DESERT CHRISTMAS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 January 1942, Page 4

DESERT CHRISTMAS

GRATITUDE FOR PARCELS EXPRESSED BY GENERAL FREYBERG. ON BEHALF OF TROOPS. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. “’We realise that no force is better treated than ours,” says Major-Gen-eral Sir B. Freyberg, in concluding a message, received by the National Patriotic Fund Board, expressing appreciation of the part played by the patriotic funds and people of New Zealand in making Christmas enjoyable to the New Zealand troops in the Middle East. “For a second year, the troops in the Middle East have owed the success of their Christmas to the National Patriotic funds,” Sir B. Freyberg adds. “The parcels arrived in good time and were distributed to everyone. The grant from the patriotic funds to each man for Christmas Day meant a real Christmas for all, though some, owing to the exigencies of the service, would have theirs later. May I, through you, express to the people of New Zealand our grateful thanks for their generosity and for the trouble taken by the packers of the parcels?” A message of appreciation has also been received by the board from the liaison officer at the Air Ministry, London, through the Air Secretary, Mr T. A. Barrow, expressing the gratitude of officers and airmen of drafts overseas to whom funds have been made available,