FRIEND TO GREEKS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 2, 3 January 1945, Page 6

FRIEND TO GREEKS

KILLED BY SNIPER TRAGEDY OF CIVIL WAR N.Z.E.F. Official War Correspondent ATHENS, Dec. 22. After enduring the rigours of life in the mountains of Greece and the bullets of Germans and Partisans for three and a half years, an Australian, Dick Turner, already one of the legendary figures of the Greek resistance movement, was killed by an E.L.A.S. sniper within a few minutes of taking a plane for home. Richard Sidney Turner, of Sydney, first entered Greece with the A.I.F. in 1041. During the retreat he was captured in Megars, but escaped in June. During the short period of the campaign he was promoted from private to sergeant in the field. After a period in the mountains he joined the British Military Mission, being one of the first British troops to do so. During three and a half desperate years he participated in many dangerous operations against the Germans and Italians. He spoke the language fluently, and had many friends among the Greeks. With the withdrawal of the Germans his task was done, and he could return home. He died when the truck in which he was going to an aerodrome was sniped from cover.