WAR SERVICE PREFERRED

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 October 1944, Page 5

WAR SERVICE PREFERRED

STOWAWAYS ON TROOPSHIP.

[N.Z.E.F. Official News Service.] SOMEWHERE AT SEA. Ray Gibson (Westport) and Pete Saunders (New Plymouth) have invited themselves into the war .again. The day after a troop transport left New Zealand they reported to the ship’s orderly room, and the astonished administrative staff learned that the two stowaways were holders of the Africa Star. Gibson, who before the war was an engine-driver and sawmill worker, first went overseas with the 3rd Echelon. Saunders, who was a printer and lithographer, went with the Ist Echelon. They both served in Greece and Libya, and then were sent back to New Zealand as instructors. For more than a year they worked at the same camp, and became known as excellent instructors, but having to stay in the Dominion did not appeal to them, and, as the possibility of going overseas officially was remote, they decided to invite themselves. They simply marched on to jhe transport with others who were going aboard, found two vacant bunks, and settled down for the night.