RESCUED BY GLIDER

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21755, 3 July 1945, Page 4

RESCUED BY GLIDER

PARTY IN NEW GUINEA PICK-UP BY PLANE NEW YORK, July I.' W.A.C. Corporal Margaret Hastings, Lieutenant McCollum, and Sergeant D. W. Decker were rescued on June 2(1 in a glider which was snatched aloft by a low-flying transport plane from “Shangri La Valley.” 150 miles south-west of Ilollandia, says the Associated Press’ correspondent. They had been there since their plane crashed in May. The glider, both going into the valley and returning, Lid to be towed at 10,000 ft. across the jagged mountains. The party readied Hollandia 80 minutes aftel- the tow rope grabbed the glider. All the rescued persons looked extraordinarily fit after their ordeal. Corporal Hastings’ beauty so captivated the tribeswomen that they offered to build her a queen’s throne.

Corporal Margaret Hastings, llie only woman survivor of the transport plane which crashed into “Shangri La Valley” was befriended by the 75-year-old native queen, who kept a harem of 15 men. A Netherlands East Indies cameraman, Mr. Alex Cann, disclosed this when he arrived in Melbourne from New Guinea last night. Mr. Cann parachuted into the valley to photograph the rescue operations. Tic said, the queen became very fond of Corporal Hastings. She tried to comfort her and made signs showing that she was sorry that her legs had been burnt in the crash. The natives, including the queen, seemed sad at the departure of the strangers. Many cf the native men are 6ft. tall. They war e primitive in many ways, but their system of irrigation was elaborate and they had strict tribal laws.