CHAPLAIN VISITS NEXT-OF-KIN

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24369, 22 September 1944, Page 6

CHAPLAIN VISITS NEXT-OF-KIN

MEN BURIED DURING PACIFIC CAMPAIGN

(P.A.). AUCKLAND, Sept. 21. The unusual task of visiting the next-of-kin throughout New Zealand of officers and men he buried during the Pacific campaign has been completed by Captain T. L. Francis, who was a Church of England chaplain witit# field ambulance unit. In an interview,. Captain Francis said he buried 26 New ’ Zealanders during the campaign, and many more Americans. The New Zealanders came from all parts of the Dominion, but the greater percentage from the south. Captain Francis added that he could not have carried the mission through but for the railway leave pass, which he had used throughout.. He had felt repeatedly thaL the undertaking had been well worth while, if only for the consolation he had been able to give parents, wives, and families from- the knowledge that the men had received a Christian .burial, . , Captain Francis said he had ,found that unfortunately many exaggerated stories had.been sent-to next-of-kin,_re-garding the circumstances of deaths, and he was able to dispel muclr grief that had been based on inaccurate details. Relatives were very appreciative of the information he had been able to give them as to the situation of - the dead men’s graves.