"War No Longer Fun, But it Must be Won ”

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 179, 30 July 1941, Page 7

"War No Longer Fun, But it Must be Won ”

BROTHRERS IN BATTLE “Well, thank goodness we arc still alive to tell the tale. Our purpose remains high, our zest somewhat diminished after Crete, but nevertheless, in spite of all the knocking about we received, we are still able to say: ‘That job was well done.’ - And as long as we can go on feeling like that and able to say that, then you neew never feel any sorrow at home, even if some day we may not be as fortunate to get through it as we have been this time,” writes Lieutenant F. T. Bennett to his father, the Rt. Rev. F. A. Bennett, Bishop of Aotearoa. Lieutenant Bennett was in a convalescent depot at the time recovering from wounds and a fever suffered during the evacuation of Crete. He expected to be soon fit and well again. In his letter he made references to his brothers George, who has been reported as missing, and Charles, all of whom were closely associated in Greece and Crete. “The cause for which we are fighting becomes more dear and more tremendous each day,” he writes, “and I for one (and we mostly feel like this) would not hesitate one moment to give everything I had to defeat the curse of Nazism. Those of us ■who fought in Crete realise now that the war is no longer fun, and that it simply must be won. We all feel it and even our smallest Maori soldier has a look in his eye that has come there through what he saw and what he did in Crete. “Looking back one is ntft unmindful of God’s hand over us the whole time. There have been times when one has wondered just what He was doing or where He fitted in to the crazy scheme of men gone mad, but there is a regular pattern being worked, I know, and when the thing is completed, we shall see how thoroughly and mysteriously He works to perform His miracles. God has been very kind to us for which we feel duly and reverently thankful. “Poor old George had to take it for us this time, but he is probably quite safe as a prisoner of war somewhere and we will see him again. I miss George very much, and feel thankful that Charles and I could both be spared “We were together such a lot during Greece and Crete. Up in Olympus itself I was in a different area to him with my transport, but as soon as the evacuation commenced, we hunted each other out and ‘evacuated’ together in my car. We often used to get together up there in the ancient land of Greece and never failed to marvel at the vast experiences we were undergoing. We always see things in ihe same light, and have the same deep appreciation for the ancient monuments of Greece, whether in stone or story.”