GUARD DUTY IN TOKIO ENDS

Chronicle (Levin), 7 November 1946, Page 6

GUARD DUTY IN TOKIO ENDS

N.Z. TKOOPS-RJSTPUN TO ZONE

(Ofiicial N.Z. Correspondent with J Force).

TOKIO, N"ov. 4. 4fter a memorabie moutli in- Tokio the composite New Zeaiand Guard Battalion lias returned to take up the norma! routine of oecupation ditties in the British Comnionwealth .zone. The; ch?i.nge-over with the new To.kio Guard,; the Second Battalion of Royalv Weish j Cusiliers, was completed during the; weekend'ivhen thg last, of the New Zea j land Guard conrpanies began its long! train journey down the island of H011-: «hu to tlie New Zealand zone in the; extreme soutli.

l^ed by the We'lsh Battalion ;s mascot,! a white goat, and banils of both the old j and new guards, the last New Zealand; ' eojupany under the coiniuand of Major; iim Craig, M.C. and bar, marched out1 of Ebisu barracks, the former Japanese , uaval expefimental station, which had ; lieen their home for a month, and joined, the train about live miles out of Tokio. Only a few New Zealand guards on special duti.es are now left in the Tokio tiroa and tliese will rejoin the brigade this week. Two of the favourite attractions in Tokio for members of the New Zealand Guard Battalion have been the beautiful town of Nikko, oue of Japan's outstandiug tourist resorts, and .the giant Buddha at Kamakura. I11 Tokio itsell at least (500 heard some part of the proeeedings of the Bar Hast International 'Military Tribunal and saw the former Japanese Prime Minister, Tojo, and 20 other allcgod Japanese war crirninals nnder trial. About 250 New Zealanders visited the Diet buildings, the famous Ueno Park Zoo, various existing embassies and the rubble of the former German Embassy. The New Zealanders, while in Tokio, also had the use of a varietv of Ameriean forces amenities. A few New Zealanders who liappened to be in tlie city at the time of Radio Tokio 's test transmissions to New Zealand, had the uncxpected pleasure of sending brief messages to their relatives at home.