FUNERAL HONOURS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 October 1943, Page 4

FUNERAL HONOURS

PAID TO ACCIDENT VICTIMS IN EGYPT NURSES AND CORPORAL OF N.Z.M.C. KILLED IN ROAD COLLISION. (N.Z. Official News Service.) (Received This Day, 1.0 p.m.) CAIRO, October 23. Three New Zealand nurses and one Medical Corps corporal were buried today in the Military Cemetery close to a hospital in the Desert where they worked and lived for more than twelve months. They were killed in one of the most tragic road accidents in the history of the N.Z.E.F. A truck in which they were travelling collided with a three-ton lorry on the night of October 21. They were privates (Misses) Patricia Anne Morrissey, aged 27, of Port Ahuriri; Margaret Olive McAnulty, aged 27, of Kaiparoro, Eketahuna; Mary Innes, aged 29, of Masterton, and Corporal S. R. W. Bombford, aged 29, single, of Takapuna. The nurses were members of the Medical Division of the N.Z.W.A.A.C. They came to the Middle East early in 1942, and they have been on the staff of the hospital for nearly eighteen months.

Corporal Bombford had- been with the unit even longer. Over 300 men and women of the N.Z.E.F., mainly members of the hospital staff and patients, attended the combined military funeral. Requiem Mass for Miss Morrissey was held in the morning in one of the men’s messes at the hospital and the building was crowded to the doors for the Church of England service for the other three victims in the afternoon, before the cortege moved off. Headed by ambulances, a long line of trucks and cars proceeded to the Adelballah Military Cemetery, where a guard of honour was waiting. Draped with Union Jacks and crowned with wreaths, the caskets were carried by men of the unit. With a Gordon Highlander piper from the famous FiftyFirst Division playing “The Flowers of Forest” lament, leading the guard of honour, the procession slowly marched to the cemetery grounds, where the caskets were laid by the side of their separate graves. Church of England and Roman Catholic burial services were held and . the guard fired three volleys over the graves. The guard fixed bayonets and a Gorkdon. Highlander bugler sounded the “Last Post.” The mourners then passed by the graves of their dead comrades in single file, paying their last individual tribute. There were many beautiful wreaths from all sections of the hospital staff, other units and individuals. D.M.S. Brigadier H. S. Kenrick. Miss E. C. Mac Kay (representing the matron-in-chief), Miss Nutsey, Lady Freyberg, senior officers of the N.Z. W.A.A.C. and N.Z. A.N.S.. were among those from cutside units who attended the funeral.