ALEXANDER OF TUNIS

Press, Volume C, Issue 29669, 13 November 1961, Page 15

ALEXANDER OF TUNIS

First Visit To N.Z. (NX. Press Association) AUCKLAND, Nov. 12. Field Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis, known to thousands of New Zealand soldiers during the war, praised the men who were once under his command in the Middle East when he arrived in Auckland on Saturday. "They were the best men to exploit a breakthrough,” he said. Earl Alexander commanded New Zealanders as Com-

mander-in-Chief, Middle East, Cominander-in-Chief of the Army Group in North Africa, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Army in Italy, and Supreme Commander of the Mediterranean theatre between 1942 and 1945. For a period in 1942 he was General Officer Commanding, Burma. From 1946 to 1952 he was Governor-General of Canada. But in spite of his close associations with New Zealanders and particularly with this country’s most famous soldier of World 11, General Sir Bernard Freyberg, he said at Whenuapai airport that he had not been here before. “That was one of the added attractions of my trip,” he said. As chairman of directors pf Alcan Industries, IZd., Eajrl Alexander is in Auckland for the opening of his company’s new rolling mill at Wiri on Tuesday. The plant will be officially opened by the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake). His four days in New Zealand would not allow time for him to meet another greet friend—the GovernorGeneral (Lord Cobham), said Earl Alexander.