ELTHAM.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 March 1919, Page 3

ELTHAM.

{From Our Own Correspondent.) Eltham, March 19. It seems like old times again to notice so many young men back in our midst. Our soldiers are rapidly returning to civilian life. To-day I had a short conversation with Len Brown and young Brisco. Brown had two trips with the Expeditionary Force. He was at Gallipoli, invalided home, and in the Stratford Hospital made a wonderful recovery, and then expressed a wish to get back to the front and be in at the death. He had his wish gratified, and is once more back again wearing the same old Bmile. Brisco looks none the worse for his campaigning. Like many others, the voyage and soldier life seem to have set him up. Another khaki man I was glad to see was Ernie Knudson. Prior to the war he was farming at Okaiawa, and took a keen interest in Druidism. The Order will be pleased to have such a keen worker back again. Sergeant Donald McLeod is another of the returned soldiers, but I have not dropped across him yet. Donald was a timber worker when the call came, and he went with the Main Body as an ambulance man. He did good work with this section of the army, and as sergeant received a war decoration, a D.C.M. I believe. He was a member of the old Caledonian Society and a promising piper. Another khaki visitor is Will Hyde. In pre-war days he was a jeweller and bowler (mostly bowler). Another war man in our midst is Lionel Brown, brother of Len. He was a prominent footballer for Eltham and Opunake clubs. His duty in the war was on board H.M.S. Australia, having followed the seafaring life for several years. Like his comrades he is looking none the worse for his experiences, but, like all of us, he is thankful that the great struggle is a thing of the past.