HAPPY TROOPS

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 79, 1 October 1945, Page 8

HAPPY TROOPS

LONG SERVICE

DISPERSAL ARRANGEMENTS

The men aboard the Strathmore, 3963 members of the 2nd N.Z.E.F., and small parties of New Zealand naval and Air Force, personnel, had .left Italy and Egypt after the conclusion of the war against Japan, and could be regarded as the forerunners of the eventual return of all the men of the Dominion's Fighting Services still abroad in various parts of the world and whose return is now mainly a matter of arranging . the necessary transport for them. Part of them were men of the Bth Reinforcements, first battle-tested in the pre-Alamein fighting and regarded by many of the older soldiers of the Division as the best reinforcement draft ever to be added to the fighting strength of the force. Due to lack of accommodation some of these men were unable to join the ship, and a ballot had to be held to ; determine who would take precedence in transport.

The men packed the port rails of the Strathmore to an extent that was indicated by a noticeable list as the tender brought the official party, alongside, and there was a hearty chorus of greeting and comment as the Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser), who was first aboard, and other members of the Cabinet, including • the Minister of Defence (Mr. Jones) and the Minister of Rehabilitation (Mr. Skinner), mounted the gangway. "Come aboard, Home Guard," they yelled as the. home servicemen comprising the official pay and leave warrant organisation of the Army prepared to enter the ship, and there was a specially enthusiastic greeting for a. number of attractive Wrens who were among the members of the naval pay party: \ Circling the troopship were a number | of petrol-driven yachts and smalL craft, the crews of which called—mainly in vain—for information regarding friends aboard. "We threw him overboard," was the stock'reply, but one pleasure-i boater got an enthusiastic pvation when he brandished a bottle of beer. Nearly everyone at that section of the rail claimed to be his friend. VOLUNTEERS FOR JAPAN. Fully as anxious as all returned men for the latest news, the men were particularly interested in the recent an- i nounceinent in regard .to the occupation forces for Japan and the Pacific islands. Contrary to generally-express-ed opinion in New Zealand, many of them thought that there would be little difficulty in. raising the required number of volunteers from the ranks of the Division. Many of the younger men who had arrived in Italy too late to take part in any but the concluding engagements, they thought, would willingly volunteer, and other war veterans..also young men, who had got a taste for Army life which they/ were reluctant to relinquish. Disembarkation arrangements were put in train immediately the ship berthed, first off being 1400 South Island men, who were quickly passed through the wharf sheds and reembarked on the Rangatira awaiting nearby to take them home in a special j sailing. ' • The size of the draft and the bright weather both had their influence on the size of the crowd waiting to welcome the arrivals. The road along the Evans'Bay foreshore was dotted with cars signalling a welcome with their horns and many houses fronting Oriental Parade contained people waving a cheerful welcome with sheets or other white articles large. enough to attract attention. At the dock gates,, shut once more to facilitate the disembarkation plans, a large crowd gathered for the small glimpses they were able to get of the ship and its occupants. For many of them it was a long wait. They had gathered, some of them, well before 9 o'clock, and, despite well-meant warnings ' over public address systems that the Wellington men in whom they v/ere mainly interested would not be off the boat until much later, they waited patiently. The happy attitude of the troops continued, unaffected by the considerable time it took for the last of them to get off the ship. They crowded the rails on the. side nearest the wharf, and although the actual number of people they, could see on the wharf was small, and their view of Wellington almost entirely blocked out by the wharf sheds, they continued to stand there and gaze at v/hat they could see of the New Zealand they had left years before. A Dominionwide broadcast was made from the wharf, and many of those near the

rails seized the opportunity of throwing messages over the air to friends and relatives.

The men had had a good trip, apart from the heat of up to 140 degrees experienced in the Red Sea. The ship called at Cplombo for refuelling but the men did not get ashore. This, however, was more than compensated by their stay in Melbourne for a day, when the hospitality accorded them was all they could have asked for. BARRIERS BROKEN DOWN. j The Dominion . Monarch travelled from Liverpool via Suez. Attracted, no doubt, by the unusually fine Sunday, and eager to take what might be the only opportunity afforded many workers to welcome returning troops, an exceptionally large crowd gathered to greet the vessel, and in its enthusiasm pushed down the barriers and swarmed on to the wharf. For a time things looked difficult. The trouble started when an extra large crowd poured through the wire enclosure opposite the clearing station. These filled up the space in the shed and gathered behind the barrier shutting off the wharf near the bow of the ship. Once the barrier went down crowds poured down alongside the ship between the edge of the wharf and the shed through which all the troops had to pass after disembarkation. First efforts of troops and police to clear the over-enthusiastic people away from this area were unavailing and were made to the accompaniment of boos and whistles. An amplifying system was brought into action eventually, and by dint of constant repetition finally brought home to the trespassers that no disembarkation would take place until they got off the wharf. Once this sank home the movement started the other way, and when disembarkation finally commenced (considerably later than scheduled) it proceeded smoothly and speedily. At one stage the crush at the gate through the wire fence opposite the clearing station was so great that some apprehension was felt for the safety of babes in arms being carried by several women in the crowd. One or two infants were held shoulder-high by men who tried to save them from harm. The incident, fortunately, did not last very long, but had it developed .it might have had regrettable and serious consequences, apart from imDosmg an even greater delay on many hundreds of relatives and friends who were waiting patiently to see their loved ones. SPECIAL TRANSPORT. Five.special trains,,a special sailing of the inter-island steamer Rangatira, and motor transport assured that all but 100 of the men from the Strathmore were home or well on the way there by the time the day was ended. The first men off the ship were 1400 members of the South Island draft, bound for the Rangatira and an early sailing to Lytteltjon. Special trains leaving direct from the wharf carried the next two. drafts—266 men from the Gisborne-Hawke's Bay district and 425 from Taranaki and Manawatu— to their homes, and these were followed off the ship by 415 Wellingtonians, for whom Army vehicles and St. John and Red Cross auxiliary transport were provided to carry them and their kit. The Wairarapa draft, 63 in number, left next by road transport, and the next off the ship were the men from the Nelson-Marlborough districts. The i latter stayed in Wellington until this afternoon, being fed and billeted at the casualty clearing station in the meantime. The last three drafts left by special trains, 412 for North Auckland and Auckland, 415 for Auckland, and 447 for the southern portion of the Auckland province. The first group. to disembark from the Dominion Monarch were men from Taranaki, Manawatu, Gisborne, and Hawke's Bay. They left by' train from tha wharf. Of these men 118 were for Taranaki, 42 for Manawatu, 53 for Gisborne and 69 for Hawke's [Bay, the train being divided into two sections at Palmerston North.

The Wairarapa contingent, totalling 33, left the ship and travelled by road to their homes. The Wellingtonians then disembarked, being taken home by Army transport and auxiliary services. There were 163 men for Wellington in the draft.

Nelson and Picton men, totalling 53, then disembarked, and were given leave in Wellington until midday today so as to travel home by the normal ferry services.

The North Auckland (total 53), Auckland (209), South Auckland (26). Hamilton (34), Rotorua (32), Thames (27), Bay of Plenty (20), and King Country (44) drafts followed, and boarded a train which left direct from the wharf.

South Island personnel, other than Nelson and Picton men, remained on the ship, which sailed at 6 a.m. today for Lyttelton, arriving there in midafternoon.