Local and General

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 59, 24 March 1944, Page 4

Local and General

Wounded Soldiers Gesture At the welcome home function to be held at Awakeri on Tuesday evening in 'honour of Sister Black and several district men a feature will he the appearance from llotorua of several convalescent men who were patients, in the military hospital In Egypt in which SisLer Black was nursing. Italian Decorations Flashing medals and gaudy decorations, freely issued by the Italian army as a means of bolstering up morale are among the. .souvenirs brought back to New Zealand by a number of men in the second furlough draft. An Auckland olTiccr said that medals were apparently struc-k for the most insignificant campaigns, and could now he purchased in Italian shops lor the equivalent of about .sixpence. Prized among a collection obtained by a Wellington officer is a medal especially struck to mark the Italian entry into Cairo. "Thanks for Your Butter" The obvious appreciation of Englishmen for the introduction of rationing in New Zealand, so that supplies of foodstuffs can be maintained to Great Britain is described in a letter from Pilot Officer Allan Roberts, Ii.N.Z.A.F., at present stationed in England, to his parents, Mr and Mrs E. N. Roberts, of Christchurch, states the "Press." "ii was up in London one: Sunday," writes Pilot Officer Roberts, "and we asked an elderly gentleman where a certain building was. After pointing out various places, he came out with, 'Thanks for your butter.' Well, we more or less stopped in. our tracks; after all, who were we to be thanked? Another time, a sailor in passing said, as he saluted: 'Thanks for everything.' Whether he did it because of* the New Zealand badges or the blue uniform I don't know, but it thrilled us a bit. Anotherj item of interest was the fact that Ave were saluted by the guards at Buckingham Palace —something we never expected."