OFF TO CAMP

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24420, 4 October 1940, Page 5

OFF TO CAMP

FOURTH. REINFORCEMENTS OTAGO AND SOUTHLAND MEN SCENES AT RAILWAY STATION About 800 men from Otago and Southland, members of the Fourth Reinforcements of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force, left foxcamp yesterday morning. The early express took nearly 370 recruits from Otago for Burnham and a later train besides picking up about 150 men from Dunedin, bound for Trentham, carrieo a large contingent of Southlanders for Burnham. Scenes that have become familiar during the past 12 months were witnessed at the Dunedin railway station as crowds of relatives and friends gathex-ed to bid farewell to the men who were leaving to join their comrades in the, fight against aggression. They were not last farewells, however, as the men will be back on final leave after several months’ training, with the result that the scenes were more cheery than some of those of the last few months. The crowd was an undemonstrative one, possibly because they were not allowed to mingle with the troops until the men had been given their places in the trains, so that there was but little time for farewells before the expresses pulled out from the station. There were few who went to the station merely out of curiosity; the great majority had friends and relatives to see off and the last-minute rush kept them busy trying to find brothers, husbands and friends among the crush on the platform.

Three hundred and sixty-one Otago men left for Burnham by the early express, but this number would be largely increased by additional groups at Oamaru and other northern stations The men fell in at the northern end of the platform three-quarters of an hour before the express was due to leave and were marshalled into the carriages before the barriers were put aside and the public was allowed though. Friends and relatives had but 15 minutes to say good-bye before the train left on its' journey north. The contingent for Trentham later in the morning numbered 144, but the through express brought a large number of Southland men, who were obviously in high spirits. The crowd on the station was bigger than that at the early train, but it was orderly and there was no confusion. The troops soon found their places on the express, which pulled away from the platform amid cheers and rousing choruses, right on time. ‘ A solitary piper among the Southland men played a lament as the train slowly gathered speed for its journey to Christchurch.