RETURNED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 166, 16 July 1941, Page 6

RETURNED

j 1 arrived back in New Zealand just j over a month ago. having been invalided home and to-day find myself almost weighed down by a depression absolutely unknown while in England. Why? The answer is easily found. When we were having we were waved, treated and wished the best, while on our return —through no fault of ours—we were whisked quickly—in case we were recognised, or so it seemed—to Papakura, boarded in or out, whichever the case may be, given a month's leave and instructed to hand in our uniforms before we could draw our mufti allowance, then taken to our homes by cars. The last part \ras very much appreciated. I don't think any of us consider ourselves heroes or have any wish to be treated as such, but it looks as if vou we let our mates down and the "heads" are ashamed of seeing us in uniform. If not, why not let us keep them? I am proud of having given it a go but am frightened of showing it If there is an invasion of this conntrv the returned boys won't need to be conscripted. Does anyone ever wonder what our thoughts are'when we read of our pals being under fire, especially when we know what bombing means? We used to read every piece of news of New Zealand we could find and were proud of the way people out here were getting into it. Now nearly every paper tells of a strike somewhere. DEPRESSED.