CIVILIANS SHOULD THINK TWICE

Chronicle (Levin), 6 April 1946, Page 8

CIVILIANS SHOULD THINK TWICE

■■■ ■ -v — LOOSE CONDEMNATION OF EX-SERVICEMEN 5 RESPONSIBILITIES FOR CRIME There appears to be a growing and decmedly aangerous ten-enoy a— O-g ihexn bers Ox fue oiaer ^eneiaoion co ia"y at the doorntep of ex-servicemen respoiisiDiiity ior miton oi the cr.ine and wfong-doing preval.nt m New Zealand. ac tne present time. Thj seuSationai anair at l.u is is only a rie'w ana local instance oi' vae .o^se taiis," wnlcii, tnose cmceraed woald x'eaiige it, is assuhiiu^ tue prjuort.on-. and sinister qaaiitiea oi a " wuispeiing campaign.'7 The refura from overseas of large drafts of ser'vi„emen a.iu de-uob.iisa-tion of home serviee peroO^nel has not let loose upon tae coancry a 110 od oi la.* ureakeis and irr-sponsiule elements. To sdggest so, evea in in'timate family conversanons, xs s.ri.cing a vicious blo w at vha p-'estigr of sefviceirien who ha;e won th_ir i^pu'tation the hard way on tne ba^tie frohts of the world, and uhdorinines their individual cnances Ox sac-essiul I'ehabiiitation. 'Appareatly the newspaper r^fer-— erice to two of the urinnnJ,i3 at Aul.s w'eari'ng miritary grtaucoacs Ld many people to the hasty, and, as it trauspires, false assmnpt.on that cha ban 'dits were " ex-servitemen. " una gentleman at a meeting 111 Palmeisto'ri North on Tuesd..y mgnt waj heard/ to say in private can/v.r.ation that he had tnar day wagered t.itn "his boy" that the men resp^nsib e for the hold-up were returnei soldi'ers. Wh'en asked to give reasons for -his conclusion he quickiy dropped the subject. Today that man will know himself to haVe heeii wrong in his deductions but the dangerous aspect of the matter is not that he was wro'ng, bttt that he voiced his gerieral assumptioils to two other people. His loose talk could ha've, and, in one case, may have sown a malignant germ — another convert to the easy way of thinking: "Blame it on the ex-ser-viceman." It is an evil thing to destroy wantonly one man's credit in another man's "eyes — far more evil when the victims are the ccuntry's herees. All those men who today wear the title (or has it becorne a brand?) - "ex-serviceman," answered their country's call and shouldered responsibilities which have no equal in civilian life. Those reip-nsiblitles were acquitted with the highest merit. It might fairly be asked wliether all those who stayed at home acquitted their responsibiiities as efficiently. More than once throughout the country returned soldiers have felt compelled to express their disgust at the license displayed by members of the younger generation who were l'ucky eiiough to escape the toils of war. License among the young folk is a - direct . reflaction on parental control . — & maj'or responsibility of those who remained at home. Ex-servicemen have heen, and will be, implicated in crime, but in this respect it will pay everyone (to consider the following facts: (1) Nearly 150,000 "persons can claim the title of ' ' ex-serviceman, ■ ' and this is quite a large proportion of the country's adult male population. (2) The armed services contained their percentage.of "bad eggs," the same as any community within the Dominion. There were a few men in the forces whose criminal tendencies made them greater nuisances than their worth. They fall into the habitual class, and a continuatioii of their lawless practices in civilian life should not be made the grounds of placing a stigma on ex-sarvicemen geherally. There are bound to be a few returned soldiers whose experiences in the fighting lines will have made them careless of normal values in buman life and property. These men — their number will be very small — Will need very careful handling. A s'enior police olicial iji Palmerston North discussing returned soldiers and crime, said that his experience had heen that thc men who had had intimate contact with lethal weapon-y now had a greater appreciatioa of them, and would not be tempted to use them lightly.. ^ ' In the main, returned servicemen ask only the privilege of being allowed to se't'tle cjiuetly back into civ ilian life where they can pick u? the threads hroken four or five years ago. The job is diificult enoitgh under ordinary circumstances— it will prove altogether iinpossibls if careless, unthinking civilians make them feel that they are part of a lawless, unwanted band of men, who althougi tliey d'id a goqd job when things Weie tough, have now being paid off and becorne a convenient butt of blame for the country's ills.