The Northern Advocate “NORTHLAND FIRST.” Registered for transmission- through the post as a Newspaper. SATURDAY, JULY 24, 1943. Tribute To Returned Servicemen

Northern Advocate, 24 July 1943, Page 2

The Northern Advocate “NORTHLAND FIRST.” Registered for transmission- through the post as a Newspaper . SATURDAY, JULY 24, 1943. Tribute To Returned Servicemen

THE citizens of Whangarei took the opportunity yesterday to welcome officially men of the New Zealand Division who have returned to the Dominion on furlough. The heioes of the Middle East were given no room for doubt, when they arrived in their home town, that the populace was overjoyed to see them, but it was inevitable that the welcome extended on that occasion should be restricted almost entirely to members ol re-united home circles. n Yesterday a welcome of a more formal character v\as . b i\em The returned servicemen marched through the principal streets, thus allowing the people of the town to see in a body those ol whom they had previously obtained but fleeting glimpses as individuals passed by in motor ears. , Whangarei people are proverbially reserved, but the ciowcls who lined the route nevertheless indmated very plainly then admiration of the men who had marched with the Eighth Am>, than which, Mr. Churchill has said, no soldier wiU be able to make prouder boast in the years to come. The welawnfi at the town ball, the luncheon and conversazione each added, m its own way, to the tribute Whangarei and district wished to pay to their soldier sons. Hearty and sincere though the welcome was, it could only inadequately express the feelings ot the community, but it must have served to convince the returned servicemen that the sacrifices made by them to protect their homeland was o-enuinely appreciated. It should hearten them when they retui n to take up again a role which has earned them immortal glory.