Guardsmen
SAW one scene on the quay of a South Coast port which still thrills me in recollection, The Guards had fought in Belgium as we expect the Guards to fight. There are people who sneer at the Guards because of their "fancy dress" uniform in peacetime. No one who ever fought, beside the Guards ever sneered at them: certainly © no otie who
ever fought against the Guards did! For eighteen days the Guards had marched, countermarched and fought. They had undergone the ordeal of the beaches of Dunkirk, and had been bombed on the precarious crossing of the Channel. Yet the moment they had set foot in England, they fell in on the quay under perfect discipline, and marched off as calmly as
if they were going to relieve the guard at Buckingham Palace. It was more than a thrill. Here was a spirit which a hundred Hitlers could never break, These men would never know that they were beaten; therefore they never could be beaten by anything short of extermination. The sequel was even more significant. Lying about on the quay were a number of French soldiers. They were not merely fatigued, but dispirited-even demoralised: we could scarcely blame them. To us it seemed that we had lost France. I saw some of them stare in amazement at the Guards. One or two staggered to their feet. others followed, Then those Frenchmen fell in and marched behind the Guards. So can men of courage imbue others with their spirit--(Bernard Newman in his recent book: "One Man’s Year." Quoted trom 3YA, August 12, by Miss G. M. Glanville).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19410905.2.12.1
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 115, 5 September 1941, Page 5
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269Guardsmen New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 115, 5 September 1941, Page 5
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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