HEARTY WELCOME

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 July 1943, Page 3

HEARTY WELCOME

SIR B. FREYBERG, V.C., VISITS MASTERTON RECEPTION AT REGENT THEATRE. LARGE AND REPRESENTATIVE GATHERING. A hearty and enthusiastic welcome was extended by Masterton and district residents this morning tc Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg, V.C., G.0.C., Second N.Z.E.F., Middle East, on the occasion of an official visit to the town. Residents, old and young alike, turned out in thousands in order to cheer the leader of New Zealand’s fighting division, as he made his way along Queen Street, which was lined with excited school children, to the Regent Theatre, where the civic reception was held. The theatre was unable to accommodate all who wished to attend the reception, but loud speakers on ablecl those outside to hear his address. Sir Bernard Freyberg, on his arrival in Masterton this morning by air, was met by the Mayor, Mr T. Jordan, and the Mayoress. He inspected an .Air Force unit, and then proceeded to the reception. Members of the Second N.Z.E.F. formed a guard of honour at the Regent Theatre, and a large number of veterans of the First N.Z.E.F. were present. The official party comprised Sir Bernard Freyberg, Captain C. J. White, A.D.C., the Hon. W. Perry, Minister of Armed Forces and Co-ordination, and Mr A. G. Harper, of the Department of Internal Affairs. The Mayor, Mr Jordan, presided, and others on the stage were Mayors of»Wairarapa boroughs, the chairmen of district county councils, the district M’s.P., Messrs J. Robertson and B. Roberts, the president of the Wairarapa R.S.A., Mr H. J. Brass; Wing Commander Burrell and Colonel Fassett, of the U.S.M.C. Other invited guests, which included borough and county councillors and representatives of other local bodies, were accommodated in the lounge. In Queen Street General Freyberg inspected a platoon of the local Women’s War Service Auxiliary, under the leadership of Mrs Whittaker.

EXPLOITS RECALLED. Mr Jordan said that 20 years ago, Sir James Barrie was elected Rector of the University of St. Andrew, in Scotland. For the address he was to give he chose as his subject “Courage” He said courage was the thing—-if it went all else went Unless a man had the virtue of courage, he had no security for the preservation of any other virtue. Sir James Barrie on this occasion did a memorable thing. He brought with him from London a friend of his, a very distinguished military officer, to illustrate his text, so to speak. He told his audience how this officer was the first of an army to land on Gallipoli, how he had been dropped overboard to light flares on the shore, how he had pushed a raft containing them in front of him. It was a frosty night. The officer lit the flares and swam back. This embodiment of courage was B. C. Freyberg. (Applause.) Sir James, said Mr Jordan, might well have chosen leadership as his text, and told his audience how, later in the war, on the fields of France, near Beaucourt, an Allied attack was badly battered by superior forces and was on the point of breaking down, when a battalion commander rallied to himself the remnants of his broken units, and, in spite of severe wounds, took the objective. That battalion commander was Freyberg, V.C. (Applause.) INSPIRED LEADERSHIP. When the news of General Freyberg’s appointment was made known, said Mr Jordan. New Zealanders were uplifted high in heart and hope. Knowing the mettle of their young men, this was an assurance to them that under his inspired leadership whatever soldiers could do would be done by the Second Anzacs. They had not been disappointed. At every stage of the campaign the New Zealanders had added to their laurels until, in Tunisia, they were hailed by the British Prime Minister as the fireball and its commander as the salamander —the spirit of elemental fire. Mr Jordan said he had known their guest since his boyhood. In his youth he gave promise of the amphibious qualities that had been so conspicuous in his manhood. He remembered how he won in one day both the junior and the senior swimming championships of Wellington College. Mr Jordan said he had also played in the same football side with him. They were present that day to welcome Sir Bernard Freyberg for his great personal qualities, for his signal services to their country, and, not least —and he would couple his wife’s name with his own —■ for his fatherly solicitude and care for the men under his command. They would like Sir Bernard Freyberg to take back to their men an expression of their very great pride in their record, and of their deep gratitude for their service and sacrifice. “We wish you and the division God speed in your crusade,”® said Mr Jordan.

