ANZAC AIRMEN ARE CHEERED IN CALIFORNIA

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 253, 25 October 1941, Page 6

ANZAC AIRMEN ARE CHEERED IN CALIFORNIA

(By Air) SAN FRANCISCO, Oct, 16

The voyage of nearly GOO New Zealand and Australian airmen from their respective countries under the Southern Cross to the mainland of the United States was a well-kept secret while they were aboard ship, but when the liner Arrived at San Pedro, the port of Los Angeles, spectators along the waterfront there were amazed at the sight of such a large contingent of British Empire men in uniform.

Of the 802 passengers aboard the American liner, 366 wore the dark blue uniform of Australian flying officers and cadets, and 213 the grey garb of New Zealand flying personnel. Most of. the flyers were said to be practically ready for combat duty, with the remainder due for advanced training, presumably in Canada, before proceeding to England. \

Wing Commander Athol Richard and Wing Commander the Hon. Thomas W. White, in command of the two detachments, professed themselves ignorant—officially — of the contingent's destination after disembarking from the.ship on the following day in San Francisco.

Commander White praised his men ag "a keen lot," who might be confidently expected to "give the Huns a iry." It was stated that Commander is a former. Minister of Trade in Australia, and still is a member of Parliament at Canberra. His past reads like a storybook, said an infor

mant when the liner arrived at San Pedro, and it was recalled that he was a flyer in the World War and served with an Australian aviation unit in Mesopotamia. He was captured by the Turks and fretted in a concentration camp for 30 months before escaping to Russia. He eventually returned to Melbourne and authored his adventures under the book title, "Guest of the Unspeakables." i

Los Angeles evinced the keenest interest in the comine of the Anzacs to the American mainland, as both Australians and New Zealanders are regarded as "our next door neighbours" by Californians'. and there is always a pronounced regard of cordiality between the Californians and those "down under."

The Los Angeles Times published photographs of the arrival of the two contingents, one large picture showing the men at the San Pedro wharf streaming, off the great liner and others of them crowding the two decks of the vessel. When the photographer snapped his camera the men were shown with their thumbs up and smiling broadly as though anxious to get at the Huns at the first possible moment. Another picture showed the two wing commanders consulting documents studying orders that "might tell the Anzacs' route."

After a few hours' stav at San Pedro the pilots streamed aboard the liner again and resumed their voyage, arriving in San Francisco Harbour the following afternoon. The large contingent—first full scale movement of British Empire troops on an American ship so far as was known—quickly disembarked fti San Francisco and marched past the Matson docks and proceeded northward alon* the Embarcadero waterfront and shortly afterwards boarded ferryboats which took them to a waiting train in Oakland, the overland terminus of the railway system. Their leader, Wing-Commander Athol Richards, 28, who has seen many Channel air battles, said that

many of the Anzac airmen would go directly from Canada to England, but that many others would remain in Eastern Canada for advanced training. Average age of the flyers, gunners and observers was 23, their officers said, although some were as young as eighteen.

Another prominent officer of the group was Squadron-Leader F. B. Phillips, Chief Justice of New Guinea, on leave to administer air force law in Britain. One woman nurse, Alice Wheatley, completed the party.

Photographs in the San- Francisco newspapers showed the contingent marching briskly along the waterfront to "somewhere in Canada." It was especially noticed that the men were tall, heavy of stature, and as one evening paper added: "Features for which Anzac fighters are both famed and' not a little proud/'

San Francisco deeply lamented the hurried departure of the Anzacs as a warm reception would have been extended them by a series of entertainment functions, but acceleration of their party to panada prevented a full-scale California welcome of the customary character usually given the visitors from New Zealand and Australia to the hospitable shores of California. In any case, the 579 men from "down under" carried away with them the best wishes of all California when they bade adieu when entraining at the Oakland terminus.