SICK & WOUNDED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 September 1941, Page 4

SICK & WOUNDED

ARRIVAL BY HOSPITAL SHIP ORANJE MEN WELCOMED HOME. TRIBUTE TO SHIP’S STAFF. (By Telegraph—Press Association.? WELLINGTON, This Day. Obviously delighted to be back again after their experiences in Greece and Crete and the Western Desert, more than two hundred New Zealanders returned home by the hospital ship Oranje, which has been given by the Netherlands East Indian Government to the Australian and New Zealand Governments for the transport of sick and wounded. Though the coming of the ship was kept secret, word of her arrival quickly flew round the city as she was sighted coming down the harbour, and by the time she berthed there was a large crowd assembled on Aotea Quay.

The first to go aboard were the Acting Prime Minister (Mr Nash) and an official party, and in the ship’s luxurious lounge the returning men were given a formal welcome. After that they gathered their kits —the majority of them were walking cases —and as each filed down the gangway his name was announced over a loud-speaker and he was given a great reception by the crowd. The Acting Prime Minister (Mr Nash), welcoming the men for the Government, thanked them for what they had done overseas. He thanked the Queen of the Netherlands and the Netherlands Government for the magnificent gift of the ship to Australia and New Zealand. He had received a message •the day before from MajorGeneral Freyberg, saying that the beys left behind were in magnificent fettle and feeling happier than they had been for a long time. The Government would see the returned men back into their home lives as soon as possible, and all would work to see that the liberties the men overseas were fighting to preserve would be stronger than ever '.when they came back. Other speakers were Messrs W. H. Price (chairman of the Wellington Harbour Board), T. C. A. Hislop (Mayor of Wellington), the Hons W. Perry, M.L.C. (president of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association) and F. Jones (Minister of Defence) and Sir Apirana Ngata. Commodore Potjer, captain of the ship, replied on behalf of the personnel. Colonel Gerard, chief medical officer, said good-bye to the men and Matron Helena Dnelsme spoke briefly.