WOMAN IN ARMY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 136, 11 June 1927, Page 28

WOMAN IN ARMY.

SA3T3 SHE SERVED AS MAN. and was wounded. The story of a woman who declares that she served with the Australian Army as a man is published in the "Sunday News." Minnie Rebecca Drewett says: "I was born in Edinburgh, and had a good situation with a family in Fremantle in 1915 as a cook, when I received a letter from an officer in whose family I had previously worked in Scotland for many years. Finding the civilian accommodation on the liners booked up, I conceived the idea of recruiting. "I bought a second-hand suit, and cut off my hair. I thought the recruiting sergeant gave a suspicious glance, but he said nothing. Afterwards to an officer I explained that I wards an experienced cook, accustomed to preparing food for large numbers. After that they did not trouble me much. "An officer whispered something to a doctor, whose medical examination was most perfunctory. I left the office in khaki uniform as Private GeorgeDrewett, 180,802, Australian Commonwealth Army, and boarded a troopship a few days later for England in charge of the cooking arrangements. I was the only woman- among a thousand men. After the first feeling of uneasiness in the unusual clothing I felt completely at ease.

"I drank beer with the men in the bar and played cards.

Discovery in Hospital.

"No one suspected' I was not a man. I arrived in England, 'went to Tidmouth camp, and accompanied the contingents to France. I returned to England with shrapnel wounds in the mouth and forehead. I was taken to hospital, where my sex was discovered. "While in Netley Hospital the Prince of Wales paid a visit and shook hands with me. The Prince said, 'By jove, what pluck!' When the Prince of Wales visited Hastings recently I paraded among the British Legion. The Prince of Wales asked, 'What is a woman doing here?' I replied, Trivate Drewett, Australian Army.' He looked again and said, 'Oh, I remember you.'" " " i