VETERAN GUARDS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20262, 1 June 1940, Page 8

VETERAN GUARDS

OFFICERS’ TRAINING TAUHERENIKAU CAMP COMPOSITION OF UNITS The officer chosen to command the Gisborne company, of the special Military; Reserve for horne defence training, Captain E. R. Bladlc, left yesterday for Tauherenikau, accompanied by Company-Quartermaster-Sergeant W- W. Watton. who is be one of the . permanent non-commissioned officers of the unit. They will undergo two intensive training at Tauh'erenikau, and then will take over full-time activities in connection with the j.-eserve. One other non-commissioned officer is to be selected for training, and will join! the temporary staff of the Army Department, attached to the Gisborne sub-area. He is to be company ser-geant-major, and the army authorities are keen to secure the services of a competent warrant officer from among the ex-servicemen of the district for this post TO date, 94 veterans have enrolled as ijnembers of the reserve in Gisborne, practically all these having been passed as fit for, home-defence service by a medical board. A large proportion has teen classed as medically fit for active service abroad, and medical officers have been surprised to fipd so high an average of physical capacity among the men who fought in the Great. War.

Only veterans of the last war and ex-regular army men are required for the unit,, and there is still plenty of opportunity for men willing to serve. The Army Department has laid down certain qualifications, y/liich limit the field of enlistment, the chief of these being that the men must pass the medical tests; must' be within the age group of 40 to 55 years; must have not more than two children under the age of 1G years; and must be available for mobilisation in 20 minutes, in case of extreme emergency. These qualifications rule out hundreds of men, including q large number living not pfar beyond, the boundaries of Gisborne, who, would welcome the opportunity to serve.