SERVICE PERSONNEL RETURN

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 148, 20 December 1945, Page 8

SERVICE PERSONNEL RETURN

DRAFT OF NEARLY 4000

Nearly 4000 New Zealand members of the forces received their best Christmas box in being1 landed safely today in their homeland. They arrived by the Mooltan, and the unseasonable weather which greeted them did not affect the joy of a homecoming which had for long- been eagerly awaited. With them were a number who, with affections won abroad, were newcomers to this country. The draft, comprising Navy, Army, and Air Force personnel, together with some representatives of the forces of other countries—including the Free French—and some wives and fiancees of New Zealand servicemen, totalled 3846, of which number 2423 had North Island destinations.

The official welcome took place on board the Mooltan in the stream, the arrangements at the wharf being confined to the disembarkation and dispatch of the members of the draft as expeditously as possible. A schedule had been drawn up providing for the first batch disembarking to leave by train for Hawke's Bay and Poverty Bay at 11 a.m. However, a delay in arrival and berthing caused the transport running time-table to be a little over an hour late, with efforts being exerted to make up time as the disembarkation proceeded. First off and away were 260 for Hawke's Bay and Poverty Bay, the members of this batch, as in the case

of several others which followed, finding the train ready for them on the -wharf. While the early batches for the north were being entrained, the South Island members of the draft were permitted to leave the vessel on four hours! leave. They were to be on board again by 4 p.m. to be taken on to Lyttelton. The. North Island sections of the draft handled in turn after the Hawke's Bay-Poverty Bay section were:—Mana-walu-Taranaki, 416; Wairarapa (travelling by railway buses), 66; Auckland City (Navy and Air Force), North Auckland, and South Auckland, 430; Wellington, 404; Auckland city (Armj- personnel), 404: and Hamilton, Rotorua, Thames, Bay of Plenty, and King Country, 443. Special trains left for the north throughout the afternoon. For conveying Wellington personnel to their homes Red Cross and Wellington Automobile Association cars were available. AT A DISTANCE. "Where is the public?" was the first question asked by one of the returning troops in eager search of relatives. From the vessel the troops could see little of those assembled to welcome them, as the usual practice was followed of keeping the public well clear of the actual point of disembarkation. Quite a number quickly found their way to the gates and to the shed where next-of-kin were located, but, in view of the desire to have the troops on the final lap of the journey without delay, there was little opportunity of people outside the barriers meeting friends and relatives in the draft who were bound for other places in the North Island. An appreciated Army service, through messages over a loud-speaker system, helped to have the most made of that little opportunity. Another service appreciated by the troops themselves was that given by tho Salvation J Army canteen. |

The official party which boarded the Mooltan in the stream and welcomed the members of the draft included the Acting-Prime Minister (Mr. Nash), the Minister of Defence (Mr. Jones), the Minister of Rehabilitation (Mr. Skinner), the chairman of the Harbour Board (Mr. W. H. Price), the' Mayor (Mr. Appleton), the Hon. Vincent Ward, M.L.C., and Lieut-Colonel J. Ferris (who addressed the Maori members in their own language). The R.S.A. and other organisations were also represented. FOR BLIND SERVICEMEN. When he boarded the Mooltan with the official party, the R.S.A. representative (Mr. W. E. Leadley) was handed £86 lis by an officer. This sum represented charity money raised by the

men during the voyage to New Zealand. It was the wish of the men that the amount be handed to the Blind Servicemen's Institute, and this will be done through the R.S.A. The voyage to New Zealand was uneventful. Ports of call after those in the Middle East were Colombo and Fremantle.

after he and Katina had separated in Crete, because the Maori was apprehended by the Germans eventually and narrowly escaped being shot as a spy, neither knew whether the other still lived.

When he arrived in the home of his future bride he, of course, knew no Greek. Katina had a smattering of French. But that did not help. In time, however, they evolved a language of their own. Today Edward Nathan speaks excellent Greek—so good that, following his capture by the Germans and internment in Poland, he was, at his own request, attached to native Cretan prisoners as their interpreter. Furthermore, on his return to the island a few weeks ago, he was attached to the Greek .party that participated in the dedication of the British cemetery there, as its interpreter. "Yes, he speak Greek very goot!" interjected Mrs. Nathan, who added that, in addition to now being able to make herself understood in English, she had also acquired a little Maori from her husband.

For 14 months Edward Nathan lived with Katina's family. Fortunately her uncle, a medical officer, was able to tend his wounds. The Maori passed j himself off successfully as a Cretan, speaking the language, wearing a beard, and fooling those Germans who knew no Greek. Eventually, however, he was caught in the hills, and, following 10 interrogations (including one at the hands of a German officer who did know Greek), the Gestapo decided that he was a spy. CAPTURED AGAIN. "They refused to believe the truth, that I was British and a soldier." said Corporal Nathan, "and decided that I was to be 'bumped off as a spy. Fortunately, through friendly guards I was able to have my identity disc smuggled into the civil prison. It was then that they began to get really nasty, and beat me up with rifles, boots, fists—not for being a soldier, but because I would not disclose how I had obtained the disc." For two days he. was left to meditate upon his fate. The Maori wrote to the island's commandant, an Austrian, demanding to be treated as a prisoner of war. Transferred to a prisoner-of-war camp in Athens, the Maori escaped in a fortnight. Luck was against him. For in the street he met an Australian soldiers, also disguised as a Greek. The Gestapo had been observing the latter, noting his contacts. Soon afterwards both were arrested in a cafe. "For escaping they put me on bread and water." he commented, "though that did not much matter. The food was meagre enough, anyway." The next two years were spent in Ober-Silesia; it was there that he acted as interpreter for the Cretan prisoners. In time, because of his injuries, Corporal Nathan was repatriated to England, where, unsuccessfully, he attempted to communicate with his fiancee. Efforts were made to return him to New Zealand, but he refused to leave. Attempts to gain a job with UNRRA as an interpreter in ' Greece failed. It was not until he secured the ear of Major-General Kippenberger that he was given leave to go to Crete. Meanwhile, Katina's family had suffered. Her father, a priest of the Greek Orthodox Church, had died as a consequence of persecution at the hands of the Germans. Katina herself had been interrogated, because her activities on behalf of Allied servicemen had been suspected, and she had been imprisoned. Her Maori fiance gave the Tor aids household a shock—he arrived before they even knew he was on the island.

However, the Greco-Polynesian romance had a perfect ending. After a month they were married, The ceremony took place on October 3 last. It would have been performed earlier but for Corporal Nathan's duties at the cemetery dedication ceremony in September. Bride and groom then travelled to England, where they caught the Mooltan for New Zealand. PORK BONES AND PUHA. Prior to the war Corporal Nathan was a farmer. He has his holding ii> the Dargaville district, and it is there that he will settle with Katina. "I have heard so much of the kindness o: the Maori people that I am looking forward to my life among them," said 'Mrs. Nathan. "I do not feel a stranger. In Crete I met so many, members of the Maori Battalion. I feel that I have