BACK FROM EGYPT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20918, 19 October 1942, Page 2

BACK FROM EGYPT

SICK AND WOUNDED WELCOME BY MINISTER 66 COT CASES INCLUDED (P.X.) WELLINGTON, this day. Reluctant to discuss their experiences. another large draft,of sick and wounded men 1 has arrived back in Now. Zealand from, the Middle East, where many of them have seen nearly three. years.’. campaigning.- They included an officer of a parachute unit and a soldier who made his escape from enemy hands and crossed the Mediterranean ill-a 1 submarine. Several. nurses, returned -with the draft after service in the,Middle. East. Welcomes were extended to the men bv political and civic representatives. The Minister of Defence, the Hon. J. Jones, conveyed the thanks of the country 'to the men for the honour they had brought it and expressed the hope thdt those who have suffered from serious disabilities would be able to overcome them.

The. Mon.. W.; Perry, president of the New Zealand Returned Services’ Association said that, in his opinion, they had more than worthily upheld the great traditions of the Anzac. J-Ie hoDed thev would be. soon able to resume their places in the civilian community for which they had fought so r.obly and so well. The medical officer in charge of t.he shio returned thanks for the tributes which have been paid to the work of the staff. . Me. stated ...that. when the ship left Egypt there were 177 cot cases. When it arrived there were cnlv 66..c0t cases. Thirty-three men had lost ,a limb anjd thgy, were the most cheerful men on the-ship.