ONE-MAN FORCE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 144, 20 June 1945, Page 6

ONE-MAN FORCE

. VANCOUVER DEFENCE ECHO OF PEARL HARBOUR The doubtful honour of having comprised the sole defensive force of a vital area of Vancouver, British' Columbia, at the time of the Japanese attack, on Pearl Harbour, is .held by an English businessman, Mr. W. J. Plowden-Wardlaw, who has just con- j eluded a visit to New Zealand. - I Mr. Wardlaw was in the Royal] Canadian Air Force as an armourer 1 for about a year. When the news 'of , : Pearl Harbour was received he was the only man on duty in a repair j depot at a large air station on the: borders of Vancouver harbour. 'He-was-'equipped with one old machineeUn and 50 rounds of ammunition. I

guil dllU O\J Fortunately, rumours of Japanese planes approaching the Canadian coast proved to be false, commented Mr. Wardlaw. However, he himself taught three or four people to shoot during the course of the night. Mr. Wardlaw said many New Zealanders passed through the station where he was posted: He was astonished one morning to find a dozen empty bottles bearing the label of a well-known New. Zealand brand of beer behind a hangar. He mentioned that many Canadian ex-servicemen had already received their war gratuities, payment of these having started in January of this year. Servico personnel who. through no fault of their own, were not eligible for overseas service, received half of the- overseas gratuity.