WENT TOTHE WAR

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 22, 26 July 1945, Page 6

WENT TOTHE WAR

THEN DISMISSED FROM A CHURCH YOUNG MAN WHO WAS . i KILLH) . O.C. PALMERSTON N., This Day. A young man from Wanganui who went overseas with the New Zealand Forces and was killed in Greece, was dismissed from the fellowship of the Christadelphian Church because he had taken part hi war. This fact was disclosed in a statement made to Mr. W. H. Woodward, S.M., No. 2 Revision Authority,, by Samuel J. Sullivan, of Wanganui,, a member of the Christadelphian Society, who gave evidence in support of an application for release from detention on parole, made by Douglas WeUs, aged 34, general - sawmiller, married, with one child. Wells told the Authority that he had originally enlisted with the Forestry Unit and then for general service in the Aony. Then he had met a girl whose -parents were Christadelphians. When he married her, he embraced the faith. - Because Wells had joined the. church after the declaration of war, Mr. Sullivan said it was felt his case was somewhat different from others. He then mentioned the case of the man who had been killed in Greece. _ The statement staggered Mr. J. A. Duffy, Crown representative, ■ who exclaimed: "You what!" . _. Mr. Sullivan: We dismissed him from our fellowship. Mr. Duffy: I have .always-known God as a kind, and tolerant God and I don't think He would approve, such action. I can't understand that attiUWells, under examination, denied that he was a straightout shirker but admitted that it looked suspicious that he had enlisted, met a girl, accepted the Christadelphian faith, married a month after joining the church, and then objected to military service. His marriage was not conditional on nis 3°The work and conduct report presented described, Wells as a schemer and one who was always looking out for means of bettering feis own lot. Decision was reserved.