TWO HEROIC BELGIANS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24825, 27 January 1942, Page 6

TWO HEROIC BELGIANS

DARING ESCAPE IN BOAT Commenting recently on a series of daring escapes from occupied Belgium to Britain, La Belgique Independante, a weekly Belgian-language newspaper published in London, said: “At some future time, after the war, when human lives no longer hang upon an unwary remark, it will be possible to obtain a clearer impression of the high courage with which so many men, young and mature alike, have set their feet on all the roads that might lead them to Great Britain and have persevered until overtaken by death or rewarded by success. The soul of a nation determined not to perish is made up of thousands of obscure acts of heroism such as these.

“ How and when will deliverance come? The Belgiums who are prisoners in their own country do not even wonder. But if anything equals the power of their hatred, it is the strength that they derive from their hope.” The Consulate-general of Belgium in New Zealand has just received a communication from its. Government in London referring to the arrival in Great Britain of two young Belgians after having crossed the North Sea in a small boat. The story of their escape is published by the London Daily Mirror under big headlines, These young men had left the Belgian coast accompanied by three other youths. After they had been at sea an hour, their motor broke down and they continued their journey by rowing. Unfortunately they were sighted next morning by German planes and were machine-gunned from a very low level. Three, were killed and a fourth had his hands wounded. As soon as the planes flew off, the survivors continued their journey and were picked up by a British warship, which brought them to port. The two young heroes have now just come out of hospital. One has an arm in a sling and the other walks with difficulty because his feet had been so long in the water that they had become frozen. These men are recuperating and will soon take their place in the Belgian Army.