N.Z.R.S.A. CANTEEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 134, 4 December 1944, Page 4

N.Z.R.S.A. CANTEEN

"BROUGHT CHEER TO MANY"

The good service given by a truck equipped as a mobile canteen which was a gift from the New Zealand Returned Services' Association for use with the Second N.Z.E.F. in the Middle East, is referred to by Brigadier A. S. Falconer/patriotic commissioner, in a recent report to the National Patriotic Fund Board. This canteen arrived in the Middle East in March, 1941, and its days of usefulness with the New Zealand troops have now come to an end.

•'The truck," stated Brigadier Falconer, "had covered many thousands of miles in all weathers over roads, good and bad, as well as trackless desert; it had brought comfort and cheer to many New Zealand soldiers in Mediterranean countries, and had more than fulfilled the purpose for which it was so generously given. Some weeks ago, however, the vehicle reached the end of its life with the Second N.Z.E.F., and was certified by New Zealand workshops at Maadi as incapable of repair or of reconditioning for service. On my instructions, therefore, it was sold in Cairo for £380 (Egyptian)."

Brigadier Falconer asked that appreciation of the value of the canteen be conveyed to the N.Z.R.S.A., and this has been done.

A car purchased in 1941 for use by chaplains to the Forces, said Brigadier Falconer, had also reached the stage of being beyond repair for military work.