N.Z. Airman's Tragic War

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29744, 10 February 1962, Page 3

N.Z. Airman's Tragic War

“The Pitcher and the Well.’’ Paul. 224 pp.

“The Pitcher and the Well” is one of the best war books to come out of New Zealand Nervous and uneven in tone it is. nevertheless, alive in the sense that on-the-spot reporting is alive A more sedate attempt to capture the same atmosphere could be felt in Michael Joseph's “I’ll Soldier No More ” Both books, m fact take the reader back to the terrible years which now seem so long ago The writer of these pages died of his injuries in a German hospital. He was a prisoner of war, and when his bomber was brought down he suffered severe burns During the time he was being treated, he was able to write and addressed a series of letters to the officer in New Zealand who had directed him to the school for navigators, after he had been judged unfit to train further as a pilot He was to prove a brilliant navigator As this book shows, be was also a brilliant recorder of sensational events and of the endless reactions these events set up inside him. He wrote of all sorts of experiences—of fly-

ing over Hamburg, dropping bombs on the Renault works near Paris. Back' on the station there was the tension of waiting for the next operation, the rapid friendships. the scorn with which the professional organisers and careerists were regarded Leave in London brought chance meetings that for the moment meant so much They contrasted with the ~ry comedy of diving into a tube during an air raid and spending an hour or two with the London crowd Later on the Americans were arriving, and their characteristics were picturesquely described The author was, of course, a cynic. How could he be anything else, given his particular sensibility? But reckless and somewhat ruthless as he liked to appear. he was never a bore His name is not revealed For some reason this would entail a breach of confidence It is hard to see why it is so. and why a few minor alterations could not have drawn the sting of wha’ might be considered personalities “The Pitcher and the Well” is too valuable a book —at least fur New Zealanders—to be allowed to slip into the kind of limbo reserved for anonymous works.