V.C. INVESTITURE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 234, 3 October 1942, Page 6

V.C. INVESTITURE

\\t k. elliott

N.Z. P/.F! TUS !i\i PE3ERT • '!.«• N ]■ I' I ' ' •'< I■.■ Ii: : 1I pi ;;d. ■ '• ■ • i . iv od ih c '■ '• 1 !l 1 m l.ene ,ll M I 1111 ■ '. ii "... .ii-' ' li mi, p: I . i .i l i, l ' ; v,:'' l; ;;i >■ ■ •I; i: •i' .oi.'l '' • '/ 'tiled : '' 1 ' u ■ 1 1 <" 11 iln ■ neu • i ' i-i I during " '" '' ; Vl i!■ iin li'i's •" 1' '' ' 1 ' I" <" II :■ i • lei i Iw, i " .. ■ "led 1,, iw.i New /.ea- ! 1 11 e c ii,,;,! Older of ■ I i.•,:,••• \\ ...... and ' dSI lM II ' I- I 1 I. • ' '• • I •: • I • \\ 1I fii.u Ci .1111 oil' 111 - ii!• Parades I'lie U e , | W ,lh Ih I • I .1' M. .| I; ' '■ ; ' I'■ ■'> . l'i 11 | ' ' I'' I-a 0.1 \i ,i.% . lie 1 Mi'i'ii e ,'! h M.i i vi"i'.: men and Hi Uli • wII . • I iel le| I I 1.l II tile New Zeal.ll.de! ■ I•' 1 1 il l ■ I 'eft l-'/i iulai ii I I Ilea rd a ' n ' abi.ul the New Zoa l.i i idols." ho ion tinned "Now I have I ought one battle with vim. and I kimw iunv • rue tho.-e Words Wore. Wo will have mm e battles toi-oihor. all of 1 Item, 1 hi .pe, as successful as the lirst." At, a parade commanded hv a Uric,idler. tienoral Montgomery, -poke ..I the Now Zealand badge, which Sir I'.ernard P'rev berg. V.C.. had given him to wear in his Australian I tiggor hat. "I wear it prommentlv, and I am tromendouslv proud to do he said. "It is a very great honour." <»ir the parade grounds tho General chatted e.i-ilv with duty men. most of them stripped to tho waist, or i r ' N | 1 1 <. d ea.-v desert rig. 110 gamed their ci in h del ii 'o t|uickl.v by asking (j ne-t ii ii is about their homes in New Zealand or about cameras which some of the men hesitantly produced to snap tho army commander and Sir I'.ernard Kreyberg near their trucks and bivouacs.

An ( iiiisual Feature

An unusual feature of the two infantry parades was that, reserve motor transport drivers, who earrv our troops into battle, were formed up with their veteran trucks near the main parades. General Montgomery reviewed the transport men standing in his open car as it moved slowly along the lines of hundreds of trucks. One of the transport companies he saw had the distinction of Wring the first New Zealand unit in action in this war when it went into L.ybia in HMO.

Officers and cunnci's of New Zealand artillery regiments that have been constantly in the lighting along the Alamein line formed the third parade which the general Inspected. The work of our gunners, he said, was recognised as of great importance, particularly in the recent desert battles. Tank carriers were scattered along the edge of a large flat depression in which machine-gunners and divisional cavalry paraded under a lieutenant-colonel.