Troop Train Passes Through on Sunday

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 278, 24 November 1939, Page 6

Troop Train Passes Through on Sunday

BATTALION FOR WAIOURU About 11 o’clock on Sunday morning the 735 officers and other ranks of the 19th Wellington Battalion of the Special Force will pass through Palmerston North by special train cn route to the field training camp at TVaiouru for a fortnight under canvas. Quite a large number of men from Palmerston North and district arc included in this unit and it is expected that their relatives and friends will be on the platform to meet them. The train will stop for ten minutes. Not all the peoplo in the city who havo relatives and friends in the central district mobilisation camp at Trentham have been able to visit them and it is anticipated that the opportunity to greet them for a few minutes will be more than welcome. It is not yet known whether any special arrangements are to bo made for those wishing to greet soldiers travelling by this train. Tho train is scheduled to leave Trentham at 7 a.m. and to arrive in TVaiouru at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Tho men will bo under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel F. S. Varnham, M.C., E.D. During their stay of two weeks at TVaiouru the men will receive a comprehensive training in advanced field tactics and have their first taste of service conditions.

Part of the motorised transport will go up to tho field camp the day before, and when the main body arrives, preparations for their reception will already have been made by an advance party of officers and other ranks.