A FINE CHARACTER

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3268, 26 May 1943, Page 5

A FINE CHARACTER

LATE CORP. E. GRIFFITHS FORMER TURUA RESIDENT LETTER FROM MAJOR DICKSON The high opinion and esteem in which the late Corporal Ernest Griffiths, son of Mrs F. Griffiths, of Turua, was held by all who knew him, . and especially by members of his company of the N.Z.E.F. in North Africa, is stated in a letter received from Major Walter Dickson, of the Headquarters Company of the 21st Battalion of the N.Z.E.F. In his letter, of sympathy to Mrs Griffiths, Major Dickson says:— “I did not write to you after Ernie’s death as I had left D Company and was not with him the night he was killed. In fact, Ido not know much about it, except that it happened ' on Mitereya Ridge. I hope one of 1 the officers of D Company has written to you giving you particulars, but if there is anything I can do for you please let me know. “I was very concerned over- his death, as he had developed into a fine man—solid, cheerful and reliant — and a fine leader. In fact, if he had lived he would have had further promotion. In the Ruweisat area he was one of my best N.C.O.’s, x and it was a pleasure to be near him in action. You wpuld have been proud of him. The men in his section were very fond of him and had the utmost confidence in him. “So, in offering you my deepest sympathy, I wish to point out, also, that he had developed into a man of. fine character who was liked and respected by all those who knew him, and many men live a long time without our being' able to say that of them. There are some men who die and we scarcely note their passing,, and others who pass on but whose influence still lives in the memory of those who knew them. I asked my batman just, now —a hardened old he know Ernie Griffiths, and I wish you had been here to hear him say: ‘Yes, I knew him well'.’ From the tone of his voice he was so obviously proud of it. “Please accept my deepest sympathy and my assurance that your son was a New Zealander of the finest type.”

[Corporal Griffiths sailed with the Second Echelon, and was employed for some time at the Kopu Lime Works at Kopuarahi, where he was very popular among his fellow-work-men.]