"MY DAY"

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24675, 30 August 1943, Page 4

"MY DAY"

BY ELEANOR ROOSEVELT Following is the first of a series of " My Day" world copyright articles written by Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, now in New Zealand. These articles have been secured for exclusive publication in the area in which the Herald circulates. I am going on a trip for the Red Cross, because I found in Britain that if you wanted to talk with the boys you had to catch-them in their moments of ease. Many of those moments are spent in Red Cross clubs. In addition I want to visit as many of our hospitals as possible, and there again the Red Cross uniform is a familiar sight. 1 have been invited to visit ISew Zealand and Australia to see the work that the women are doing, as I did in Britain. This, too, I think, will be ot interest to other women all over the world This is a period when women are doing' things in many places because they have long wanted to do something different, but conventionalities held them back. Now the world is a freer world and those with the ; capacity, whether men or women, are in demand. I hope our soldiers, sailors and marines wherever I see them will know how much I appreciate this opportunity to bring them the greetings of their Commander-in-Chief and how deeply interested I am in them and their achievements. Undeterred by Discomfort I am flying throughout. The Pacific Ocean to our young transport pilots is just routine. When some of them take out their "short snorter" bills for me to sign I am amazed at the countries they have visited. There will be few corners of the earth to which these boys cannot find their way. For me, however, it is going to bo an experience which I never expected to have. I shall see places I read about even before this war made some of the names so tragicallv familiar. They tell me I shall be very cold in some places and very hot in others, that in spots the mosquitoes will be bad; in fact, they say I shall be uncomfortable at times on this trip and it doesn't worry me at all. If our boys can stand it for months, and in some cases it has already been almost two years for some of them, I think I shall be much too interested to notice any discomfort. Fortitude o! Wounded As 1 wont through the wards of one of the New Caledonia hospitals I came to a man with his right arm gone, but he was not downhearted. "1 can tie my tie with my left hand already," he said. lie knew that he was started on the long trip homeward and he could go on with his job. His next words took mv breath away, however. "I come from Dutchess County, Poughkeepsie, New York, and when you get home tell the boys at the toll booth on the Midhudsoii Bridge that you saw Nick." So now, my fellow townsmen, I am telling you, and please give him a warm welcome, for he is a brave man. These boys don't worry about themselves unless they are just facing some loss and haven't bad time to pull themselves together, but one very badly wounded man with one eye gone, a bad head wound and other injuries had slow tears from his one eye running down his check and he said: "I'm not wondering about me. but I'm wondering about all my buddies." Among Friends To my surprise, as I went in to the Red Cross Club for servicemen I saw a young lieutenant whom I knew, and almost simultaneously Mr. Robert Atmore. formerly a master at Choats School, and now here for the Red Cross, spoke to me. The men all tell me that one of the curious things about the war is the way your friends turn up at unexpected times, and this is especially true of the fliers, who certainly get' about. I have signed "''short''snorters," with bills attached that seemed to me to cover about every corner of the world.

As we travelled from place to place on the island we passed many trucks loaded with men from every branch of the Service, and both white and coloured. I tried to wave to them and say "Hollo" and was much amused to hear behind me on occasion. "Hello, Eleanor." The military police, who have been constantly on the jump looking after us wherever we went, had tacked up in their office to-day the cartoon where the fat lady tells her husband that she thinks I have still covered a few more miles than my husband has. I'm quite sure the M.P.'s thought I had covered them all in one day. On New Caledonia they know, too, there are more similar days coming, but they seemed reconciled and greeted me smilingly this morning. Flowers in Midst of War Admiral Halsey's house boys arrange flowers very beautifully and this is a land where they grow abnntantly, so even in the midst of war one may enjoy colour, fragrance and charming arrangement. These boys wore especially nice (o me. They brought me a breakfast tray with a rose in my finger bowl and little bouquets to wear, and finally stood patiently waiting for me to sign their cards, with a smile always on their faces.

Each time L come back to the Air Transport Command ship 1 get a thrill of pride as 1 look at the ship and realise its speed and capacity for transport, which means an increase of all necessities of war and a greatly improved msril service, which is of such importance to the men. Without this service the war would not be going so well to-dav, and I think it is important for us_ to realise how valuable the cooperation between all the Services has been in this area, where it has been so well done tinder Admiral Halsey. Meeting "With Cousin August 27.—0n plane going to New Zealand. Night before last we reached one of the largest islands we have visited. We had to circle for a time before landing and then changed to another plane for a short hop before reaching our final destination, which was great luck for me, as the group to which the pilots on this short hop belonged have now made me an honorary member of their organisation. Yesterday morning 1 breakfasted at seven and at eight we started on our rounds and visited two hospitals during the morning. We went to the rest camp the l?ed Cross runs for officers in an old plantation, which they have done over and somehow made livable by dint of endless work and ingenuity. Another hospital and one camp in the afternoon and finally a visit to the Red Cross club for enlisted personnel, where as many as 8000 men visit every day. Late in the afternoon 1 met at an informal reception local Government officials and some more officers, among them one of mv cousins, Commander \Y. S. Cowles, whom 1 had not even known was in this vieinitv.

