SOLDIER WINS £l0,000

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27500, 6 November 1954, Page 6

SOLDIER WINS £l0,000

Christchurch, Man In .Korea

FIANCEE’S DELIGHT AT NEWS

A 21-year-old New Zealand soldier serving in Korea has won £lO,OOO in an Australian sweepstake on the Melbourne Cup. He is Driver J. •B. Thomas, of the Royal New Zealand Army Service Corps, who drew Hellion, the second horse .in the race. Driver Thomas, who has been in Korea for about three months, is the son of Mr and Mrs J. W. Thomas, of Peverel street, Riccarton. He has been a regular buyer of sweepstake tickets for three or four years, and his friends say he has been extraordinarily lucky in raffles and at the races. His prizewinning ticket with the nom-de-plume* “Our Gang” was bought for him, however, by his younger brother, Mr Noel Thomas, before he left for Korea. „R r jY£ r . Thomas has actually won £10,005 in the- sweepstake. In the first drawing of. the sweepstake his ticket gained him a£s prize. His: parents have written to tell him about the £5 prize, but he still has to learn of his greater success. Mr Thomas was advised yesterday afternoon that: his son had Won the second prize of £lO,OOO. He took his son’s ticket to the seller last evening, and now holds a receipt for £10,005. Shortly before he left for Korea Driver Thomas became engaged to Miss Faye Newell, of Attlee crescent, Bryndwr. Miss Newell, who is 18. heard the news. by telephone ffom Mr Thomas about 5 p.m. while she was at work in a Christchurch shop. Two hours later she said she was still trembling with surprise and excitement “I could hardly believe it, and nearly dropped the. telephone when I heard Jim had won £10,000,” said Miss Newell last night. “I was all hot and bothered, but terribly pleased.” Her friends in the shop were amazed, and would not believe it when she told them of her fiance’s good luck. Miss Newell has known Driver Thomas for two years. Their plans for the future must wait until he returns to Christchurch after his 18 months’ duty in Korea. Driver Thomas enlisted for service in K Force at the end of last year, and went into camp early this' year. Originally ne was posted to the 18th Field Regiment, but when he arrived in Korea he was transferred to the Army Service Corps.