TRAILER AMBULANCE

Camp News, Volume 3, Issue 128, 26 June 1942, Page 5

TRAILER AMBULANCE

Presentation To Armed . Forces A trailer ambulance from the Jewish women of Wellington for the use of the armed forces was presented yesterday to the Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, and the Minister of Defence, Mr. Jones. Earlier the Jewish women of New Zealand presented a fullyequipped ambulance for use by the Middle East forces. Mr. Fraser and Mr. Jones expressed the warm thanks of the Government and the Armed Forces for- the splendid thought and warm generosity of Jewish women in raising not only sufficient funds for a full ambulance for use overseas, but, in .the Wellington district so substantial a surplus ■ over the district quota that they,could present a trailer ambulance also. . . The presentation was made by Mesdames R. Markham, E. Spolsky, S. Gotlieb and B. Van Staveren, representing the' Wellington branch of the New Zealand Union of Jewish Women. '' Following the Great War, during which tile Balfour Declaration opened up a', new, vista of Palestine as a homeland for their co-religionists, they stated, many thousands had found sanctuary' there; and ;had enjoyed freedom and liberty - under / British . mandate rule. Since the outbreak Of the present conflict . they had ranged themselves unhesitatingly : on the side of the Allies, and had urged their desire to fight as an organized Jewish , army in defence of Allied interests in the Near East and India.- Unfortunately that privilege had been denied them, though some 20,000 had been accepted for service in the Jewish battalions of the Buffs Regiment, exclusive of those serving in the -Royal Air Force, the Pioneer Corps, and other units. It was in connexion with the Palestine Women's Territorial Service and its due recognition as a unit by Britain that/ the ' Jewish women of New Zealand recently decided; in token of gratitude,’to raise funds to present a fully-equipped, ambulance for use by Middle East Forces. The necessary funds wore raised with enthusiasm, the quota allocated to Wellington being largely oversubscribed, and the Wellington branch decided to devote the surplus toward the purchase of the trailer ambulance. It gave the Jewish women of Wellington great pleasure, said their representatives, to present to the Government the trailer, which Army Headquarters had assigned to the Fortress Field Ambulance, but they prayed that the need for which it was designed might never a rise.