MEAL IN FOXHOLES

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 123, 19 February 1944, Page 7

MEAL IN FOXHOLES

Y.M.C.A, Opening Ceremony

(R.N.Z.A.F. Official News Service.)

SOUTH PACIFIC, February 16. An air raid alarm upset proceedings at the opening of the Y.M.CA. hut in a forward Solomons area to which an R.N.ZA.F. station recently moved. It came at a most inopportune time, just as the large crowd which overflowed the hut to three-deep outside were lining up for supper. All beat a speedy retreat to foxholes, and the visitors became guests underground. Fifty gallons of steaming tea could not go to waste when New Zealanders are about, however, specially with 240 lb. of fruit cake, newly-arrived from the Patriotic Fund Board, to go with it.- All was quiet in the sky, and in the dim light of a clouded moon the tea and cake were passed round from foxhole to foxhole? By the time the all-clear sounded half an hour later the tea party was over, not in the comfort and .manner planned, but enjoyed to the full just the same.

High tribute to the work of the Y.M.CjA, with R.N.Z.A.F. units in the Pacific was paid by the commanding officer of the station. Wing Commander D. Campbell, in declaring the hut officially open. It had proved its value in the forward areas, he said, as a recreational centre and as a morale builder among the men. A concert in the early part of the evening was a welcome break in the monotony of camp nights. iSome of the most popular items were part-songs by visitors from a Fijian unit. Notable also was a strong-man feat by an American, who lifted with his teeth and swung a burly New Zealander in a rope harness. Y.M.C.A. Officer J. Easton moved to the new area with the men, and had his establishment fully operational 10 days after arrival. It- provides a library of two to three hundred books, reading and writing facilities, a camp broadcasting system, a stock of National Patriotic Fund Board comforts, which are a free issue in the forward area, and a buffet service at the hut. as well as to the men working on the planes at the airstrip.