CIVILIAN HEROES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 April 1943, Page 4

CIVILIAN HEROES

WORK OF Y.M.C.A. SECRETARIES IN AFRICA.

MOBILE CANTEENS RUSHED FORWARD.

Messrs H. A. Tankersley, M.8.E., of Rexwood Street, Carterton, and H. F. Hart, of Karori, Wellington, were probably the only white civilians . who reached Tripoli in the wake of the invading Imperial Force, states an article in the “Egyptian Gazette.” They were Y.M.C.A. secretaries in charge of a convoy of five mobile canteens and two supply trucks. Though they are unarmed, these young men are prepared to undergo any risks so that they forward troops may get their “smokes” and toothpaste. As soon as Mr Tankersley received news in Benghazi of the new push, he rallied his convoys, packed the precious supplies aboard, and tore off down the coastal road. Many of the troops going into action were able to get their cigarettes from the shop-on-wheels and one unit —the Black Watch—found the Y.M.C.A. boys waiting for them when they came out of a clash with the enemy at Homs.

Messrs Tankersley and Hart will not talk about their work. Mr Tankersley was awarded the M.B.E. for his work at Tobruk in an earlier campaign, when he decided to stay with the troops besieged in the town, and worked with them during the whole of the famous Tobruk siege. Thopgh his supplies soon ran out, he opened a Y.M.C.A. social centre, .which became one of the few relaxations of the troops in that much-bombed town. He had an extremely narrow escape at Gazala, when his canteen truck was riddled with shrapnel. He escaped with slight injuries.