RECRUIT’S JOURNEY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20051, 25 September 1939, Page 11

RECRUIT’S JOURNEY

3000 MILES TO ENLIST CI-IRISTCHURCIT. MAN’S TRIP “Three thousand miles for a scrap,” was the way in which Mr. Denis Ring described a trip from Central Queensland to join, the special military force in Christchurch. Mr. Ring claims the record for trips made to Christchurch by recruits enlisting in the special force.

On a vast Australian sheep run, 850 miles inland from the Queensland coast, Mr. Ring heard, by radio, late on the evening of September 3, of the entry of Great Britain into the war with Germany, and at 9.30 next morning, having disposed ■of his stock-in-trade as a musterer, he set off on horseback on a 3000-mile trip to enlist .in his home town, Christchurch.

During the last fortnight Mr. Ring engaged almost every means of transport to reach Christchurch in the shortest possible time. A trip of 12 miles by horse brought him to the liny inland town of Emmett. As no train was expected for a week. jVIr. Ring quitted his horse and, by walking, wool wagon, motor trucks and taxi, lie finally reached Longreach, where he entrained on the 1500-mile journey to Sydney. There was a delay of two days for a boat at Sydney, but the Tasman was finally crossed. He made direct connections in transport, and he arrived at Christchurch on Tuesday morning, enlisted, and was passed by the medical authorities on Wednesday, a fortnight after leaving Queensland.

Mr. Ring is 24 years old, and he is the son of Mr. Claude Ring, of St. Albans. He was educated at St. Andrew's College and spent some years on back-country stations in New Zealand before he went to Australia last autumn.