DOWN TO THE JOB

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 2, 2 July 1940, Page 8

DOWN TO THE JOB

N.Z.E.F. IN ENGLAND

INTENSE PREPARATION

(From the Official War Correspondent attached to the New Zealand Forces in Great Britain.) LONDON, July 1. The opening of this possibly momentous month in British history finds the members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the United Kingdom amidst intense and urgent but orderly advanced preparation for active service. Steel helmets and gas respirators are standard equipment about camp, and with new weapons to master and new mechanisation to support them, the troops are hard down to training. They worked all day Saturday and all day Sunday, and this morning they are back on parade, if anything, keener than ever. t Men who have not had special London or visiting leave are being allowed away in small batches. All others, however, are now face to face with the job which they crossed the world to do. On top of all that Britain unseen means to young men of British stock brought up in the Dominions, these ten days of glorious summer in a beautiful southern countryside, with a few fleeting hours' leave in hospitable homes and with hitherto unknown kinsfolk, have captured the heart of every New Zealander. Not one among all these thousands would wish to be elsewhere in the hour of the Old Land's need. They know now why they have called her Home since ever they began to talk. They ask no higher privilege than to be allowed on her own soil to help preserve her as Home for their children and their children's children. Mr. Anthony Eden briefly addressed | those present at the reception this j afternoon to the men of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force on London leave. "I did want to be here," he said, acknowledging the ovation accorded him by Maori and pakeha soldiers, "just to add my welcome to the many you have received here in this Old Country in which we are proud and delighted to see you. We all know we have a tough job on, but from the unity of our Empire we draw strength and courage that, together with the righteousness of our cause, are going to make ultimate victory certain. The harder the job the greater the effort we shall make. That is the spirit of all of us, and I know it is yours in New Zealand. Thank you, and the best of luck."