QUAKER AMBULANCE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 13 June 1945, Page 5

QUAKER AMBULANCE

N.Z. MEN TO WORK IN CHINA Sevyi New Zealand recruits to the Friends’ Ambulance Unit have left for China, being the first civilians to 'leave New Zealand for relief work in a war zone. They are Dr. Graham A. Milne and Mr. Lindsa.v Crozier. Dunedin, Messrs. Neil and John Johnson. Christchurch. Mr. Courtney Archer, Rangiora, and Messrs. Wilfred and Owen Jackson, Auckland. They have gone under the aegis of the Order of St. John and the New Zealand Red Cross Society, and they will be away at least two years. The Friends’ Ambulance Unit is a voluntary organization of members of the Societv of Friends (Quakers) and other pacifists who in various war zones take medical aid to civilian and soldier alike. Members of the section in China lire with the Chinese- eat Chinese food and work differently' from the ordinary medical unit. The section has received high commendation , from both American military leaders and Chinese leaders for its ability to go info places.where the heavier medical units are not prepared to go. It does not maintain ambulance cars, but has trucks with which it transports medical supplies, and it staffs hospitals at places where medical treatment is needed. Four or the recruits are medical members and three are transport members. Their age* range from 22 to 32. Most of them have had training or experience in civil occupations, which will be of value to them in the hospitals or at the wheels of trucks. Dr. Milne, who i* a graduate of the Otago University Medical School, has been loaned to the Friends Ambulance Unit by the Presbyterian Foreign Mission. The others include a recent science graduate, a mrreyor from the. Works Department, a haulage contractor. a shipbuilder, a professional photographer, and a man who was engaged with his father in 'imber milling. The medical members received s certain amount of training before they left, and will receire more in one of the unit's hospitals after their arrival in China. They require to understand Chinese and also to be capable of improvisation ia the‘r work. Mr. W. Jenkins, a Welshman who has been with the section in China since 1939. has been in New Zealand helping ro select the recruits. He said that fhe ample number of applications receired was evidence interest by New Zealanders in the Chinese. Some applicants had been prepared to maintain themselres while ther were away at a cost of several hundred pounds, but they were not qualified to join the unit. The seppntance of further recruits from New Zeeland was being considered, but funds limited the number that could be accepted. Members of tbe unit were kept to the extenf that s soldier is kept and wn-e oaid £1 a month. From New Zealand. Mr Jenkin* go** to tb« T T n ? ted States of America. Canada and England..