HEROES OF GREECE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 July 1941, Page 6

HEROES OF GREECE

GIVEN ROUSING WELCOME IN CHRISTCHURCH CHEERED TO THE ECHO. COMMENT ON “POOR SHOW” IN WELLINGTON. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. Heroes of Greece and Crete and of Western Desert battles —-.ninety men of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force who have been invalided home from the Middle East—were given a rousing reception at Lyttelton and Christchurch after their arrival by the inter-lsland steamer this morfling. Cheering crowds greeted them on the wharf and at the Christchurch Station and the men must have felt that they were really welcome home. In Wellington some of the men were disappointed with the official welcome, which they described as “a pretty poor show,” as the public apparently were not fully aware of the occasion. Their welcome in Christchurch must have set any doubt they had at rest. They were cheered to the echo and the Mayor, Mr E. H. Andrews, put the thoughts of all into words when he said, on the station: “We are proud of you. we honour you and we thank you.” Relatives and friends, reunited with their “boys,” shared enthusiastically in the welcome. Twenty-two of the men ate for Christchurch, ten are for the West Coast and fifty odd are for points south of Christchurch. Cot cases will be brought south early next week.