RUWEISAT RIDGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 May 1943, Page 4

RUWEISAT RIDGE

AND ALAMEIN BATTLEFIELD VISITED BY MINISTER OF DEFENCE. TALK WITH KEITH ELLIOT. V.C. (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service.) (Received This Day, 12.'15 p.m.) CAIRO, May 10. With the temperature touching 106 in the shade, the Minister of Defence (Mr Jones) saw the famous Ruweisat Ridge, the scene of last year's battle for Egypt. Mr Jones saw the sector where the New Zealanders held the El Alamein line—a forlorn battlefield, with its slit trenches and wrecked equipment still lying there. On this battlefield, the Minister met the men of the New Zealand Graves Registration Unit and was impressed by the quiet efficiency with which they have carried out a noble task. He told them how much he and the people of New Zealand appreciated the work of caring for the fallen and appropriately burying them in planned military cemeteries in the desert.

Mr Jones passed trenches, burnt-out tanks and gunpits and gained a firsthand impression of the scorched battlefield.

Last night the Minister met Keith Elliot, V.C., in the New Zealand Forces Club and passed on congratulations on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand. Mr Jones had arranged an appointment with Elliot this morning, but as the Minister went through the club, Elliot, in a straightforwai’d way, approached him and said: “Good evening, sir, your son said you wanted to see me. I am Elliot.” The Minister had a pleasant and informal conversation with the unassuming hero. Mr Jones and his private secretary, Mr Sherwood, are fit and brown after their recent desert trips.