PITIABLE SCENES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 161, 7 June 1940, Page 6

PITIABLE SCENES

SUCCOUR IN WAR AREA. SALVATIONISTS’ WORK. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, June 7. The Salvation Army lias received a cablegram from International Headquarters, London, stating that the rapid change in the military situation in the war area has compelled Salvation Army workers to abandon seventeen destroyed centres of work; one accommodating 600 men. The officers, accompanied by thousands of fleeing refugees, are journeying coastward. Airs Brigadier Climpson, wife of the Deputy-Director of AVar Work in France, was killed by a bomb- splinter while sheltering in a field during a raid on a road over which a party’ travelled. She was buried in the soldiers’ cemetery outside Dieppe two hours before the town Was heavily bombed.

The Salvationists, it is stated, showed great bravery, _ returning to Arras to render further aid and finding troops defending the premises. The officers, though themselves hungry, struggled to provide food for the fleeing refugees. The staff of one centre packed their belongings and left in a convoy just before the Salvation Army building was destroyed by bombs. The convoy was later bombed and all their belongings destroyed, the Salvationists again escaping. • At Boulogne an officer saw Ills own building destroyed by’ a bomb. Twenty centres remain safe in Southern France, with 120 officers waiting to move forward as the line is re-established. The Salvationists’ losses are estimated at £25,000. Britain now has - 320 Red Shield Clubs, including seven which were opened this week. Fifty mobile canteens are opening, and there is a great demand for more. At the request of the military authorities French Salvationists have already onened 46 of the proposed 100 foy’ers du soldat, six being near the Alaginot Line. PLIGHT OF REFUGEES. For the evacuation from Dunkirk, at tho request of the military authorities six mobile canteens were rushed to the south coast of England and ministered to thousands of British, French, and Belgian soldiers. The naval and military’ staffs could not include the provision of refreshments, which were needed at once. “Our canteens,” the report states, “were ready for immediate action and quickly began distributing tens of thousands of cups of tea and coffee, and pies, cakes and sandwiches free. The staffs, assisted by volunteers from London headquarters, worked night and day. They saw large groups of men fast asleep as they stood. The London Salvationist centres were visited by thousands of returning men. Paris Salvationists also assisted thousands of fleeing refugees from Northern France. Many, footsore and bleeding, had walked 120 miles. Hundreds were washed, bathed, ’bandaged and provided with beds. Nine children accompanied one of the women, who was taken to a maternity home, where her tenth child was born. The pitiable human suffering seemed endless. Canteens in Southern France, staffed by English Salvationists, are meeting many needs among the troops. Their activities include feeding men not otherwise provided for, and running mobile canteens for men going up to the line. The latest Canadian war work development by Salvationists is the opening of a London hostel by Hon. Vincent Massey, High Commissioner for Canada.