A GREAT GENERAL. Mr Robertson said no words were necessary to inform General Freyberg how gladly they welcomed him to their midst. He had proved himself a great general and an inspiring leader They were proud of him, as they were also proud of those who served with him. When chosen to command the Division, it was felt that a wise choice had been made, but just how wise had since been proved by events in the Near East. On another occasion, said Mr Robertson, he had heard the general tell how it was resolved to make their Division a tough, hard-hitting, fastmoving unit of the Eighth Army, able to be where the enemy did not expect it to be and always able to strike at a vital spot at the vital moment. How well that purpose had been achieved was now a matter of history. The qualities required to do this were those of a great soldier. With those he combined other qualities which had made him a great and inspiring leader of men, those human attributes which had made the welfare, physical and moral, of those serving with him his constant and enduring care. In hearing him speak of the Division, one must be impressed as he had been, with the pride and the confidence he had for all who served in it. They knew from the boys themselves that those feelings were reciprocated by all ranks and in some ways those things had made the New Zealand Division not only unique, but had made it a fighting force unexcelled anywhere—- “ This thunderbolt, this ball of fire,’ as Mr Churchill called it. Mr Robertson asked General Freyberg to carrv back with him all their love and all their wishes and hopes.

SIR B. FREYBERG, V.C., VISITS MASTERTON NOTABLE CAREER. Speaking on behalf of the rural local bodies of the district, Mr R. E. Gordon Lee, chairman of the Masterton County Council, referred to the achievements accomplished in the last Great War by the First New Zealand Expeditionary Force and to the strenuous exploits of the Second N.Z.E.F. in Greece, Crete, Tripolitania and Tunisia. General Freyberg’s success as leader of the Division throughout its notable career in the Middle East and North Africa Was regarded by all as a Now Zealand achievement and had added to the lustre of the Anzac tradition. They were proud that in adversity 7 and victory the New Zealanders had responded with that vigour, sense of courage, honour and great distinction, to all the calls made upon them in all major operations in the Mediterranean. It was difficult to adequately express gratitude for the way in which General Freyberg had cared for the welfare of their boys and the inspiration he had been to them during the strenuous and difficult days that had passed, and they felt confident that while a critical period lay ahead, thf future could be looked forward to with confidence. They knew that under General Freyberg’s leadership the praise and distinction their boys had earned in desert warfare, would be even greater in the days approaching the battle for final victory and Hitler would find, if he had not already done so, that “the poor country lads from New Zealand,” to whom he referred in the early stages of the war, were made of true British steel He trusted that General Freyberg would be spared to carry through the great responsibility which lay ahead as commander of the Second N.Z.E.F. and assured him that their thoughts were continually with him and his officers and men. and that those who remained behind would do their utmost to support them.

WELCOME APPRECIATED. General Freyberg, on rising to speak, met with a tumultuous ovation and was accorded musical honours. He said he was grateful to all for extending him such a fine welcome. This, General Freyberg said, was all the more pleasant since an old friend, Mr Jordan, was in the chair. Sir Bernard said he was grateful to Mr Jordan’s kind reference to him and to his wife and he thanked Colonel Fassett for attending the reception. He referred to the kindness extended to him by Americans on his trip to New Zealand and spoke also of the excellent showing made by the Americans in North Africa. The New Zealanders, he said, had liked fighting alongside them.

