ELLIOTT TOLD OF AWARD

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23752, 25 September 1942, Page 6

ELLIOTT TOLD OF AWARD

Enthusiastic Scenes At Maadi

«MY PALS DID THE JOB” ' (Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) - CAIRO September 23, ■' Sergeant Elliott, of the 22nd Wellingli!; ton Battalion, was awarded the Vic,*i toria Cross on the recommendation of 1 1 the Commander-in-Chief in the Middle i'r. East. , , 'Z Cheers rang through a sergeants ’■it mess at Maadi camp at lunch time to--i' day when it was announced that Ser- , " geant Elliott had been awarded the victoria Cross. Auburn-haired, stocky, 26-year-o!d Elliott, a fanner from Pa‘l hiatua, was eating his lunch when he ifs was called from the mess by his adid jutant. His colonel was waiting outm side. The colonel and the adjutant 1 1 were the first to congratulate him. i'l Then the adjutant made the announceW ment in the mess. There was a tuJii multuous welcome as Elliott re-entered Vi the mess. . . , iii An hour later he was sitting in the 1h camp studio while the official artist, ,u Captain Peter Mclntyre, sketched him ■fl! for a painting in oils, and the cinep matographer, Mr R. Mclntyre, made a film. He was obviously shy and bets wildered by it all. . When he told his story to me he told ' It with great reservation, laying stress t on what the men wlm him had done, i!l|| and telling nothing of what he him.self had done. # "Tell them my pals did the job and ;*« God looked after us,” he said, jif i Before the war Sergeant Elliott was y i farming ot Mangamaire.. He is a typpj ical New Zealander in speech, in aps proach, in outlook, and in manner. He j 1 cannot understand why he should have been awarded the Victoria Cross. He ife would rather have seen it awarded to the lance-corporal who was with him. Hi | Sergeant Elliott is New Zealand’s ii«| fifth winner of the Victoria Cross in In'll this war. He has been -five times j;]!; wounded—foui’ times in the action ft; which won him the Victoria Cross and Jjl il once in Crete. He has been in every til?;’ action in which the New Zealanders J.hi have fought—Greece, Crete, Libya, and 'ir, Egypt. “' ft He had just rejoined his battalion on (iftt July 13, after recovering from malaria contracted in Syria. Two days later j came the New Zealanders’ grim attack on the Ruweisat ridge. In spite of the 'll:- four wounds he suffered in this attack Jlf'j he is fit and tanned, and ready to go ifh back to the line. jii'*; Throughout his career in the 2nd rN; New Zealand Expeditionary Force Ser.!'Jii geant Elliott has been a-member of the '] t 22nd Wellington Battalion, commanded for many months by Colonel L. W. AnI drew, a Victoria Cross winner of the [l\ last war. Sergeant Elliott’s Victoria i Cross is the first decoration the 22nd JW Battqjion has won. Colonel Andrew : used to call them jokingly "the ribboni > less battalion.” ~! i One of the youngest of a family of V'! eight, Sergeant Elliott was born on ’V Anzac Day 1916. He was educated at ; the Litton Street School, Feilding, and t ; the Feilding Boys’ High School. He '.!> played half-back for Feilding High 4'School in 1933. When he moved to iPahiatua he won his place in the Bush . t * District representative team in 1938 jlt 1 and 1939. touring the South Island with All Black Athol Mahoney’s side. ; ■ Since his heroic exploits at the Rulull iweisat ridge Sergeant Elliott has been I '.. out of the front line. He is now on a 1 fJj:,weapons training course at base camp,