Anzacs Cheered

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 103, 2 May 1941, Page 10

Anzacs Cheered

WOUNDED FROM LIBYA WELCOMED AT ROYAL SHOW SYDNEY, April 16. The crowd of 80,000 at <tho Royal Empire Show on Saturday afternoon, gave a wonderful reception to the first batch of wounded and invalided soldiers returned by hospital ship from Libya, states the Auckland Star. The ship carried 120 men from New South Wales, 15 from Queensland, and 130 New Zealanders. The Victorian contingent had already disembarked, At the wharf where the ship berthe’d, 2000 relatives and friends unsuccessfully tried to break through the barriers at the wharf gates, but as soon as the cars containing the soldiers came out on to the streets, they broke through the street barriers. The men were driven in the cars to the Showground, where they were taken in procession around the arena while the crowd cheered, shrieked, whistled, and stamped, making a din that was heard three and a half miles away, and showered the men with confetti, streamers, show samples, cigarettes and fruit. Typical of the modest accounts of their exploits, given by some'of the men later to newspaper reporters, are the following samples:— Sergeant A. J. West, Bronte, severe shrapnel wound: “It just serves me right for wanting to be in two wars.” (He served in the last war.) Private R. F. I.ambcrton, Queenscliffe, leg amputated after Bardia: “My missing leg isn’t going to come between me and and the Manly surf. The only thing I want more than a surf at this minute is a pint of Sydney beer.” Italians Without Heart Private Moxliam, Petersham, partially paralysed arm, caused when he jumped into a trench during a bombing raid at Bardia: 4 4 The Ities had all they wanted in equipment, but when it came to close fighting they had no heart for the game and turned it up in hundreds. ’’ Lance-Sergeant Slicad said his unit was five, days without water at Bardia. “Girl Guides could have taken Tobruk.’* (Shell-shock and shrapnel in legs.) Private R. Ilolgate, of Grenville, shrapnel in left arm at Tobruk: “The scrap was pretty lirce while it lasted, but when we got within range the Italians threw away their rifles and put up their hands. We gave them hell for sniping our stretcher-bearers whenever they got the chance.’' Sergeant C. W. Monk, bomb-splinter in hand: “In a dive-bombing attack it’s a case of flat on the ground for everybody and trust to luck. But the ‘lties’ never came down low enough to do us much harm, and anyway their aim w T as rot ton. ’ ’ Sergeant R. J. Graham, Woollahra: “They always turned it in when they raw the glint of our Layonets and threw up their hands, shouting out that they were the King’s men and not Mussolini ’s. ’ ’ Corporal R. D. Gerard, Manly, was severely burnt when unloading bottles of a “Molotoff Cocktail’’ —a mixture of kerosene, petrol and coal-tar used to set fire to tanks. He was working during an air raid when a bomb fell and exploded some of'the “ cocktails.’’ Twice Blown Up Private W. Bowman, King’s Cross, had two military trucks blown up under him by landmines. Ho said: “Every inch of the country round Tobruk was mined but we were pretty safe if we followed tyre trades. The first mine explosion only smashed the back of my lorry', but the second time three chaps on the back of the lorry were killed.’’ Driver W. 11. Clarke, of Lismore, fold how wheli his right arm was shot off near Bardia, he staggered one mile and a half to safety and captured an Italian officer on the way. “I was driving a Eren-gun carrier on a reconnaissance job outside tho town. I went over the crest of a hill, slap into three enemy tanks. They say a good soldier never retreats, but I did—quick and livly, too. The Italians scored two hits on my carrier before I got back over the hill.' Then my engine cut out. “I was just getting back into the carrier after fixing it when my arm was smashed by a 21b shell from one of the tanks. I began to walk back to shelter a mile and a half away. On my way I met an Italian officer, who threw his hands in the air when he saw me. We took shelter together in a dug-out while an Italian plane bombed us, and then sat side by side in an Australian ambulance.’* Although he lost his arm, Clarke thinks himself lucky' to be alive. “The devil’s number has followed me all along the line,’’ ho said. “I enlisted on October 13, .1p39, which was a black Friday; at Liverpool camp I was in the 13th Platoon, and slept in. bed number 13. I landed abroad on February. 13., 15)40, and went to the front on December 13. Thirteen months after my arrival I left—on March . 13. Then my rifle number began with 13, my regimental numbers add to 13, and I drove Bren carrier number 13. Now I’m.going to back every horse carrying No. 13 at Randwick. ’ ’