IN HIGH SPIRITS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 September 1943, Page 3

IN HIGH SPIRITS

NEW ZEALAND TROOPS IN PACIFIC OCCUPATION OF FORWARD AREA. AFTER UNEVENTFUL VOYAGE. (Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) GUADALCANAL. The New Zealand Division in the ■ Pacific is on the move. It has left its long-held base in New Caledonia for the battle islands of the forward area where fit and well-trained soldiers now wait a chance to come to grips with the Japanese. Only a few weeks ago, Major-Gener-al H. E. Barrowclough told the men of his command: “The chance for which you have waited so long is coming soon.” His words put new life into the Dominion troops and added zest to their training and keenness to their anticipation, so that by the time the first elements moved from the southern island their spirits were higher than they had been for many months, and the results of their training were evident in the bronzed fitness of all ranks. The voyage north proved uneventful, as did the landing on shores that have been the scene of earlier fighting in this Pacific war. A burnt-out tank rusted by exposure and corroded by salt water lay partly buried in the sand. An abandoned landing craft sprawled 100 yards or so away. Wire entanglements lay twined in the vines of the shores fringed by jungles, and here and there a New Zealander found rusty booby-traps which might or might not have lost their potency. The “might not” had it, and the boobytraps stayed where they lay. EVIDENCE OF WAR. The evidence of war lay bare to view at many points. There were the barren i trunks of coconut palms which- had had their foliage blasted by shell and bomb. Seared trees poked gauntly through the green jungle where some explosion had occurred months ago. Now and again bulldozers brought unexploded shells to the surface, and sometimes a helmet, binoculars, or clips of Japanese cartridges. The New Zealanders marched or : drove to camp sites along wide smooth roads cut among palms. They pitched their camps among the hills and valleys to catch the cooling breezes that tempered the heat, and smartly dug foxholes for shelter’ in case of an isolated Japanese air raid. Officers and men lined up in queues for a hastily but well-cooked and welcome meal, and in the cool of the evening they were ready to climb under the protection of mosquito nets for a night’s rest. Unexpectedly, mosquitoes were less prevalent than in New Caledonia, and were it not for the chance that an odd malarial type might zoom in, the nets would have been superfluous. The noble art of face-slapping so keenly developed in the southern island found no outlet for its play. There are, of course, a few snakes, smallish ones, about the thickness of a man’s thumb, and up to three feet long, scurrying iguanas and hordes of tiny insects. Such inconveniences passed barely noticed in the bustle of administration, and the roar of trucks as stores from the beaches were shifted to inland dumps. Terraces carved from hillsides formed roads for traffic, and level stretches for tents. Rations of tinned foods were piled quickly up and fresh bread from the New Zealanders’ own bakery was turned out at the rate of more than 100 loaves an hour. With customary thoroughness the New Zealanders had transplanted their home to a new location. They were ready to move again at a moment’s notice and ready to strike whenever and wherever the call should come. The boredom and seeming futility of garrison duties had passed. A future worthy of the name lay ahead. They would meet it as their friends and brothers had done in the Middle East, with skill and determination.