THE GALLIPOLI STAR
Sir, —I trust you will grant me space in which to place.my views, as a returned soldier of an early reinforcement draft, on record concerning the proposal to grant a riband and star to the survivors of the Main Body, First and Second Reinforcements, being the men who left New Zealand in 1914, and took part in subsequent fighting. A great deal of discussion is taking place among returned Eoldiers, and many including Main Body survivors, are in disagreement with the proposal, holding that as the Thirds and Fourths took part in the early fighting and the Fifths landed while the August fighting was well developed, they also deservo recognition. Now,, individually, while concurring in this view, I would not go so far as to say that the Main Body and First and Second Reinforcements do not deserve a special distinction. These men had an especially strenuous time, and had somewhat apathetic treatment and a very lukewarm send-off from New Zealand. In regard to leave they were not generously treated. Some of the men who were in camp at Awapuni with the Main Body, who aro on the firing-lino at present, never saw their people after they enlisted. Some of tho Main Body men never were a whole twentyfour hours away from camp until granted 24 hours' leave from lsmailia to Cairo and back after tho evacuation, leaving them about three hours in Cairo. Contrast this with tho leave given to later drafts, who get a whole week for final leave. While admitting the claim of these men for somo slight distinction, I think a good method would be to grant the Star to the Main Body, First and Second Reinforcement men, and also to the Third, Fourth, and Fifth, but to give tho 1914 a distinctive ribbon, either bearing the date 3U14 on the medal or to be distinctive in colour of the riband, and the 1915 draffs to have either 1915 on the medal or a distinctive coloured riband; a slightly different design with tho same riband could be used. It is possible, however, that it may bo many months buforo these medals are ready, and probably a year or so before they are (SsErTuutcd, and perhaps tho suggestion may not be amiss that tho men who ere ultimately to wear tho Gallipoli Star, and aro rightfully entitled to wear it, should bo allowed in the intorini to wear a ribbon or badgo showing them to have been of these early drafts. I am suro these views aro the views of most of tho men concerned, and I trust the authorities are going to do something on the lines I suggest. At present tho returned soldiers' badge seems omnipresent, and there is nothing to distinguish the
luado the round trip or been an at-' , tendaiit in an hospital fifty milns in tho rear. Thanking you in anticipation ol seeing this in your valuablo columiib.—l am, etc., E. V. LANE. Sir,—Tho thanks of all those heroes who fought on Gallipoli are due to you lor your just and ablo leading article relative to who should receive the Gallipoli Star. As you remark, "there is no justification for making invidious distinctions between tho soldiers who had a part in the initial operations on Gallipoli, and the members of later drafts who saw service in that theatre. Who does not know, for instance, that the Fifth Reinforcements landed on tho Peninsula to engago in one of the heaviest battles of the whole campaign?" A military medal is not so much a reward, as it is a token and a proof that its owner took part- in the campaign for which it is awarded. This being so, all those of the Main Body and of the first six contingents are entitled to the Star.
If the Imperial Government awards tho decoration to only a- section of those engagea, 1 hope the New Zealand Government, for one, will issue a similar decoration to all of its soldiers who fought on Gallipoli, who do not happen to have been singled out for tho Star by tlie War Office at Home.—l am, FATHER OF ONE OF THE FIFTHS.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19171208.2.33
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 64, 8 December 1917, Page 6
Word count
Tapeke kupu
696THE GALLIPOLI STAR Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 64, 8 December 1917, Page 6
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Dominion. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.