Thanks to wartime allies

Press, 9 May 1981, Page 1

Thanks to wartime allies

PA Wellington Fifty Greek and Cretan families will be settled in New Zealand as thanks for help to endangered New Zealand soldiers 40 years ago duria» World War 11.

The proposal will bring to New Zealand families that helped New Zealand soldiers during the battles, descendants of those families. and others who have kept in touch with New Zealand servicemen. At the moment sponsors are still being drawn together, as the normal, immigration rules will have to be relaxed to bring, the families in.

The settlement plan is part of . the commemoration of the Battle of Crete on Mav 20-28, 1941, when 671 New Zealanders died, 1943 were wounded (488 of them captured) and 2180 became prisoners. This was a huge loss out of the small force of 7702.

A high-powered defence

delegation will fly to Crete, in 10 days time to take part in the Greek Government’s official celebrations.

Leading it. will be the Minister of Defence (Mr Thomson) with the Secretary of Defence, Mr D. B. G. McLean, the Chief of Defence Staff, Vice-Admi-ral N. D. Anderson, and the Chief of General Staff, Major-General B. M. Poananga. The New Zealand Returned* Services • Association. which has been working with the Government on the family settlement plan, will be represented .by it’s Dominion president, Mr Doug Leuchars, and there will be six other retired servicemen as guests in the Minister’s R.N.Z.A.F. Hercules aircraft.

These will be MajorGeneral . Sir William Gentry, Major H. C. Lambert, of .the Maori Battalion Association, Brigadier J. T. Burrows, Brigadier T.

C. Campbell, Colonel D. J. Fountaine, and LieutenantColonel A. Blackburn. After the commemoration on May 23-24, the Minister will go on to open New Zealand’s new embassy building in Athens.

Mr Thomson said yesterday that “I was in the Olympus Line in the 19th Battalion -as an intelligence officer and it was my job to interrogate prisoners, and they were astonished that anyone was stupid enough, to try to stop the Wehrmacht. “The same thing happened in Crete. It is probable that even if the defence had been successful and we had not withdrawn, they would have

still made the defence of Crete untenable. But there is no doubt of the extraordinary tenacity of our troops.”

At least six other groups of returned servicemen are planning to make the trip privately, and a nine-man honour guard and concert party from the Ist Battalion in Singapore will also be taken to Crete.

Mr Charles Upham, who won one of his two Victoria Crosses on Crete, will travel from a V.C. reunion in London for the ceremonies.

No date has been set for the arrival in New Zealand of the families, who are likely to amount to 225 people.