WAR PRISONERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 October 1943, Page 2

WAR PRISONERS

CONDITIONS IN ITALY. ADDRESSES BY BISHOP GERARD. In a broadcast address last night, the Bishop of Waiapu, the Rt. Rev. G. V. Gerard, described his experiences as a prisoner of war in Italy. Bishop Gerard was a chaplain with the New Zealand forces in the Middle East, and was captured in Libya in December, 1941. On his arrival in Italy, after being taken across the Mediterranean in a submarine, he was quartered at a transit camp. He and other officers were housed in wooden huts, but were greatly concerned at the plight of 1000 Allied soldiers confined in a small, muddy area nearby. These men had to sleep on! damp floors under exposed conditions. Many had lived in hot climates for years and suffered considerably. Chaplains were allowed to visit the men, said Bishop Gerard, but their requests for improved conditions were replied to only in words which meant “tomorrow,’^,.or “the day after tomorrow.”

There were 3300 prisoners—English, South African and New Zealand —at the camp 25 miles south of Genoa where he was later posted. He had associated with him other chaplains, including Padre Mitchell, of Dunedin. Their best friend was an Italian priest, through whom they were enabled to purchase additional requirements for the men. The greatest comfort was derived through the Red Cross parcels. Bishop Gerard paid a tribute to these v, orkers, and to those at home who had sent the parcels, without which he hardly knew what life would have meant to the men. Mails were often months late in reaching them, said Bishop Gerard, who spoke of the great comfort they meant, though in some cases they brought messages of sorrow. Bishop Gerard concluded with an appeal for a sustained war effort. He had seen the present gigantic struggle from two sides, he said, and was convinced that the present was no time for relaxation or complacency. The priceless gifts of freedom were best remembered by those who had had to go without them.