SOLDIER’S IMPRESSIONS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 August 1940, Page 7

SOLDIER’S IMPRESSIONS

SECOND ECHELON OFFICER IN ENGLAND.

BRITAIN AT WAR PITCH.

Extracts from a letter received by Mrs. R. A. C. Selby from her husband. Captain R. A. C. Selby, O.C. sth AntiTank Company, with the Second Echelon, England, are of interest.

“At last we are here. We came up the Irish Sea and I saw the heads of Dublin and Mountains of Mourne and on our right Wales. We did not have a shower or rough .day during the 46 days we were at sea. We are now in a camp many miles from where we landed. We saw some wonderful coun- ! try on the way to this camp, just like the pictures of England that we had seen but greener and more tidy. We were cheered for miles on end. Our camp is a new one in a well-known military area. On my arrival I was made acting Camp Commandant. and also have my own company to look after. A couple of air raids have given us a bit of excitement and bombs fell about two miles away. “A number of children are being sent away from this country within the next few days. Don’t let any go hungry if they come to Masterton. We know the position of these helpless mites and it is up to the colonies to save them. “The roads here arc all tar-sealed, and the whole country is like one continuous village. We had forty-eight hours leave in London on June 26-28. We stayed at the Regent Palace Hotel in the Strand. It is a wonderful hotel, 1000 bedrooms. Some wealthy refugees were staying there. We visited all the cathedrals. St. Paul’s. Westminster Cathedral. Westminster Abbey; saw the Unknown Warrior’s grave, fed pigeons at Nelson’s Memorial, walked past Buckingham Palace and saw all the places we had read about; recognised the Strand by the picture on the magazine of that name. The 48 hours were all too short. Now we are back at hard training, working all hours. It is daylight here until 10.15 p.m. There are air alarms occasionally. We often hear Fritz passing over at night. We carry our gas masks everywhere. Our pistols are always loaded and when travelling at night we have only dim lights and suddenly a red light is waved as we round a corner and we are on a tank trap and have to stop. One or two guards advance and look over our pay books and identification cards and we know all the time until the guard says. "Pass, friend." that there are several pairs of unseen eyes watching us over the sights of cocked rilles, so no one plays any hankeypanky tricks or passes any silly remarks. Wlk'ii Fritz's planes are about, one is doubly careful how challenges are answered in ease one is mistaken for a parachutist.. "Last Sunday I went up to Windsor and was shown over Windsor Castle. I'he King and Queen were there and it was a marvellous experience. I was also Liken through Great Windsor Bark, with its herds of deer. "Belvedere.” where the Prince of Wales lived and lhe Ascot racecourse.

"All large fields suitable for landing aeroplanes have big ditches dug across Ihoin and pipes sticking up. One carries loaded pistols even to church and the pictures. We surely know there is a war on."