Now I have given you a day's itinerary and I can begin to tell you some of the things you must want to know and 1 want to tell you. Let me first tell you what a debt of gratitude every woman at home owes to the Army and Navy nurses out here. They are not living very comfortably. They are seeing daily sights that must try their fortitude, for they are women, but every one I saw was smiling. A pretty, jaunty little lady who lunched with me flies in the transport planes that bring the men in from the front and she must have inspired more sense of security than anyone except their mothers could and she made men feel they can hold out in spite of pain when the temptation to give up must be great. Next to the nurses come the Red Cross girls. Miss Marie Coletta Ryan is American Red Cross Supervisor of the South Pacific area, and as far as I can see no one could do a better job. Materials have been lacking, supplies have been delayed because of shipping difficulties, housing for her girls has been a constant problem, and there are never enough people to do the work. And yet it gets done. My hat is off to every woman working in this area. Best Care in Hospitals Now to the hospitals. They ayj manned largely by reserve and volunteer doctors, dentists, surgeons and psychiatrists, many of them _ the best men to be found in the professions. Their equipment is on the whole remarkable. When they are set up in quonsett huts or portable buildings it seems almost like a hospital at home. In many cases, however, they must use tents. These are gloomy and dark. The hospitals beds everywhere are Army cots with the thin mattresses, cannot give a wounded and exhausted man the idea that he has a "beauty rest" under him. The care, however, is the best that can be given and the men appreciate it. Every boy who begins to feel even a little better "is fine" and not even the most suffering complain. 1 am glad I am seeing these hospitals, for I will know in the future what lies behind every boy in a hospital at home. August '2B. —On train from Auckland to Wellington. The final leg of the flight to Auckland, in New Zealand, was quickly over. We passed over the little island of Norfolk, which looks from the air like a bit of the English countryside dropped in the vast South-west Pacific. The houses are white, with red roofs, and the fields look small and well cultivated. Later we saw the Three Kings Islands, which are barren rooks sticking out of the water. Like Northern California Everything is topsy turvv here from our point of view as far as climate goes, for the north has the mild weather and as you go south it gets colder, until in the South Island you have snow and ice and the winter is more like a New England winter at home. Incidentally, of course, it is winter here and if my own compatriots happen to be having a spell of very warm weather at home I wish I could send them a little of the frost which covered the ground as I looked out of the train window this morning. This is primarily a farming country and although they have cut down such beautiful timber you still see great forests of pine and they have ' begun' to replant on an extensive scale. 1 felt as though I were in Northern California when I stepped out of the plane yesterday, for here they grow citrus fruit, apples, pears and grapes. It is rolling country with hills and mountains never very far away it seems to me.

Quest at Government House August 29.—Government House, Wellington. We arrived in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, at lOvlo on Saturday morning. A battery of cameramen reminded me of home, but these boys were many of them in the Marine Corps uniform, and I discovered'that they go into action with a gun in one hand and a camera or a pencil in the other. The history of this war should be well recorded in the Service papers, and I certainly hope they found their work less difficult to-day than it is in more dangerous moments. With the Governor-General, our party was driven to Government House, where we have kindly been asked to stay and where we are being most hospitably cared for. My first thought was a purely feminine one. I wanted to have my hair washed, and it was arrangecLat once, but gentlemen never quite urmerstand the time it takes for a woman to dry her hair, so I was still in an unpresentable condition when the arrival of the press for an interview was announced. They waited patiently, however, and, after our interview, more photographs were taken on the terrace of Government House. His Excellency, his daughter, who is acting hostess while her mother is in England, and four dogs joined me as victims before the camera, and this time I really do hope all the photographs will come out well. Gift from Veterans I always like to discover food in any new country which I visit which is a native dish, and I have had a delightful soup made of mussels and some delicious whitebait, which is smaller than any which T have ever seen at home. A very moving little ceremony took place this afternoon, when representatives of an organisation of disabled war veterans, accompanied by Mr. Nash. New Zealand's Ambassador to the United States, presented me with a lovely necklace made by the veterans. It is made of silver and polished shell of beautiful colours. Tt is a token of the disabled veterans' understanding: and sympathy for the women of the United States, who must suffer and wait side by side with the women of New Zealand for news of their men fighting side by side in distant parts of the world. When T get I must have this necklace put on exhibition somewhere so that many women may see what lovely work these disabled men have learned to do. One man on the delegation had made the polished wooden box in which the necklace is safely laid for its journey home. One woman came up to speak to me this afternoon and said: "Our boy is missing. We try to keep our hopes up. and having your boys in our home has helped. They are such nice lads."—All rights reserved; republication in whole or in part prohibited.

The Short Snorters' Club is of American origin and elastic membership. Anyone who makes an ocean flight is eligible to become a "short snorter'' and. as evidence of membership, must carry a dollar bill signed by at least one other "short snorter." According to the rides of the club, anyone who fails to produce the proof of membership after saying he is a "short snorter" must give everyone present a dollar hill.