NEW ZEALAND CASUALTIES

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 April 1941, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND CASUALTIES

FURTHER LIST OF WOUNDED

NO COASTERS INCLUDED - [PER PRESS WELLINGTON, April 28. The following casualties to members of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force have been' reported:— WOUNDED. Private Thomas Bardsley. His father is Mr T. Bardsley, sen., Pirongia. ■Private William Arthur Thomas Campbell. His mother is Mrs J. A. Campbell, Waiuku. Lance-Corporal Frederick Alexander Brown. His wife is Mrs K. Brown, 26 Hargreaves Street, Wellington.

Private Roy Archibald Christiansen. His mother is Mrs O. Christiansen, Railway, Whareroa, Hawera. Private Charles Edward Clack. His mother is Mrs E. Clack, c/o General Post Office, Wellington. Private William Matthew Clark. His mother is Mrs Cath Clark-, Kenderdine Road, Papatoetoe. Private Leo Emerson. His father is Mr S. Emerson, Tinwald, Ashburton. Lance-Corporal Alan Dugald Gilchrist. His father is Mr J. H. Gilchrist, 137 Kimbolton Road, Feilding.

Private Alfred Cecil Gillard. His father is Mr Francis Gillard, 34 Milton Street, Spreydon, Christchurch. Sergeant Frederick Augustus Kibblewhite. His wife is Mrs B. I. Kibblewhite, 14 Montreal Street, Palmerston North. Private Frank James Laird. His mother is Mrs H. V. Laird, Ida Street, Blenheim. Private Albert Francis Victor Large. His mother is Mrs E. Large, Wakefield Road, Johnsonville. Private John Alexander. Livingstone. A relation is Miss Ivy Livingstone, 61 Ellis Street, Frankton Junction (relationship not stated). Private William Allan Marshall, His father is Mr W. A. Marshall, Manunui.

Private John Richard Parcell. His mother is Mrs M. A. Parcell, Bannockburn, Otago. Private William James Pirimona. His mother is Mrs Nina Pirimona, 31 St. Mary’s Road, Ponsonby.

Corporal John Jowett Rogan. His mother is Mrs Alice Rogan, 1 Frieston Road, Milford, Auckland. Private William Joseph Sewell. His father is Mr E. Sewell, 1 McCallum Street, Dannevirke. Private Thomas Campbell Weir. His next-of-kin is Mr L. G. Weir, Ohutu, Taihape. Private Athol Allan Winsor, His wife is Mrs S. E. Winsor. Parahi, Matakohe.

Private William Neville Wrigley. His father is Mr William Thomas Wrigley, 25 Smithfield Road, Wanganui.

ROYAL CONDOLENCE MESSAGE

WELLINGTON, April 28.

The Governor-General (Sir Cyril Newall) has announced that the King has approved the dispatch of a Royal message of condolence to relatives of members of the fighting services who have lost their lives on active service, and also to the relatives of personnel of the mercantile marine and fishing fleet whose deaths have resulted from enemy action during the present war. The Royal message will be on note paper bearing the Royal coat of arms, and a facsimile of His Majesty’s signature. It reads as follows:—

“The Queen and I offer you our heartfelt sympathy in your great sorrow. We pray that your country’s gratitude for a life so nobly given in its service may bring you some measure of consolation.”

His Excellency said that the conditions of issue weredn accordance with His Majesty’s wishes, and were identical with those operative in the United Kingdom and other parts of the British Commonwealth.

Generally speaking the Royal message will be dispatched immediately after official notification of death has been given by telegraph to the relatives. His Excellency also stated that the message would be sent at an early date to the relatives of those men who have died in circumstances qualifying for dispatch of this message, and whose deaths have been officially notified. Inquiries by relatives about the Royal message should be made to the following authorities: New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy, the Naval Secretary, Navy Office, Wellington, C.l; 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force, the Director of Base Records, Victoria Street, Wellington, C.l; Royal New Zealad Air Force, the Air Secretary, Air Department, Wellington, C.l; Mercantile Marine, the Under Secretary, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington, C.l. METHOD OF COMPILATION. To anxious relatives and others who await tidings as to whether all is well or otherwise with their men who have been in the forefront of the fiercest fighting in Greece, a paramount question to-day is how long they-, will have to wait for news.

