"ARABIAN" LAWRENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 308, 29 December 1922, Page 5

"ARABIAN" LAWRENCE.

ENLISTS IN THE AIR FORCE.

TO SECURE • PEACE AND QUIET.' iT!e?cived a.m.) LOXDOX, December 28. Colonel T. E. Lawrence enlisted in the Royal Air Force as Craftsman A. C. Ross, four months ago. ostensibly to secure "peace and quiet" for literary work.— (A. and X.Z. Cable.) Colonel Lawrence, the uncrowned King of the Hedjaz, has had a career of remarkable romance. On leaving Oxford, Colonel Lawrence made his way to the East, and. dressed as n native, wandered u p and down Arabia, Syria, and Mesopotamia, cultivating his natural gifts for association with Oriental peoples, making himself ma-ster of the numerous dialects of the Arab tongue, and studying the ancient monuments and buried cities of Syria. When the war came and Turkey threw in her lot with the Central Powers, the archaeologist, who at the moment was excavating Hittite remains in the valley of the Euphrates, became a soldier whose exploits have coupled his n#inc with those of the legendary and historic leaders of the East. He organised the forces of the King of the Hedjaz. who had revolted against the Sultan and seized Mecca. The story of the remarkable way in which lie led the little more than guerilla forces of the Arabs and the extraordinary success that attended his operations reads more like a romnnce of the "Arabian Xiahts - ' than a military record of to-day. Out of gratitude for his services to their country the Arab leaders niaiie him an Emir and a Prince of Mecca, a unique honour, and v King Hussein presented his British 'commander with the curved gold sword worn oniv by direct descendants of Mohammed. After the war Colonel Lawrence was maoe adviser on Arab affairs, but retired from hifi post ovpr a year ago.