AMERICAN FIELD SERVICE

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24625, 23 July 1945, Page 3

AMERICAN FIELD SERVICE

DUTY IN ITALY ENDS (Official War Correspondent 2nd N.ZJS.F.) ROME, July 20. An American unit which has the unqualified admiration and respect of all New Zealanders has ended its service in Italy. This is the American Field Service, comprising unpaid volunteers, who worked continuously during the war with medical posts of the Bth Army from January, "941. From Alamein to Austria these Americans did a magnificent job and the New Zealanders, who fought through the desert campaigns, knew them, very well. To mark the end of their Mediterranean service, Field-Marshal Sir Harold Alexander presented the unit with a Union Jack at a special ceremony during which he thanked them for “the splendid and gallant part you have played with the British forces and he assured them that the British would never forget the distinguished part they played in the war. The ambulance drivers, who drove into action in many a fight with the New Zealanders, have not finished with the war. The majority of them will go as a company to the Far Eastern theatre.