SOLDIER AT 13

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 9 February 1943, Page 4

SOLDIER AT 13

AUSTRALIAN RECRUIT SMOKING PIPE IN TENT Sydney, Feb. 6. Probably the youngest militia recruit on record in Australia. Leonard Michael Barnes, aged 13. of Sydney, was discovered by his father, after a long search, smoking a pipe in his tent. The thwarting of the boy’s desire to "have a crack at the Nips" was due to his own action in allotting his mother 3s 6d from his pay. This led to his discovery, and he is now awaiting his discharge. Leonard said in an interview that, after seeing the troops and listening to the war news, he decided that he wanted to fight for his mother and his country. "If Australia was good enough, it was good enough to fight for, no matter what age a chap was," he said. The lad tried to enlist with the Royal Australian Navy and t lie Merchant Navy, but was rejected for lack of an identity card. On 11th January he told his mother he was going fruit-picking for a week or two. and he left home with 8s in his pocket. Instead, he went to the nearest drill hall to enlist, but the lack of an identity card blocked him. He went to a justice of the peace, before whom he swore that he was 18, and said that he did not have an identity card becau he had been fruit-picking for the last two years, and had not bothered. He was granted a card and applied to the Air Force, but was rejected because of his eyesight. Then he was automatically drafted into the Militia, and entered camp on 18th January.