces in Britain OCTOBER, 24.

For years to come, "England" will mean for some thousands of men of the 2nd New Zealand Eixpeditioriary Forcc a little village in Kent. Not always the same village: there are some ten or a dozen sharing the honour, but only one in the mind of each man. Our sjjell in the field> ready and waiting for an emergency that so far has not come, ha 3 brought us as near to the heart of English people, and to the kernel of village life, as we could ever hope to be without prolonged residence in the country. As evidence of the spirit of friend ship between the troops and the British people a letter for a sergeant in one of the Rifle Battalions is. eloq.uent evidence. He had made friends with the village schoolmaster: and here is the letter the school master wrote him: "Dear Sergeant H The news is around that you fellows are leaving tlie village for another "unknown" destination. Without probing into official secrets,. we are very sorry indeed if it is true, as the whole village has developed a rather extraordinary affection for you all, and will be sorry to lose you. This is perfectly sincere, by the way, and not mere hooey!

If any of the fellows have children at home, we have some little things from the school Ave would like to slip in as mementoes, if they are suitable. They are only little crocheted things,, but stand for a lot. They .will, at least, let your kiddies see l>ow much ours appreciate what the Dominions are doing, and assure them that if they themselves are ever in trouble, help will not be very far away.

(Here - follows a paragraph suggesting a meeting at the schoolhouse to inspect the articles).

If the news is true that you are shifting, tell the fellows' that the whole village is sorry and hopes they'll come back again, perhaps in happier timesi" Material for Stories The battalia.a lias not left the village; but in war nothing is permanent, so someday it will have to go. Then there will be sorrow on its side as well. B—is its village, just as L —« and G—, and another L —, and H —, and S——are the personal villages of neighbouring New Zealand units. When friends in the First Echelon tell us stories of their first meetings with the' Arabs, and Cairo, and the Nile, .we shall feign to pity them, for having missed these picturesque corners of England whose very walls ooze the history of our race. We shall recount —and possibly enlarge upon-—the tales the villagers have told us of their "characters." Of the stranger who comes down every week-end, and who says he has a job in Lon r don, but whom all the gossips suspect of being a fifth columnist. Of the retired colonel who stamps around in the Home Guard, screw-i ing his monocle ever more firmly into a deep-socketed eye, and telling everybody how they did things on the North-west Frontier, where war was war. Of- Little Miss X., who lives all alone, is reputed to spend her days and evenings in constant meditation on .the Book of Revelation, and has never unpacked her furniture since she came there 20 years ago, for fear the end of the world should catch her unprepared. The village is fond of Miss X., but it does wonder what she proposes to do with her furniture when that great day comes. ;

Hospitality Practically every home there is open to one or more ot our b,oys. Many of the more humble are old homes, without modern conveniences. So people who have newer houses, with bathrooms, "double* bank." They have made their own friends among the troops, and ask them along. But also they ask along their friends' friends, to have hot baths. Or they hand in their names to the village canteen, run for New Zealanders by helpers in the Women's Institute Hall, and invitation tickets for baths are there issued to men who apply. These, tickets give the name of the house(Continued foot of previous column)