HURT IN RAIDS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21231, 30 September 1940, Page 9

HURT IN RAIDS

GIFT PARCELS ARRIVE

SECOND ECHELON MEN BOMB BURSTS NEAR BUS TWO SLIGHTLY WOUNDED ONE HIT BY SHELL FRAGMENT (From th#» Official War Correspondent wltfi the New Zealand Forces in Britain., ENGLAND, Sept. 27 The Second Echelon’s first casualties in enemy action were suffered today When an aerial bomb burst 15ft. ahead of a full bus containing members of the ackland Battalion. The bus was overturned and two men were slightly wounded in the face and thigh respectively. The bus was returning from a swimming parade. The bomb was one of several dropped in a south-eastern town when a formation of 16 enemy aeroplanes heading toward London was broken up by anti-aircraft guns and British fighters. Two raiders suffered severely at the hands of British fighters. One German pilot, who landed his machine intact, but with himself badly wounded, was captured and rushed to hospital by members of the Wellington Battalion. During the same fight a member of the Composite Battalion, formed from reinforcements with the Second Echelon, was severely but not dangerously wounded in the face by a fragment of an anti-aircraft shell which did not burst until it struck the ground. Three New Zealanders, a major, a sergeant and a private, who were close at hand to the burst of another bomb, which entombed a number of civilians, earned high praise from civilians for their instant and energetic rescue work.

COMFORTS FOR EGYPT SUPPER PARTIES IN BLACK-OUT (.VZ.E.F. Official .News Service.) CAIRO, Sept. 26 Distributed almost on the eve of the anniversary of mobilisation, the first consignment of gift parcels to reach the New Zealand contingent in Egypt formed a welcome “first birthday present” for the troops, who are now mostly stationed in the Western Desert. The attractive contents of the parcels, which were forwarded through the National Patriotic Fund Board, were a general source of surprise and delight to the New Zealanders. They contained a wide range of comforts, such as tinned foodstuffs, cakes, biscuits, sweets and tobacco, all of which are types of gifts extremely acceptable to the fighting forces here. Articles of clothing and toilet were wisely reduced to a minimum. The parcels were marked in many cases with the names of the organisations or provinces by which they were donated. Some contained goodwill messages from individual donors. As far as possible the troops were given parcels which originated in their own provinces, but such was the wisdom shown in the selection of the contents that most were more than satisfied with the gifts received Unique supper parties were held in many tents the evening after the distribution, when even in the darkness of the blackout fruit salad and cream, topped off with biscuits and coffee, were easily-prepared luxuries.