VARIED WAR SERVICE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 228, 25 August 1945, Page 4

VARIED WAR SERVICE

WING-COMMANDER L. DURRANT.

A visitor to Feilding at present is Wing-Commander Lindsay Durrant, son of Mr and Mrs B. E. Durrant, of Sandilands Street, Feilding, and formerly a member of the staff of Messrs Collinson and ■ Cunninghamo, Ltd., Pa'lmerston North. The visit is a brief one, as he is to return to England in the next few days with Air-Marshal the Hon. Sir Ralph Cochrane, Air Officer Commanding R.A.F. Transport Command, with whom he travelled from India via Sydney this week.

It is six and a half years since his parents last saw Wing-Comma nder Durrani, for he joined the R.A.F. at the outbreak of the war and for three years saw service in Burma, India and China as a member, of the Air Staff Transport Group. Eight months ago he transferred from the R.A.F. to the R.N.Z.A.F. Transport Group. Whilst in England he operated over Europe and during the past six years has visited practically every war theatre. Irak, Syria, Iran and the African Desert came within the scope of his activities, and it was in the first push, in the Desert that he was shot down. His transport was completely wrecked, but Wing-Commander Durrant escaped unharmed. In the last New Year Honours list Wing-Commander Durrant was mentioned in dispatches. His brother, Lieut.-Commander Reginald Durrant, is serving with the Fleet Air Arm, and the day before Wing-Commander Durrant left for the Middle East he met him in England, and again greeted his brother in Calcutta in February last, when by a coincidence they came face to face at the booking office of the Grand Hotel there. When last heard from, Lieut.-Commander Durrant was in India.

Wing-Commander Durrant is ■wellknown in Palmerston North, having spent a considerable time here. He was not in a position to disclose his future plans nor was he able to supply any information regarding his experiences, which, had they been recorded, would ha*,e proved most interesting.