WELCOME TO GENERAL BIRDWOOD.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 13, 11 June 1920, Page 4

WELCOME TO GENERAL BIRDWOOD.

GALLIPOLI MEMORIES REVIVED. GENEEAL'S TALK TO OLD COMRADES. WELLINGTON, June 4. The secret of General Birdwood' s popularity with returned Diggers is quickly discovered when he talks to them, as he did in the Town Hall last night on the occasion of a public welcome. His attitude was one of genial intimacy without a trace of condescension, and he is full of good stories. He had a rousing reception from soldiers, as well as sevexal thousand citizens. In extending Wellington' s Welcome to General Birdwood, the Mayor (Mr Luke) described him "as one of oursel.ves." When he referred to Sir Wm. Birdwood's work for the Anzaes on Gallipoli the returned men broke into cheers. "Yes," said the Mayor, "if you kept it up for five minutes you could not do 'justice to the man Sir Ian Hamilton has described as the soul of Anzac. — (Renewed applause.) To General Birdwood was assigned the responsibility of arranging the evacuation of Gallipoli, and the Dominion owed him a deep debt of gratitude for the success, the evacuation being conducted without loss oi lii'e. He is a reai chum conie amongst you again," declared Mr Luke. "There are bundreds of returned boys here tp-night, and I ask them if they would not lay down their lives for their own General to-morrow if need be." — (Cries of "Yes" and applause.) New NZealand' s welcome was voiced by Mr .Massey, who said General Birdwood was visiting the Dominion on the Government's invitation. He had led the Dominion's troops through hardships such as troops never befoxe experienced, and he came out with the confidence of the men. — (Applause.) The memory of those gallant deeds on Gallipoli would keep the Empire together for many a long day. The evacuation of Gallipoli was a bitter memory, continued Mr Massey, but we eventually went forward to victory. He believed it was a common-sense decision, aad ha mighi say ihat ths Premiers of

British dominions were consulted before the evacuation took place. The Dardanelles and Turkisb forts would never go back to the "Unspeakable Turk." — (Applause.) The next speaker, Mr W. Perry, addressed his welcome on behalf of returned soldiers to "our fellow Digger." They always referred to him as "Good old Birdie," and when anybody found a man about whom the Diggers went wild, then he must be a white man. The Diggers remembered how "Old Birdie" went around the trenches in his shirt sleeves with a pull-through for a belt, and his glittering stafi consisting of one Digger with a rifle. He used to get much curt advice from the Diggers, such as "Keep yer blinkin' head down, yer blinkin' idiot." — (Laughter and applause). General Birdwood's greeting, when rising to respond, was a spirited demonstration. He had naturally wanted to come to New Zealand, he said, for it looked on the map an exact counterpart of Britain. He was told the country was cold, but surely the warmth of their hearts made up for it. He loved to be among his old comrades, and seeing so many of his old Diggers present he half expected to hear them shout : "When is the next spell?" or "When shall we go over the top?" Besides being real brave, good-hearted Diggers, the boys had many great charactaristics. Then he told the story inimitably story of the digger whose jam-tin bombs were of poor quality. By way of demonstration, he lit one and held it while it fizzed. "I turned my back," said General Birdwood. "It sent pieces of steel through my leggings and another into my cheek. All he said was : 'That's the first' blamed bomb that's gone off properly to-day.' " (Laughter). New Zealand, continued General" Bird wood, had through the war attained her manhood. Her brave boys would make as good citizens as they were ' soldiers. They would uphdkl law and order and government, which was doing a great deal for them. Their Association was battling for them — keep it non-political and unsectari'an. (Applause.), General Birdwood then addressed himself in genial, familiar terms to "the boys," suggesting that

those who came back sound were all the better for going away. They had a widened horizon, they knew more of comradeship, and found that men they once despised wero better men than themselves. He attributed the courage and individuality of the New Zealanders to the fact that they came of pioneer stock. His advice was to take an interest in public affairs and not let their minds lie fallow. Work short hours if they liked, but put in a good burst while they were at it. Some would say we should have a spell now and let others work who remained behind, but he contended that they owed a deep debt of gratitude to many of those who remained behind, especially the women. (Applause.) The war was won through the high morale of the people. He had often been asked who won the war). A voice. ; "Bill Massey," laughter). General Birdwood walked over to the Premier, clapped him on the back, and declared. "I'm sure he did his full share." He went on to say that the war was won by the bravery of our soldiers, the might "of the British Navy, and the high morale of the people, and we never should forget that Almighty Providence saw us through when things looked most dark. Tle believed that right along Almighty Providence stretched out a guiding hand and saw us through to the end with safety. (Hear, hear.) Now the war was won they could think of what would have been the result had we lost. We would have lost our nationality, selfrespect, and freedom. The Germans had made up their minds to subjqgate us, for one proof of this was found* on a German being returned to Germany from Australia. On him was discovered a commission from the late Kaiser, appointing him Governor of Australia. From this we were saved by the bravery of our soldiers. The dead who died on Gallipoli did not die in vain. _ His former intelligence officer was now in Oonstantinople, and his letters contained interesting reference to Gallipoli. True, we did not secure our immediate pbjective, but we destroyed the power of the Turkish army. The Turks talked^ about Gallipoli as "the slau,ghter town," a tribute to the fighting qnalities of our men. They thus laid the foundation for General Allenby's subsequent vio tories in Palestine. (Applause.)