LOCAL PRIDE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19982, 6 July 1939, Page 4

LOCAL PRIDE

ENLISTMENT FOR SERVICE HAWKE'S BAY COMPANY Ml?. •). A. LEE’S TRIBUTE SERVICE IN GREAT WAR An appeal for the recapture of the regimental spirit 'thait prevailed during the Great War is made by Mr. J. A. Lee, D.C.M., Parliamentary Under-Secretary, who served in France with the Hawke's Bay Regiment during the Great War. Born in Dunedin and enlisting in Auckland, Mr. Lee was ‘ enrolled in the Ist Wellington Infantry Battalion, but ended up by being a member of the Hawke’s Bay Company. Hawke's Bay was the only part of New Zealand in which he had not lived.

“1 liked the Hawke’s Bay men from vhe moment of initiation,” Mr. Lee stales. “They were a group of good fellows. Any (territorial should be proud to be a member of the regiment that marched through France in those days. 1 am proud of the men wlto came from Hawke's Bay.

“The day after my arrival there was a distribution of parcels, tins of cake, a rare distribution. The cake (had' been sent in tins from Waipukurau. from Napier, from Hastings. from Waipawa, from other Hawke’s Bay towns, because the people of Hawke’s Bay were proud of the men they had' sent to France. Goodwill to the Volunteer "We need a little of that pride to-day, a little of that community service toward the men who volunteer for peace. Not enough that only the men who volunteer should help to defend New Zealand. It should be an honour for citizens in all localities where there is a local unit to form little associations to promote goodwill towards the men who do volunteer. Each locality should honour the men who are of the local unit.

“Defence .is not a matter as between, say, Jones 'and the Government. It is a national affair, but every locality should be proud of its special contribution to the national force.

"I do not believe it is necessary that we should train everybody in New Zealand. I do not think New Zealand could afford to train everybody, :so costly are the modern appliances of war. I think that the men who are being trained now almost inevitably will be the N.C.O.’s, the officers, in any force that we have to raise in the event of a national emergency. How important it is, therefore, that every man, every fit man of age, should enlist so that the nation should be able to select of the very best. "How important it is that each locality should recognise that-' the men in uniform are of their best and that the 1 town or district Should be proud of its unit. New Zealand will be well, defended when the Mayor and councillors and prominent citizens of every town and district in New Zealand have a pride in their own town’s contribution. If my experience is correct, the Hawke's Bay area could make one of New Zealand’s best contributions. I am sure it will.”

No Sanctity of Property

Mr. Lee’s first contact with the Hawke's Bay Company was at Fleurbaix, and he relates many experiences in the frozen north of France as a member of the company, in which he found the men good fellows. At that time all were concerned more with keeping bodies warm- than of the sanctity of property. “And, anyhow,” Mr. Lee remarks, “what was the good of bothering about property when a time would arrive when German guns and high explosive would blow property to bits.” At one time they were billeted in r. house, which became a mere shell that shook almost to the foundations at the mere concussion of a big gun. The Hawke’s Bay men were extracting timber, joist by joist, plank by plank, chopping the pieces up with 'their bayonets to keep warm. “Latei 1 I knew how the process worked,” he added, “for I was billeted in a house which had soldiers 'as residents for the first time. I think we started with the chairs and the table; soldiers Ih-ad no concern for tables. T think the cupboard doors and shelves and the piano went into the fire piece by piece. Then we started on the house (itself. The mantelpiece came down, an odd plank from the floor. Wherever a joist could be extracted down it came and into the fire it went. The men from Hawke’s Bay had sun in fhelr hearts and wanted warmth about their bodies.”

An Anti-Climax At Romarin, with observation balloons overhead, the sky throbbing with aeroplanes and preparations ■going on for a coming Offensive, a Hawke’s Bay sergeant provided the greatest anti-climax of the war. The Hawke’s Bay men were walking along a dangerous patch of road beneath Hill (S 3, between Red Lodge and Hyde Park Corner. It was midwinter, and the mud was boot-top deep.

“A Hawke’s Bay man, Sergeant Batt, I think it was, happened to drop his rifle into the mud while we were halted on th e side of the road,” Mr. Lee said. “Mr. Batt bent down and fished up the dripping rifle out of the mud and drew a very deep breath. W c all held our breath expecting a rare outburst of verbal pyrotechnics. And then Batt spoke. ‘Dash’ he said. The roar of laughter that went up lrbin the throats of that Hawke's Bay platoon was instant." Never A White Feather During tlie Messinos offensive, following Hie explosion oi mines under the German front lino, many a gallant man from Hawke’s Bay lost his life.

“And yet on, that hellish day, I remember no man from Hawke’s Bay showing (lie white feather,” continued Mr. Lee. Indeed during the whole of the war I have no recollection of seeing any New Zealander under fire turning tail.

Do not misunderstand me; I have seen a shell burst and every New Zealander in the vicinity put a rabbit 1° shame as he ran for cover. I have seen 20 or 30 men running like fury from under a descending Minnie’ and have laughed at their plight. I have seen men go to earth very rapidly at a burst of machinegun fire, but never did I see a New Zealander turn and run when it was essentia] that he should stay in the place into which he had been ad-

vaneed and when there was a fighting chance of winning through. The soldier laughed at his fears, rather than let them inn away with him. “Now we do not want men from Hawke’s Bay for the purpose of plunging them into a Messines. And yet, men from Hawke’s Bay should be proud to belong to the Ist Wellington Infantry Battalion and to their own company because of its past associations. We want men to enlist in the New Zealand Territorial Force and in the National Military Reserve because we believe that if we are well equipped, efficient, and are ready for any emergency, our very readiness may help to avoid the sacrifice.

“You \vill follow proudly in the Potsteps of the gallant if you enist. Young man, be proud to enlist n Hawke’s Bay Company.