Take Soldiers Into Your Homes

New Zealand Listener, Volume 10, Issue 255, 12 May 1944, Page 14

Take Soldiers Into Your Homes

(Condensed from a talk from 2YA last week

by MRS.

J. W.

INNES

liaison officer of the

Wellington Week-end fMospitality service)

HAT I am asking to-night is the hospitality of your home for men who are strangers to our city. Perhaps you will say our men should feel at home in Wellington even though they come from other parts of New Zealand-it’s their country-but just take your mind back to some time when you went for a holiday to another part of New Zealand. Did you feel just as much at home there or did you sometimes wish that among all the strange faces you could see someone you knew? Well, our men are just the same, and remember, they are not holiday-makers staying in the best hotels. Believe me, they really appreciate the hand of friendship extended to them. Some months ago, I started a weekend hospitality scheme for those of our men who wished to aveil themselves of it. Well, the response was surprising. Some week-ends I had more men than I had hostesses; sc had to let some of the men wait till the following week. Seems a pity, doesn’t it, when so many homes would be opened to our men if the people only realised that the little they can do means.a lot to someone who has nowhere to go for his week-end leave? What pleases the men so much is the thought that their own people want to do something for them. Many people ask me if any romances come out of these week-ends. Well, naturally, when an unattached man meets an unattached girl, he wishes to follow it up with other meetings, and several engagements have resulted. One man, who has now gone overseas, occasionally writes to remind me not to send any eligible soldier to the home where I first sent him! Hospitality for Girls, Too This week-end hospitality service became so popular that I was asked to extend it to the girls also. I found that many of these girls haven’t applied for week-end leave for two or three months as they prefer to spend their time in camp in preference to walking the streets with nothing to do and spending their well-earned money on overnight accommodation. There are many homes in and around Wellington which would, I know, be only too glad to give an invitation to one of these girls for the week-end. Let me give you some recent instances where hospitality has been given and gratefully received. One morning I received a telephone call to say that an ex-overseas man was arriving from the north and would be going south that night. The man was totally blind, and his wife was travelling with him as escort. They were met on arrival by a voluntary Red Cross transport driver, but instead of being taken to the city to spend the day in a private hotel, they were taken out to a private home, where a quiet but sincere welcome did much to shorten the day in Wellington for them. Another case was (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page? | @ man from the South Island who had to come up to see a specialist. He had lost both hands, and was almost totally blind also. His father was travelling with him as escort. Imagine how much it meant for this man to spend his time in a quiet home. Badly injured men don’t want to be public spectacles, yet they certainly don’t wish to shut themselves up and keep out of people’s way Sometimes a man is well enough to leave hospital, but it isn’t considered wise to send him on a long journey for a day or two. He may not know anyone here, so, instead of spending his time in hospital, he now goes to stay at a private home as a most welcome guest, and a bed in hospital becomes vacant for a waiting patient. When a member of the Forces is dangerously ill, the Army always sends

for the next-of-kin, and they also appreciate the hand of sympathy extended to them from a private home, even though they may be there as paying guests. "The Best Medicine", The special need, however, is for people to recognise that our sick and wounded soldiers require much more than hospital treatment and words of praise. There are many devoted women already doing much to help them, but I am sure there are many others who are anxious to help but not sure just what to do. The best medicine for a sick and wounded man is a place where he can sit by the fire in comfort when it, is cold and wet, or enjoy the sunporch or garden when the sun shines. I have already explained what you can do to help our sick and wounded while they are still undergoing treatment, but what about the time when they discard their uniform and take up civilian occupation again--or, worse still, find that their injuries will not allow them to go back to their usual jobs-a new one has to be taken up. There is much that some of 'you can do to help. When a man’s war injuries prevent him taking up his usual civil occupation again-perhaps, for instance, because he is an amputee-arrangements are made for him to be taught a new trade at the Disabled Servicemen’s Vocational Training Centre in Wellington; but what of those whose homes are in far-away districts and have to find board in this city? This is pretty difficult, you will say-but it needn’t be @nce the need is made known. Don’t you think that they deserve all the comforts only a private home can give them?