N.Z. REGIMENT IN MALAYA

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29067, 2 December 1959, Page 10

N.Z. REGIMENT IN MALAYA

Second Battalion Disembarks [Army Information Service} A ,new page was added to New Zealand Army history when the Second Battalion, New Zealand Regiment disembarked at Penang, Malaya on November 25. It was the first occasion on which a New Zealand unit had landed abroad with its families. Breakfasting before dawn, the troops, their wives and children moved down gangways at first light into ferry boats moored alongside the Captain Cook, as she lay in mid-stream between the island of Penang and the mainland. Eyes were on the jungle-clad shore of the country u r hich will be the home of nearly 900 New Zealanders including 98 families, for the next two years. Children were agog with excitement at the prospect of life at school ifi Malaya. Once ashore they were soon on their way to Taiping and Ipoh in special trains. Arrival in Malaya resembled almost a home-coming to Corporal Robertson of the Second Battalion who emigrated to New Zealand last year after 10 years’ service wth the Malayan police force.

About 15 officers and men of the Second Battalion thad served previously in Malaya, some with the Fiji Regiment and others with the Special Air Service Squadron. Among them were Sergeant R. S. Hurle of Auckland, and Corporal R. P. Withers, of Geraldine, both of whom were awarded the Negri Sembilan D.C.M. by the Sultan of that state for successful patrol work with the Special Air Service,