CHRISTMAS EVE

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 156, 30 December 1940, Page 9

CHRISTMAS EVE

.£>X.r. LLLLSSKAI IUIMiS

PREPARATIONS IN THE

DESERT

POULTRY & PUDDING

(From the Official War Correspondent With the N.Z.E.F. in the Middle East.) WESTERN DESERT, December 27. The night of.' the first Christmas Eve the soldiers .of the second N.Z.E.F. have spent in the field is creeping coldly over the great Western Desert as this message is written. New Zealanders, scattered across hundreds of miles of foreign soil, are turning their thoughts homewards and remembering the crowded and expectant days of reunidns and farewells that marued this time just a year ago. Here, on the dusty seaward slopes which hold the biggest concentration of those first men to leave New Zealand, Christmas can still be peacefully and happily celebrated in the traditional way. No pains have been spared in ■ the plans made to preserve its spirit of., good cheer, even in these strangest of surroundings. Ration trucks rumbled along the road from the camps this morning to be laden at the ra'Tway depot with turkey, chicken, mutton, vegetables, fruits, beverages by the ton for dinners that will be spread before the men- tomorrow on scores of ■ mess tables in tents and dug-outs and in the open air. With menus planned well in advance the Army cooks have their forces mobilised and their stoves and home-made ovens ready for the year's best effort. Christmas pudding in Western Desert style is made less of a worry than it might be by the fact that.-the mixture is being supplied to the forces -in bulk, but there will be any amount of work tending roasts and preparing the sauces and extra delicicies with which the atmosphere of Christmas at home is- to be.. recaptured. From the £ase camp hundreds of miles away a fleet of lorries swung off the highway two days ago with i case after case of gift parcels sent from New Zealand. There has been also a steady flow of Christmas parcels and mail from soldiers' homes and persona] friends. All the leisure possible will be given to the troops tomorrow, and the padres t are arranging special services. At brigade headquarters the officers have arranged a seven-a-side footbll tour^ nament against the men. SOME MUST WAIT. Far in the west, on each side of the disputed border, Christmas cheer will be enjoyed sooner or later by the comparatively few New Zealanders actively engaged in the war. For the motor transport drivers it will mostly be later, and a tin of bully beef may have to suffice as Christmas dinner for many until the cookhouse is reached at the end of a long supply journey. It is certain, however, that these men would not exchange the eventful days in the forward areas even for Christj mas Eve in a city such as Cairo, j where countless other New Zealanders will probably be mingling tonight with happy crowds. Snatches of song can already be heard in this camp from tents and canteens in which the men are gathered. Here they are lifting their voices with a Christmas radio programme; there a mouth organ catchily plays the opening bars of a familiar carol; bursts of laughter come from, a mess tent in which a plot is growing to serenade the commanding officer with midnight anthems, and the j possible motive is revealed as a few words drift down on the breeze; "and he is a poor sport if he does not ask us in for a drink."