FREYBERG, V.C.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23996, 20 June 1941, Page 8

FREYBERG, V.C.

FRESH ANECDOTES

FRIENDSHIP WITH BARRIE

INTEREST OF LLOYD GEORGE (0.C.) LONDON, May 28 The fact that 'the New Zeahuiders in Crete were enninuinded bv General ti C. Freyberg. Y.C., litis been commented on with mm li approval in Loudon during the battle for the island. Several anecdotes concerning 11 is record in tin-' last war have been recounted to illustrate his outstanding career. A stall' officer in the last war litis recalled how Freyberg's resonant voice once attracted Mr. Lloyd George. Ihe then Prime Minister was visiting the Welsh Division, and one night 1' royborg was also a guest in the, headquarters mess. Lloyd George watched him for some time; then, appalentlv attracted by something be overheard, he rose from his place and went, to sit beside Freyberg. They talked together for nearly an hour. Friends to the End In 191(5 Freyberg met IJarrie; they were close friends to the cud. In .March, 1920, when Fveybcrg was seriously ill at Brighton with the aftermath of his innumerable war wounds. Barrio spent a good deal of time with him. Frevbcrg was then iu the Grenadier Guards, and it is told in Denis Mackail's biography how, nine months later Barrio ate bis Christinas dinner with'the King's Guard a I St. .lames Palace as Freyberg's guest. Jll the following December it- was 811 trie's t urn to be seriously ill. 'I lieu Frevbcrg slept near liini, with a string round his wrist that Barrio could wake hint it necessary. Frevbcrg received his honorary LL.D. from St. Andrews ITiiversity 011 Barrio's nomination, and attended, with Klleii Terry, Sir Sipiire Banerolt and others, when the lainous llectorial address on ''('mirage" was delivered. A Schoolmaster's Blunder Lord Donegal], in the Sunday Dispatch, recalled that when Frevbcrg was a vefv small boy ill Wellington lie decided lo win the school swimming coinpetition. He trained up to the day of the event. (>1! the day he felt very ill and the matron spotted it forbade him to compete '-'rev berg cried. "That lellow." said one 01 the masters, "will never be any good. ••T|,e sort ol !ellow, added Lord Donegal), "that the German-; have to deal wit-h in ('rcte 1 -eiuuied up in a remark lie made to a gunner on their wav up to observat ion d' l\ in advance of the front line iu 19lt>. Do you know.' be said 'I do love uiv war! Like a Fish in the Water .Mr. ,). S. Haves who planned now coalfields in Nigeria and is now manager of Sharlston Colliery, Yorkshire has recalled that ho wa - at Wellington College with Freyberg. 'I can see Bernard Freyberg as a boy who spent most of Ills spare time 111 Hie Hater, a hotly remarkably graceful and as brown as a borrv," said Mr. Hayes. ''And I remember his habits ol quick decision and ot hrevilv ot speech. A quick ye-or-110 lad .and nothing to explain about it A wonderfully fast swimmer, lie was like a fidi as he turned in the wafer. In 192(1 he narrowly failed to swim the FnglMi Channel. 'The tide beat hint when he was just short ol Dover. 1 remember him also as a tine runner. Speed •coined part of his make-up. He loved drill and was a sergeant in No. 1 Cadet Company at the college."