TUIS IN EGYPT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 November 1941, Page 8

TUIS IN EGYPT

FIRST CONTINGENT FROM NEW ZEALAND MET BY MRS FREYBERG. ANTICIPATION OF USEFUL WORK. (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service). CAIRO, October 25. Clear Egyptian autumn sunshine and a cool, refreshing breeze welcomed New Zealand’s first contingent of the Women’s War Service Auxiliary to the Middle East. With their arrival, the 2nd N.Z.E.F. has now joined the Empire’s armies overseas which have attached to them women’s units from their own countries. Since the project was first made known, interest has run high among the troops, who have come to accept women’s units as being an essential part of a modern army. At the disembarkation port, the party was met by Mrs Freyberg, wife of the G.0.C., 2nd N.Z.E.F., and by Brigadier A. S. Falconer, N.Z.E.F. Camp Commandant and chairman of the general committee of the New Zealand Forces Club in which the girls are to work. The New Zealand girls looked very smart in their neat tailored uniforms of khaki and their distinctive brown hats, and they attracted considerable attention. They appeared eager to share in the life of the troops and were looking forward to the work that was awaiting them. Since the outbreak of war, they, in common with many other women of New Zealand, had been training intensively in various branches of war work, and this opportunity for them to join the Expeditionary Force in the Middle East must represent, a substantial recognition of the efforts of New Zealand women in general. The girls are under the command of 2nd Lieutenant Meryll Neely, of Wellington, assisted by 2nd Lieutenant J. R. M. Burnside.