Peregrinator In Palestine

NZ Truth, Issue 1211, 14 February 1929, Page 6

Peregrinator In Palestine

Heaven help the country- that makes a fetish of militarism. But every soldier "is not necessarily a militarist. Good for the country when he is a whole-souled patriot who arms to preserve inviolate his land from foreign attack, but much the reverse when he thinks to establish himself m arrogant ascendancy over the rest of the community. '..',■■• A notable soldier and yet no militarist is Colonel Guy Powles, of Wellington. He is now on the retired list, and his Khaki tunic with its blazon of ribbons comes from his wardrobe only on Anzac Day and very special occasions. From Wellington College young Powles went to pursue life as a farmer. Caught by the wave of fervour when the war broke out m South Africa, he enlisted m one of the contingents sent to subjugate Paul Kruger. ■ It takes more than a fat haystack to obscure a natural soldier, and Powles was induced to abandon his

farm for a post m the permanent forces. He served with the lads on Gallipoli. Just the sort of officer, was he, the troops liked. Cool m action, resourceful, considerate and comradely, he got the confidence of his men. Back with the scarred hosts of Gallipoli to the heat and smells of Egypt, his next move was to the arid wastes of Palestine for the desperate struggle against Johnny Turk. A cavalry officer, m a campaign m which the horse really counted, Powles led his sunbaked mounted men at Gaza, Rafa, Beersheba, through the plains of the Philistines to Jericho and Jerusalem. A student, as- well as a soldier, he steeped himself m the atmosphere f of the Holy Land— its history, romance, philosophy and religion. Powles stored up facts and observations, and m post. war quiet gave us an absorbing official history of the part of New Zealand's sons m the Palestine Campaign.