On the experience of the last war, it may be a week to 10 days before the first lists of those who have fallen or have been wounded are issued. The first list from the landing on Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, was announced in Wellington on May 2, and it was followed by further lists on May 3 and 4. From the Battle of the Somme, which the New Zealand Division entered on September 15, 1916, the first list was published on September 23, but it was not till September 29 that it’was announced in New Zealand that the Dominion’s men were engaged in the battle.

A complete and very thorough system for recording casualties exists in the Army. Daily, or as often as is practicable, each .unit sends to its brigade or regimental headquarters full lists of the officers and men who have been killed or wounded, and these are sent on to Divisional Headquarters the same day. From that office they are telegraphed to the Deputy AdjutantGeneral’s office at the base. There they are checked with the records, and the lists are then cabled to the countries from which the forces come.

Every field ambulance, casualty clearing station or hospital through which a soldier passes has also the duty of furnishing details of number, rank, name and unit, together with a report on the injuries suffered, to the office at the base. In the case of the seriously wounded and sick, a special daily telegraphed report is required.

Note should be taken of the fact that the return is to be forwarded by

units daily “or as often as is P? a able.” If the New Zealand Division is still engaged in a rearguard action, a battle of movement under the most arduous conditions, it will be exceedingly difficult to maintain an up-to-the minute office system in the battalion and batteries. Troop and platoon commanders, with their no> - commissioned officers, will take note of the casualties suffered by their commands, but they must wait till there is a lull in the fighting before they can pass the details to their ow unit headquarters. --- . Again, it is not known whether the base office, known as Second Echelon, a term which must not be with the titles given the several early bodies of troops to leave New Zealand, has been moved from Egypt to Greece. But whether the office is in Greece or in Egypt, there is probably at this moment considerable congestion of the cable lines due to calls dealing more urgent military business affecting the progress of the battles. There are some people who assert that casualty lists are withheld .for various reasons. There is no point in doing so. Units must get their Ists in as quickly as possible, so that they may draw reinforcements to bring them up to full strength again. The necessary checking and Jamgraphing of the lists takes time which deprives them of any value, they may have to the enemy for his purposes should they, by some , become known to him. INVALIDED HOME. WELLINGTON, April 29. A total of 240 members of the Second Expeditionary Force landed from H.M. hospital ship Somersetshire, to-day, 84 being from members of the Second Echelon Britain, and the rest from the Middle East. The majority of the latter were picked up at Suez, but some at Sydney from another ship. The men are from all parts of New Zealand.. The Somersetshire, which .is a former Bibby Line troopship, is undei Lieut.-Colonel J. W. Hirst, who has with him a number of members of the R.A.M.C., Matron C. Townsend, and 13 nursing sisters, all of the R A M C. A few of the returning soldiers were wounded in bombing, and one is a shell-shock case, but the majority are sickness cases. . Several were injured in accidents, mainly through motor-cycling. Men returning from England said that they received a thorough training at Aidershot before going to the Channel coast, to meet the German invasion. London had been out of bounds to them, but several had paid unofficial visits. One man said that while the damage to London was great, it was not as extensive as most people thought. The bombing was largely confined to the East End. Another man who visited London commentedi.that some of the destruction would do good, because it had removed buildings that should have been replaced before. When asked for his impressions of the stand Britain was making, another soldier declared that the British could never be beaten. If anything could have beaten them, last September’s blitz would have done so. It only made them more determined than ever. This man said that German planes came over in hundreds. He saw a squadron of bombers attacked, and in two minutes all were down. One fell from almost above them, and when it was near the ground it flattened out and shot straight at them. “We scattered in all directions,” he said, “but it hit the ground half a mile away.” Mr Fraser and Mr Jones visited the ship, and welcomed the men.