ELOQUENT WELCOME

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 19, 2 September 1946, Page 5

ELOQUENT WELCOME

EDGECUMBE RETURNED SOLDIERS

MR I. GOW’S ADDRESS

“In welcoming you all home i again, we are all anxious to see | you happily rehabilitated back*' again into civil life. We look round this gathering and we see faces of young men we have fare welled in this hall from ‘ time to time in the past. We see , that they have grown older. We want to help you all, and we j ask you if you need any assistance, or have any problems not to hesitate in asking any of we older members of the community, for we will be only too glad to help you/’

The above was taken from Mr lan Gow’s address to the returned men - from the Edgecumbe district last Friday evening. Mr Gow spoke of .the long trail of military activities, in which the Kiwi Division had been engaged with honour, to itself and to its homeland. The record he said would be one which would endure through the ages. From the shores.of this country the progress, of the Division had beSn watched with deepest interest. From the time when, as part of the Eighth Army it could do little more than , make a fighting retreat in the face ,of overwhelming odds, to the action on Crete, and the final advance from Alamein, the home people had ;, glowed with pride. Then as the victorious ‘eighth’ swept Rommel’s forces back across Northern Africa, and finally into Italy itself, victory came definitely into sight. It was a thrill to recall that our New Zealand fighting men were second to none on land, on the sea . and in the air. They had more than preserved the high traditions of the Digger’s of the last war,, and the older servicemen were proud to share with them the glories of the - new traditions which had added nartial laurels to the Dominion’s history. The community welcomed all its members home again from over-"-., seas with proud and happy hearts. . On the speaker’s call a short per- ' iod of silence was observed to -the memory of those who made the supreme sacrifice. Responding to their welcome, Col. Le Lievre said that all the returned men present appreciated the gesture yery deeply. It was good to reflect that those at home had endeavoured to keep their memory green while they were away. It was great to be home again and he would like to pay a warm tribute to those workers on the home front who had toiled so ceaselessly to raise Patriotic funds, and to despatch ' parcels and other comforts overseas. These things, he assured the gathering would be remembered by the returned men for years. He felt, and he was sure that the other guests felt likewise, that ja gesture of thanks was also due to those who toiled at home in their interests, and on his call he reversed the usual procedure and led musical honours for those good folk who had promoted the present function, and all those who assisted in the war effort at home. '