SOME TOO OLD

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 82, 7 April 1943, Page 2

SOME TOO OLD

MEN IN HOME GUARD

NO MEDICAL EXAMINATION (By TOMMY-GUN) Should a medical examination be instituted for members of the Home Guard? The question has become topical with publication of the Christchurch report concerning the inquests on two Home Guardsmen who died of heart failure. But quite a number of Home Guardsmen in Auckland can tell of comrades whose health has broken down as a direct result of training, while others have knowledge of sudden deaths which may or may not have been brought on by over-strenuous activities as Guardsmen. The position at present is that any Home Guardsmen, Who considers his health adversely affected by training, can consult a doctor, at his own expense. On presentation of a medical certificate his commanding officer may temporarily excuse him from attendance at parades. But if a Home Guardsman is certified permanently unfit for service he must be medically boarded by the army before he can consider his case finalised. In other words, while no medical examination is necessary to get into the Home Guard, one is necessary to get out of it. There are believed to be several hundreds of guardsmen in the city and suburbs who possess medical certificates and have attended no parades for varying periods, some since membership of the organisation was made compulsory. Allegations of "lead-swinging" are often made by fit men who attend parades regularly against those nominally on the sick list, who are sometimes found digging their gardens on Sundays when their less fortunate brethren are digging weapon-pits and other earthworks. Liable to Crack Up But from all accounts the case of the malingerer is not so serious as that of the conscientious and energetic Home Guardsman of advancing years who disdains a medical overhaul and, through the absence of an official medical inspection, is liable to "crack up" at any time. Some months ago in Auckland there was the ease of a septuagenarian guardsman who was posted to a field works company. One wet day when other guardsmen took shelter in a shed and beneath hedges this old stalwart, clad in a thin shirt and trousers, declined to stop digging.a pit, and he worked in the rain until the shower was over. A week or so later his death was reported. Other instances come to attention from time to time. Many men who have been graded three in the army medical examinations, some listed as unfit for camp duties, turn out Sunday after Sunday with the Home Guard, in all weathers. On duty they may be constructing defence works, drilling, route-marching, but whatever the routine there is always a fair amount of pirysical exercise. Such exercise is welcomed by many, especially those tied to desk or shop all the week, but capacity to serve, not willingness, should be the criterion in an organisation once described by the Minister of National Service as "the first line of defence in the country." Smaller Fitter Force ■ Consideration of. the physical fitness of Home Guardsmen is tied up with the wider question of the worth and status of the organisation, as an integral part of the defence system. Ai - my. men .well qualified to give a valuable opinion have argued for- a longtime that a smaller, fitter and better equipped force would be far superior to the present force in cooperating Avith the regular, army. Not so long ago a southern paper featured a report of a Home Guardsman more than 80 years of age. Some units in Auckland still have men on the rolls who are cripples. One holds nothing but admiration for the spirit of these men, but their value in any combative • activity would be nil.