RETURNED SOLDIERS' NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22505, 25 February 1935, Page 2

RETURNED SOLDIERS' NEWS

(Contributed.) Correspondents may forward any matters of interest to exservicemen to the Secretary, Returned Soldiers' Association, Dunedin. MEMBERSHIP. Membership is steadily increasing, and the figures to February 15 were 2382, already an increase of 140 on last year's final figures. With still many outstanding subscriptions, it is hoped to reach close on 2500 by March 31. FLOCK HOUSE. At the last meeting of the Flock Hou6e Provincial Committee two more trainees were accepted, and it is hoped to make the necessary arrangements for them to leave at an early date. The facilities which are now offering to sons of returned soldiers should be a greater incentive than previously. HOW SHOULD OLD SOLDIERS DIE? As inevitably as a speeding 5.9 in flight will the last Digger come to his final billet. Constantly we are all confronted now with the rapid passage of time, fleeting now on the wings of the wind, so there must come to each of us, sooner or later, a deep sense of the brevity of the remaining usefulness of our earthly span. [''.:'* " Old Soldiers Never Die" was the potent catch-word in those days that we lived dangerously, a dolorous doggerel tune utterly in opposition with the lusty, frdlicsome hearts that sang it. How shall we now retain that frolicsome humour with which we once plucked at Old Time's beard? How shall we now "cock a blithe snoot" when we contemplate how surprisingly his slipping sands have run?

That is the problem. Yet it is one that should solve itself. St. Paul, who might have been the original Digger, undoubtedly had the Digger spirit' clear in his mind when he adjured the .Corinthians of old and propounded to them his conceptions of a manly, fighting spirit. "We are troubled on every side, but not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. For which cause we faint not, but, though our outward man perish, Vet the inward man is renewed day by day." Consciousness of present disabilities, awareness of abated strength, weakness of flesh, coupled with despair over past failures —these were no terrors to_ the Digger according to Paul. His opinion —and it was the opinion of a notable fighter—was that even if there was no reward hereafter, a stoutly-fought fight had its own blessings and reward; and that sentiment, as R. L. Stevenson makes someone say in "Treasure Island": — "Mayn't be good Divinity,, but it's a fact." No other generation has grown to middle age with so valuable spiritual possession as that which is ours. For those toilsome days spent in the spirit of earnestness and sacrifice we should now reap a glorious harvest. To enable the enjoyment to the full of that bondage of friendship and intimate soldierly relationship which now remains the only valuable legacy of the war years, the Returned Soldiers' Association is a most invaluable asset. This organisation not only keeps preserved the memory of those sacrifices we thought were good in our frolicsome days, but it is also the means of expressing in concrete form our mature judgment on current things, and the only certain method of effectively using up the time that remains to us. It preserves alive, moreover, that fine sense of duty to one another that was the soul of the N.Z.E.F.

Already soma ex-servicemen are no longer available for active participation in the strenuous work of the world. For various reasons they have had to ease, up from active life. But they will always be welcomed into the association. ' As a counsellor to the younger generation in the light of rich experience, the association has yet a wide field of usefulness, and it is in that regard that such men will find themselves useful. Wide as the world is the, scope of the association for usefulness to-day. We haVe' acquired early that mature ""judgment -which comes only from hard knocks and ripe experience, and that alone equips us with remarkable exactitude to lend a pilot's eye to the conning of our nation's daily course. Much have we seen that reassures us that earthly life means more than a mere fight for personal existence, or that it is a selfish scramble for national economic ease and indulgence. Much have, we known that heightens our faith in our British standards of society. So if the whole purpose of our organi sation is to carry on the ideals for which we fought, our attitude towards approaching age should be as was that of Ulysses when that tough old-timer "surrendered" to advancing years.' The genius of Tennyson has decribed very well how the " Old Bill," of ancient times "went West" with his followers. . . . Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me, That, ever with a frolic welcome took The thunder and the sunshine, and op* posed .Free hearts, free foreheads ... Good "Diggers" all, and because the public to-day idolises in some form or other the outstanding figurehead, or the nationally significant personality, the ideal of "Diggerism" is a quickening sentiment. Now, as never before, aided by the magic of wireless, and other miraculous forms of instantaneous communication, whole nations can swiftly come under the swly of an idea. Nazi-ism, 16 years ago, was six men. Now it is an ecstatic ideal for more than 40,000,000. In the U.S.A. the N.R.A. is shored up to an incredible extent by the power of the President Roosevelt's confident voice. To meet the paramount need in New Zealand for a similar symbol op confidence, to preserve and invigorate for use all our experience of organised aim and concerted effort, we need to keep ourselves united for service. We have, need to present perpetually the steadfast front of our pride and belief in mateship, in both our national and international affairs. We should express loudly our opinion that no one ha s a better right to the highest place in our land than a distinguished ex-serviceman, a man whose worthy services are deserving of our highest honour. As said Ulysses:— Old age hath yet his honour and his toil; Death closes all; but something ere the end, Some work or noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.. Some work of noble note!

But then there follows a bit of sound advice and a certain argument for every ©x-service man to get aboard the galley of his Returned Soldiers' Association, and there, heaving in company, and with a will, to follow agani his early ideals, like a newly-rising star in a world aadly in need of a manly, social faith: — . . . Come, my friends, Tis not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order, smite The sounding furrows, for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the paths Of all the western stars until I die. It may be that the .gulfs will wash us down; It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles. . . . Tho' much is taken, much abides, and tho' We are not now that strength which in old days. Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts . . . strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. MEMORIAL TO FRENCH NURSES. At Pierrfonds, in jfche Oi6e district of France, a memorial is to be erected to the French war nurses who died on the field of honour. Of the 71,192 nurses who served in France in the Great War, 500 were killed under fire, 246 died from contagious disease, and more than 2500 were wounded. Over 10,000 were decorated. The monument is the work of Maxine Real del Sarte, disabled soldier, and eminent sculptor, winner of the French National Prize for Sculpture. THE SALUTE. All salutes, from taking off the hat to presenting arms, originally implied respect or submission. Of military salutes, raising the right hand to the head is generally believed to have originated from the days of the tournament, when the knights filed past the throne of the queen of Deauty, and by way of compliment raised their hands to their brow* to imply

that her beauty was too dazzling for unshaded eyes to gaze upon. The officers' salute with the sword has a double meaning. The first position, with the hilt opposite the lips, is a repetition of the Crusaders' action in kissing the cross-hilt of hie sword in token of faith and fealty, while lowering the point afterwards implies either submission or friendship, meaning in either case that it is no lonp-er necessary to stand on —ord. RUSSIA'S WAR CASUALTIES.

Much has been written and a great deal of Communistic capital made out of Russia's war losses. These are popularly believed to have been very greatly in excess of those suffered by any other Allied nation before the Russians withdrew.

It is therefore something of a revelation to discover that the death casualties suffered by Russia were the least of any of the countries engaged in the war—646,512. This is set forth in a volume published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and compiled by Stanislaus Kohn and Baron Alexander Mavendorff. Six estimates of Russia's army losses, based on figures of the General Staff, a Soviet Commission, - and researches by statisticians, give the total around 7,000,000. Of these, however, practically one-half—estimated from 3,340,000 to 3,750,000 —were prisoners. The killed, as indicated, was under the 650,000 mark., Thus, the Russian effort appears to have been considerably smaller than has > hitherto been imagined, and greatly discounted by wholesale surrenders. The war dead of the British Empire, according to the thirteenth annual report of the Imperial War Graves Commission, was 1,104,890 —almost twice that of Russia!