SOLDIERS OF SAMOA

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 106, 6 May 1915, Page 2

SOLDIERS OF SAMOA

TO IHB EDITOR. Sir,— l notice in this evening's Poet that sonio insulting remarks had been made by one "Maxim" re tho Samoan Force, and were being replied to. As an officer of onoof the_ transports I think I was in a position to judge what sort of men composed that expedition. From what I saw, I never wish to sail with a keener or more splendid body of men. The expedition had to run tho gauntlet of tho Gorman cruisers, and waa practically without escort as far ac Now Caledonia, and we all knew that had the Germans showed up, not a soul would ever have returned. And when we did get the Australian warships and set out for Samoa, the grim, reality of war stared these young soldiers in the face. They one and all expected a hard resistance by tho Germnjis. Not one word of murmuring did I hear 1 . They wero there to fight, and it was good to sco tho way they "fell in" the morning wo approached Samoa. For all they knew tho Germans might have been thero in force, and it would have been the last "fall in" for many of them. Inexperienced as they wero to war, there was a fine look of determination in the faces of all. I for one fully recognise that the Samoan contingent did- their little bit in clearing tho Germans out of the Pacific, and so prevented them from making raids on this fair land of ours. Boing a married man. and having read of the atrocities in Belgium, I don't want any German •raids near my home. Hoping you will find space for this, and I think I am, in a position to write as I had an excellent opportunity of judging tlie "personnel" of tho Samoan contingent, and will always bo proud of tho splendid body of man that we had the honour of carrying to Samoa. — I am, etc., A. LTJXFORD. Late Third Officer, H.M. N.Z. Troopship No. I. £ Sth Ma-y, 1915.*" *