TO WHOM HONOUR IS DUE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 39, 11 January 1944, Page 4

TO WHOM HONOUR IS DUE

WITH the prospect of the invasion of Europe now likely to take place in the near future and with the Russian offensive assuming the proportions of a major defeat for the Nazi invaders., it behoves us to lift our eyes a little higher so that our vision can embrace the broader field of war apart from our own New Zealand Divisions. Soldiers back from the Middle East give unstinted praise to the men of many nations who made up the Eighth Army—the Greeks, the Poles, the Czechs, the Fighting French and most of all to the British Tommy. This testimony from personal experience of the British "Tommy"' in action does timely honour to those to whom honour is due. But it does more. It recalls us to a sense of perspective, to the need for estimating values in their true proportion. We are a little country, with a small population. We are naturally, and not without some justification, proud of our progress and development, first, as a colony,, and later as a self-governing Dominion. Our soldiers by their valour and devotion to duty, and their spirit of sacrifice, have won high honours in war. We are justly proud of their fighting qualities and the laurels they have wori on the battlefields. The lustre of the Anzac tradition of the First World War has not been dimmed in this second great conflict by the sons of those who founded that tradition. But let it not be forgotten that other nations, too, have records of which they have reason to be equally proud. These nations, some of them centuries older than we'are, have distinctive highlights in the annals of their history which have earned inscriptions on the world's roll of famous men and signal achievements. In the annals of the British race there are records of achievements in social, cultural, and political progress, of episodes in warfare, that have left their marks on world his-' tory. Throughout the story there can be traced that indefinable something that has been called the. British spirit. It is expressed in an indomitableness of purpose, unfaltering perseverance, steady courage in the face of calamitous events, a disinclination to boast, and a sense of humour which is the surest index of a sense of proportion. All these racial qualities come to their zenith when the Britishsoldier is fighting against odds in the battlefield. They were seen also at . their highest when the citizens of " London, Coventry, and other densely-populated cities of England and the Clydeside of Scotland, had death rained upon them from the skies during the German air blitz. It is well to remember these things,to get into the habit of seeing the whole picture. By doing so we preserve our sense of proportion, so that while we may take due pride in our owr, achievements, we - shall do so in that spirit of humility that places our values in their right perspective.