Farewell Parade of First Echelon

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22907, 2 January 1940, Page 6

Farewell Parade of First Echelon

To-morrow morning Christchurch will barely have begun to turn itself to routine labour again, after the general break of Christmas and New Year. ' But for the soldiers of the first echelon of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force who have been in training at Burnham the occasion is one of a different sort. The routine of the last few months is over; the routine of their civilian life is still further away; and the day when peace will open it to them again—to them all, as their , country earnestly hopes—lies in the obscure future. They approach new experience and new service, hazardous and hard; their preparation for it has already been carried far and will be carried to a point at which they should, as soldiers, rate second to none in the world and sustain the tradition established for them by New Zealand troops 25 years ago. But in one respect they began fully prepared: they were ready in will and spirit. No limit could be foreseen or .set to the demands of the cause they were called upon to serve; but they responded at once and freely. That is the honour they have already won; and it is an honour as certainly paid to them by the community to which they belong. To-morrow brings a time for full pub- ■ lie expression of what is individually felt. So quietly was the first echelon encamped, so quietly has its training proceeded, that even now, when all public announcements have been made, it is not easy for everyone to realise that the moment of farewell is near. When the /Burnham units parade through the city tomorrow and are addressed on Cranmer square, citizens will have, if riot their last, their best opportunity to offer the men the tribute of their cheers and the pledge of their hearts and hands in support.