RADIO COAST WATCHERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 61, 10 April 1946, Page 2

RADIO COAST WATCHERS

REHABILITATION AID DECLARED ELIGIBLE

The Rehabilitation Board has decided that Post and Telegraph Department employees who served in the Pacific on radio coast watching duties during the war years should be regarded as servicemen within the meaning of the Rehabilitation Act. This entitles such persormel t® apply for rehabilitation assistance.

It was stated that the men concerned, of whom there were les« than 100, had during their service been subject to military discipline. The Army had been responsible for their uniforming, feeding and transportation, and the provision of medical treatment. Their names were shown on embarkation rolls and they had files at Base Records. On discharge they were eligible for war pensions. However, various Army privileges such as travel warrants, furlough and mufti allowances had not beep granted them because they were on full civilian pay with alowances while they were serving.

On the other hand, War Cabinet in July of last year decided that soldiers’ privileges, including war gratuities, might at the discretion of the Minister of Defence, be granted to men in this category who had served in dangerous areas such as the Gilbert and Ellice Island group. A board member remarked that some of the men had been away for as long as five years with long intervals between receiving mail from home.