SERVICES IN DESERT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 235, 5 October 1942, Page 4

SERVICES IN DESERT

Y.M.C.A. OFFICER'S AWARD (0.C.) WELLINGTON, Saturday. The decoration of Member of the Order of the British Empire has been awarded to Mr. H. A. Tankersley, of Carterton, one of the New Zealand secretaries serving with tha. Y.M.C.A. in the Middle East.

,Mr. Tankersley was one of six New Zealand secretaries who were detached to assist the British Y.M.C.A. units in the Western Desert, and with Mr. Ray Barker (since reported missing), of the British organisation, he maintained a Y.M.C.A. canteen in Tobruk throughout the first siege. This canteen went into operation three days after the capture of the town in General Wavelf's advance at the end of 1940, and served the troops there until its capture by Rommel a few months ago. For three months of the first siege, Mr. Tankersley ran the Tobruk canteen unaided.

Shortly after the relief of the town Mr. Tankersley was wounded, but was back in the Western Desert at his own request. In the final evacuation of Tobruk he was in charge of the Y.M.C.A. equipment it was decided to remove, and succeeded in getting all his men and most of the material away safely. He is now in charge of the Western Desert service of the organisation.