LORD BIRDWOOD’S MESSAGE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 125, 26 April 1940, Page 9

LORD BIRDWOOD’S MESSAGE.

“Anzac Day, ]940” was the title of a special Daventry broadcast last night. The speakers comprised FieldM arshal Lord Bird wood, who commanded the Anzacs at Gallipoli, a New Zealand officer in Cairo who participated in the Gallipoli landing, a member of the second A.1.F., describing the arrival in Egypt and Palestine, an Australian woman now serving in the A.T.S. in England, an officer of the Now Zealand Anti-Tank Battery in England, a member of the Australian Air Force Squadron in England, a New Zealand soldier of the Second Expeditionary Force in Egypt, and a senior officer of the second A.I.F. in Palestine who also served on Gallipoli. Lord Bird wood, in a message of greeting to the Anzacs of 1940, referred to the stirring deeds of their predecessors, and to the wonderful spirit of comradeship and good fellowship which had grown out of that adventure. There was no desire among these who had returned and their sons for another war, but they had had no alternative but to draw the sword to vindicate the solemn promises given to their Allies, and to uphold freedom as their fathers had done 25 years ago. “My only regret is that, though I am still active and alert, I am -too old to take my place alongside my brave comrades of 25 years ago, and the new generation, but they will be constantly in my mind,” said/ Lord Bird wood. There had been hundreds of applications for inclusion in the New. Zealand Anti-Tank Battery in England, said one of its officers. Out of these 150 had been selected.