IN CAMP IN ENGLAND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23489, 28 October 1939, Page 10

IN CAMP IN ENGLAND

New Zealanders resident in England who have joined up with the special unit being formed there for war service, have gone into camp "somewhere in South Surrey." Thus the history of 1914 is repeating itself. Very shortly after the outbreak of war, what came to be known as the British Section of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force was mobilised. Some 250 men were sworn in by the High Commissioner for New Zealand, and speedily proceeded to their camp. Its locality was destined to have many memories for New Zealanders thereafter. Salisbury Plain was the scene of the first New Zealand war camp in the United Kingdom, and the British Section established itself on the exact site of what became Sling Camp. Diversion of,the Main Body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force to Egypt altered "the earlier plans. The British section, six officers and 234 other ranks, sailed for Egypt on December 12; 1914, and arrived at Zeitoun Camp on Christmas Eve. The British section was originally organised, as an infantry company, but there proved to be no room for it as such with the Main Body. Some of the members joined other units, but the greater number became the nucleus of the First Field Company, New Zealand Engineers. Its ranks contained men from many walks of life. Students from Oxford and Cambridge, professional musicians from London, marine officers and engineers, mining engineers, and wandering New Zealanders of no fixed occupation had all joined in haste to make, in the aggregate, a highly valuable addition to the ranks of the Expeditionary Force. In this again history will assuredly repeat itself.