“HE ALSO SERVES”

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21372, 17 March 1941, Page 8

“HE ALSO SERVES”

PERSONALITIES AT “HUT” s OLD SOLDIERS’ MEMORIES | i | RECRUITING OF HOME GUARD | j (Contributed by “1869, Not Out.”) | There is only one hut; and alas! it 'is to be closed forthwith. Its work jis done. But between you and me it will never be forgotten by the cheery band of the young-old “boys” who have held the fort, and kept the flag flying under the request of their genial and hard-worked Captain Melrose during the recruiting campaign, although they have sat and waited. It has been my privilege to be welcomed (I think) whenever I dropped in to see how went the day. What stories they could tell of flood and field! But a modest lot withal as befitted their experiences along the march of time. Surely each one i of them, still young in heart, has j lived the lines of the old-time poet! Bailey to “count time by heartbeats ; —not by figures on a dial.” All have ! had some experiences of the life j military, either on the tented field j afar or here when to be a volunteer ; meant more than that word in enthusiasm and hardship. The doyen of the band and most unassuming of them all, the attesting officer who, up in years, never missed an afternoon, wet or dry,! after some persuasion by myself j brought out a packet of faded yellow parchments that showed he had done his bit till he became the captain of his company. The miles he had to walk there and back to do his training should make every eligible nonmember (and there are many) of the Home Guard hasten to do his ■ duty as the guardian of his mother, wife, sister or sweetheart that he loves, or be ashamed of his manhood Tales to Tell One still fine figure of a man despite his length of years, and who must have been a magnilicent specimen of a soldier and a man when he wore the red coat of an Imperial N.C.O. on the arid plains of NorthWest Hindustan and elsewhere! What tales he had to tell! Another who is well on the way to the nintieth hill of life (may he surmount it) spent most of his school life in France, and still feels young enough, to take his place in the weekly parade! Another, the descendant of a Danish count who left his beloved land when the Huns of that day robbed a part of it in Schleswig-Holstein. Another, still dapper and going strong, climbed the stony cliffs of Gallipoli. Another had as a friend the only one in New Zealand (there were then only three left) of that heroic charge of the Light Brigade at Inkerman in the Crimea so long ago, immortalised by Lord Tennyson. He was minus the left ear, sliced off by a Russian sword when he and the Cossack unhorsed each other in that epic clash. There were others with the honourable scars of war for King and country who just listened and laughed. Yes, they all knew how to laugh tho’ sadness might be still beneath their smile. Representative of London The representative from blitzwracked London had just received a letter from his relatives whose home had been shattered by a bomb that blew the roof off another house to fall on theirs. And yet another had been drilled by the first New Zealander to get a commission in the Imperial Army'. While his boys were “armed” with long manuka sticks for rifles this young and energetic “Loot” carried a pliant supplejack. Well, some of_ them had to! take their tea off the mantlepiece when they got home—and mother wondered why! That active and very young drill instructor is now General Andrew, retired, somewhere in Canterbury. Ah, me! how the years have fled. 1 salute you, General. The wag of this little band of good fellows had the courage (and temerity) to storm tne mansion next door and brought back the cup that j cheers but not inebriates, for two, i one day. Then I’m afraid his cour- j age failed him. Perhaps because ! when he left his three-score years | and ten behind him he told us he ; had hidden his birth certificate—the I only hint at cowardice amongst a | bunch of good fellows that I *aw. , The days were not without their j humours from the passers-by lured j within by the sign above the door. | One inebriated individual, stoutly i maintaining that it was a labour | office, insisted that they find him a j job, and a good one, for had he not J fought the Hun in the last war? ; One woman wanted them to register i her as*a trained nurse, while another j said she wished to register as a com- ; potent cook lor the air service. Courtesy and Tact Truth compels me to state that they both looked competent and in j deadly earnest. Our spokesman j “handled” them with becoming courtesy and tact. But the limit was j reached when a tall, well-set-up and ! well-groomed individual who had j wined not wisely but too well con- j fidently asked for a loan of two! pounds until “tomorrow,” when he ; would receive his monthly cheque. A warning glint in his eye was j noticed and he was directed with j tact but diminishing patience to a , two-storied building in Bridge Street ‘ where he would be helped with j alacrity. He didn’t return! Friendship that I feel will endure ! were formed amongst that little band of brothers—something of that sweet' camaraderie that abides in the hearts i of our soldiers who have fought and suffered for their King and country. The hand-shakes and good-wishes of farewell were sincere in the disbandment of their simple but valued services in )he cause. Au revoir, j my friends. May each one of you i live long and prosper.