“HAVEN OF FREEDOM”

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 4 August 1941, Page 7

“HAVEN OF FREEDOM”

YOUNG CZECH’S EXPERIENCE Cairo, June 26. j A native of Czechoslovakia and now j ,a driver in a New Zealand ambulance 'unit in the Middle East. This is the story told by a young Czech who found in New Zealand a 1 ; haven of freedom which he had pre- i ; viously not dreamt possible. He is 29 I I years of age, and was born in Prague, I where he* received a good education completed by two years at King Charles ! University. He speaks a soft, guttural I English, but with easiness and aptitude. ( j From university he took up a position as a clerk, and then he was called up ' for the Army. In the army of pre-Munich Czecho- j I Slovakia, he attained the rank of ser- ‘ i goant-cadet, which is equivalent to our ! own Officers’ Training Unit. Then ' came the Nazis sweeping through his ! country like a scourge, and with them I | came the demobilisation of the splen!did Czech Army. There was only one! | thing to do—to got out. He had heard ! of New ZeZaland in a far-off sort of I i way, and he determined to make his j wav there. The army had been demob- 1 ilised on 13th December. 1938. He left } his country on the 31st of the same' month, and arrived in New Zealand ! on 20th February, 1939. In Auckland he obtained a position j as a driver. With September came the ; outbreak of war. Immediately he en- ' listed for service with the New Zealand ! Expeditionary Force, but on grounds of i alienship he was refused. His third attempt at enlistment proved successful. and he arrived in the Middle East in a rifle battalion in the third contingent to leave the country, some time I after transferring to his present unit. . This young Czech, who speaks with fluency nn English. Czech. French. Cer- f man, and all Slav languages, including' Russian, has picked up a fair quota of 1 New Zealand slang. ’’Too right I like the New Zealand army,” he said. “It is not nearly so' strict, and a lot more pleasant than ! any other army I know of. It’s not <o j tough to be in. They’re all good chaps. ! Yes, it’ll do me."