ANZAC CLUB FOUNDER

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 58, 4 December 1946, Page 5

ANZAC CLUB FOUNDER

VISIT TO WHAKATANE MISS NOLA LUXFORD A visitor of considerable international note to this district in the near future will be Miss Nola Luxford, the enterprising young New Zealander who established the New York Anzac Club during the war years, whereby it became possible for soldiers and airmen from the Dominion to send personal messages over the air to their relatives at home.

Miss Luxford, who intends visiting this district on the 18th of December, will remain here for two or three days, as the guest of Mr de Lisle, mother of Mrs C. Le Lievre of Edgecumbe. It is the intention of Miss Luxford to contact R.S.A. organisations during her stay, and also if possible, to renew any of her friendships made whilst doing her welfare work in the States. Miss Luxford, who has been living permanently in New York since 1938, is the first New Zealand woman to gain a place in the American Who’s Who—a privilege which neither money nor influence can buy.

It was because of her connection with the National Broadcasting Commission in America that the “Anzacs Calling Home” session was launched. Miss Luxford set the scheme going by buying a recording machine and installing it in her apartment, which was always crowded with New Zealand and Australian Servicemen, who came ih to make tea and sit around and talk. She helped the men record messages which she later posted to their parents back home. The National Broadcasting Service thought it a good scheme and they gave her the facilities for making big discs on which a batch of men could send messages for transmission. Then the Office of War Information took the scheme over, incorporating it into a special session.

The Anzac Club grew out of the habit of giving personal hospitality to Australian and New Zealand men passing throifgh New York. Revenue for the Anzac Club, Miss Luxford states, came from contributions from Americans and the sale of specially-designed seals, and most of the helpers were Americans.

An interesting sidelight on the Anzac Club was a request book in which the visitors signed their names on one page and what they would like to see on the other. The club assisted them in having those requests granted. One day’s requests were to see an oi’chid farm, a meatpacking plant and a window-dress-ing display. The interests were diversified, but they were all satisfied, Miss Luxford says. Soon after the war ended, the United States Army sent Miss Luxford to Europe where she travelled from one end of the continent to the other entertaining troops, visiting hospitals and acting as a foreign correspondent for an American newspaper.

While in Germany she visited Berchtesgaden. On the surface, she said, Hitler’s home appeared to be the same as any Californian bungalow, but underground rooms were built for about 20 miles into the mountain.

While on her two months’ tour of Australia as the guest of the Australian Government, Miss Luxford was welcomed and entertained by Servicemen’s and other organisatons and at Canberra was welcomed by the New Zealand Minister, Mr J. G. Barclay. After her tour of Australia, Miss Luxford flew to New Guinea. There she visited all the battle grounds and was the guest of the Royal Australia Air Force.

In Auckland she was given a welcome by the mayor, Mr J. A. C. Allum, and mayoress, Mrs Allum. Miss Luxford will be a guest of the New Zealand Government on her Dominion tour.