General Freyberg went on to observe that he had undertaken his tour of the Dominion for two reasons. One was that he wanted to meet the mothers, fathers and other relatives of the men of the New Zealand Division and to tell them some things they ought to know about the Division, which was now at Maadi Camp (Cairo) enjoying a well-earned rest. Before leaving for New Zealand he had visited them and had found them very much preoccupied with things that were happening in New Zealand. They had been through many difficult months and times of great anxiety. There were at least three occasions when as commander, he had periods of great anxiety. A STICKY SITUATION. When they came down from Syria in June last year, and travelled 800 miles —lOO miles a day—a very sticky situation awaited them on arrival in Egypt, said General Freyberg. The New Zealanders were the only first-line body of troops between Egypt and Rommel’s panzers. Knowing the quality of his men, he had ;io misgivings as to the ultimate outcome of the battle. It was an extraordinary thing, the enormous confidence their men had in themselves. They were extremely confident that they were better than anyone else. (Applause). That really was the whole gist of why they were a good Division. He could not tell what a great deal of satisfaction it was to him to know that, when moving out at night on a turning movement. The real test of a force was to be able to suffer overwhelming and heavy defeat and come back again in a few months as good as they were before. Even in the darkest moments of Greece, Crete or in Egypt he had never found them lacking in their great confidence. That was a great factor in the making of a soldier. Even when they'suffered reverses it was not due to any lack of grit or determination in their men, but because they had not the right tools for the job. TANKS FROM AMERICA.

The turning point came in September last year When Tobruk fell there was a conference going on in Washington, when President Roosevelt took 300 Sherman tanks from his own divisions and sent them to Egypt. One ship was sunk with 50 tanks aboard and President Roosevelt sent another ship with 50 more. They must not underestimate the value of this desert victory because the Allied forces had come into their own and had dispelled for good and for all the Nazi myth of superiority. They had proved that British and American troops were better and their equipment was better than the Nazis. What about the other side, the surrender of

240.000 fully-armed men, fully equipped with food and water, after a final battle in which the Allies lost only 1000 men? -That result was not Nazi superiority. General Freyberg said he guaranteed that if New Zealanders had been placed in the Germans’ position they would be fighting in the hills now. Next time they went into battle they would go in complete confidence that they were better than the Germans at every stage of the battle they would take on. COMRADE FORMATIONS. In some appreciative observations about troops which had fought alongside the New Zealanders, General Freyberg said they had with the Nev/ Zealand Corps two very fine Fighting French formations. These were commanded by regular French officers, who had escaped to Africa to try to redeem the name of France. They also had the-British divisions which had fought with them in the whole of the desert campaign. Sounding a word of warning to the people here about the future, General Freyberg said that although he was very confident about the ultimate result, the next phase of operations was likely to be a hard-fought encounter. The nature of the operations would require landing on an enemy beach and that would not be an easy task. A commander such as he was in a peculiar position, as he took from the country all that was youngest and best. His coming here had given him great feelings of confidence. He had not only got the Army with him in the field, but also behind them was the backing of the Army by people of New Zealand, who were willing to give all the support in their power. A SPLENDID STAFF. Referring to his staff officers, General Freyberg said they were the best corps of officers he had ever had under him. The young officers were picked from the units and were men and n.c.o’s who had done well. His officers had to excel in all the feats of marching, digging and shooting carried out by the private soldier. They were the toughest lot of young officers he had ever seen. When on exercises he looked to them for inspiration and they were an inspiration to him. General Freyberg said he would like to refer to two local officers who had unfortunately lost their lives —Major Hart and Major Chesterman. They would have gone a long way if they had been spared. Both were on the brink of getting the command of battalions. They possessed every quality that an officer should possess. VALUE OF PATRIOTIC FUND. The General praised the work of Colonel Fuller, of the Dental Corps, and thanked the people for their support of the National Patriotic Fund. The fund had placed the New Zealanders overseas in a much more favourable position than any other troops in any theatre of war. When he had wanted to set up a newspaper, a concert troupe and a club, all he had to do was to apply to Colonel Waite and the money was granted. He thanked all who were sending such fine gift parcels and said that while in the desert no one was more pleased than himself to get a parcel. General Freyberg thanked the Mayor for assembling such a representative gathering and said the full story of the New Zealand Division’s activities would take several hours, but, in the limited time he had had at his disposal he had endeavoured to give a running commentary over the past few months. “A general as well as a soldier requires inspiration, and the inspiration I have received at today’s gathering has been of the greatest benefit to me,” General Freyberg concluded. (Applause). General Freyberg and party left by rail-car for Napier at 1 o’clock. The car used by General Freyberg on his visit to Masterton was driven by Aircraftman J. A. Betts.