PRAISE FOR Y.M.C.A.

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23802, 23 November 1942, Page 4

PRAISE FOR Y.M.C.A.

NEW ZEALAND OFFICER’S ’ TRIBUTE The work of the Y.M.C.A. in the Middle East is warmly praised in a letter to a Christchurch resident by a young New Zealand officer. “I feel that a letter is definitely due to you, particularly as you are very interested in that wonderful organisation, the Y.M.C.A.,” he writes. “I have been out in this country more than two and a half years now, and even during the early part of our Army career, wherever we went, as far up as Mersa Matruh, which was as far as any prudent man went ( in those days, the Y.M.C.A. was functioning with canteens and service in a most efficient way. Later, after last November, when we pushed the Hun beyond Gazala, the ‘Y’ followed us up, and, later again, when our brigade were sent up to El Adem, we could absolutely count on being able to get supplies, and at ‘cut’ prices, too. When we went to Syria, and were stationed, some of us, on the Turkish border, we always saw the van once at least a week, and when they were not selling things they were giving them away or putting on a first-rate cinema show. “When the division put in its recordbreaking run from Syria up to Mersa Matruh, the Y.M.C.A. vans were not far behind, and, since then, very often under fire, we have received supplies regularly, and I can tell you how much we all appreciate the wonderful service we are receiving. The New Zealand Patriotic Fund is most fortunate to have such efficient agents.”