NEW ZEALAND AND GREECE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 74, 29 March 1943, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND AND GREECE

PLANS are being made for the relief of occupied Europe; an organisation in London, on which New Zealand is represented, and another in Washington, are doing the preparatory work. When the time comes for action the need will be colossal; the question will be which country should be helped first. On this question New Zealand, which will, presumably, be one of the providers of relief, should make its voice heard. New Zealand and Australia have a special interest in one country, Greece, which, probably more than any other except Poland, is suffering appalling privations as the result of enemy occupation. It was in Greece that the bulk of the New Zealand Division had its baptism of fire. It was in Greece, both when the Division landed, and hopes were high, and afterwards, when it was forced to escape from an overwhelmingly superior enemy, that our soldiers came to know the kindness and admire the spirit of a gallant people. Many a man owed his life and his escape to their guidance and practical, often self-sacrificing, help; and when the full story becomes known of the succour they gave to the soldiers who were "left behind" in Greece and later in Crete, our debt will be recognised as even greater. It is a debt that New Zealanders will wish to repay, and that they will wish to find a way to repay at the earliest moment when it becomes possible. We can help to repay it with food. The Government, which doubtless is acquainted with the tentative arrangements now being made, might well intimate New Zealand's desire that part of its relief shipments should be "earmarked" for Greece, and its distribution administered by New Zealanders.