NEW ZEALAND SEAMEN

Evening Star, Issue 25471, 30 April 1945, Page 7

NEW ZEALAND SEAMEN

WITH BRITISH PACIFIC FLEET (Special P.A. Correspondent with the Pacific Fleet.) In an Escort Carrier at Sea, April 28. In almost every ship of the British Pacific Fleet which "J -have so far visited 1 have found New Zealanders. Some have been in ward rooms and others in mess decks aft. In this ship 1 had been at sea less than a day when several British officers Went out of their way to tell me there wereabout a dozen New Zealand ratings, and almost in the same breath told me how highly they regarded all New Zealand seamen. 1 met the New Zealanders later. They were Able Seamen Wallace Stead (Lower Hutt), Clarrie Blackburn (Auckland), Dudley Wolfe (Napier), Stewart Ford (Wanganui), Dick Collett (Palmerston North), Spencer Cross (Featherston), Evan Burrow (Palmerston), Edward Bennett (Havelock North). Alfred Land (Rotorua). and D. It. Wilkinson (Wellington) and heading Stoker G. W. Brennan (Pahiatun). All but the last named have been in the Navy rather less than two years. They passed through the Tamaki training establishment together, went to England, and were drafted together to their present ship. Leading Stoker Brennan is the veteran of the group. He was in the merchant navy before the war, and since then has served in a mine sweeper, a mine layer, two armed merchant cruisers, and three escort carriers. He has served in almost every ocean and was also present in the invasion of Normandy.