WOMEN’S ARMY CAMP INSPECTION BY W.A.A.C. COMMANDANT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 29 August 1942, Page 4

WOMEN’S ARMY CAMP

INSPECTION BY W.A.A.C. COMMANDANT

PRAISE FOR RECRUITS IN TRAINING Impressions of her first inspection of the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps training camp near Christchurch, the first Army camp for women in the Dominion, were given to “The Press’* by Lieutenant-Colonel V. Jowett, Commandant of the W.A.A.C. Army Headquarters, Wellington, who has been visiting Christchurch to confer with Army officers and with Mrs E. G. Kerr, Commandant of the W.A.A.C. camp near Christchurch. “I was most impressed by the smartness of the girls in the camp,’* Lieutenant-Colonel Jowett said, “In the few days they have been under instruction they have achieved a very high standard, and I thought thc.r marching excellent. Until their battledress and walking-out uniforms are ready for them they, are wearing men’s small size battle-dresses complete with gaiters, just as the women in the North Island are doing until their made-to-measure uniforms are ready. In a short time they will also have strong brown boots to wear with battle-dress on duty. In camp they receive no soft treatment because they are women. Their day begins at the same time as a soldier’s day and lasts just as long. But I was particularly pleased to see evidence everywhere at the camp, and at the various Army establishments I visited in Christchurch, of the interest that has been taken in the girls’ everyday welfare. For instance in a rest room at an establishment where members of the W.A.A.C. do not live in, I was amazed to see that the proverbial iron that every girl needs at odd hours of the day was supplied. Everywhere in the rest-rooms there are good fires and comfortable chairs. And at the camp there is a well-equipped drying room provided as well as bathrooms, laundry and ironing room amenities that will make all the difference to the comfort and well-being of the women, and so to the successful running of the camp.

“HONOUR TO WEAR A UNIFORM’ “I should like to say, as I have said to the girls themselves, that tne aim of every member of the W.A.A.C. should be to set a high standard; for it is those first women to go into uniform who will be taken as an example by later recruits. The standard set in the camp I saw to-day is very high and reflects great credit on the women themselves and on their officers. I should also like to reassure mothers who doubt the wisdom of allowing their daughters to leave home to enter camp, perhaps far away. I am a mother myself and understand the doubt. But there is supervision by carefully-selected officers, and the welfare of the girls in their hours of recreation is just as important to us as their welfare on duty. It must be remembered also that the wearing of the King’s uniform is an honour and demands respect. Women in the forces, even the youngest girls, have a high sense of their responsibility.” In reply to a question about clothes for social occasions Lieutenant-Colon-el Jowett said that as a general rule when all the uniforms were supplied the dress uniform would always be worn, just as in England, where no member of the forces would think of wearing an evening dress to a dance or. other social function. For games, of course, sports clothes were approved. Chances of promotion, she said, would be available to everyone. Girls who worked hard and applied themselves to their tasks would find their reward. Such qualities as loyalty, adaptability, cheerfulness, and capacity for leadership, would be taken into consideration as well as success in a course of instruction.

“But women should not go into the Army with the idea. ‘What am I going to get out of it?’ ” LieutenantColonel Jowett concluded. “They should become members of the W.A.A.C. with the knowledge that they are going to give their country their services at a time when those services are urgently, very urgently needed.”