NEW SEASON’S HATS

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 210, 2 June 1944, Page 5

NEW SEASON’S HATS

N.Z.E.F. Beret To Replace Straws And Borsalinos (Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) ITALY, May 30. The sign of the black diamond, which has marked the track of the New Zealand Division from El Alamein to Enfldaville and again throughout the Italian campaign, has been incorporated in new headgear which is now on issue to all units not wearing the black beret of the armoured units. The new issue is a khaki beret bearing a black diamond on which is mounted, the N.Z.E.F. badge. The issue is opportune, as the beret affords much greater protection against dust than the field service cap which it replaces. The most popular hats for informal wear in the forward areas at present are the borsalino and the common straw hat. The trucks, tanks and guns moving for- . ward are manned by dusty soldiers wearing variegated styles of civilian hats whose chief merit is that they keep out the dust stirred up by the wheels of every moving vehicle. The average hat appears to have been engaged in a bat-: tie of its own before joining the division, as many of them date back to the days when felt hats cost only a few lire, and when it was good to have headgear that prevented the rain from running down one’s neck. Old Kiwi felt hats are still occasion- I ally seen, most of them with the greater I part of the brim cut away to provide I wicks for primus stoves. 'J