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Otago Daily Times, Issue 25736, 6 January 1945, Page 4

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EARLY MORNING ARRIVAL MIDDLE EAST VETERANS RETURN It was a wan pseudo-summer dawn in which the members of the latest draft of furlough men from the Middle East yesterday concluded their long journey from Northern Italy to Dunedin. Before the heavy morning rain clouds had let even the first streaks of daylight through there were several hundred relatives and friends thronging the Dunedin Railway Station. The train, a mixed troop and civilian “ special," due at 4.25. was late, though not much more than half an hour, and before the clock hour was reached the station precincts had almost resumed their normal early morning calm. The reception arrangements had worked perfectly, and in less time than had been spent in waiting the great moment for hundreds had passed. The E.P.S. transport section, reinforced by a fleet of taxis from a company that had made special arrangements to meet the occasion, had whisked the local men away, and the country contingent, with their journey still to be continued, were on their way to breakfast and a rest before the departure of Central Otago and southern trains. Other January s’s

The date was not .without significance and coincidence for many of those who were returning home for the first time after four and five years of service. On January 5, 1940, the first echelon sailed from Wellington for Egypt, and there were those among yesterday morning's draft who were on board the great liners that steamed out of Port Nicholson five years before in the wake of a famous battleship. The doyen of these —though a break in his journey in the North Island made him an absentee from the train —is the son of a well-known Dunedin specialist. Throughout five years of service he showed a complete disregard for danger, and finally earned the affectionate style of the Mad Medico” because of his cool and casual courage. When his Military Cross was gazetted none who Knew him needed to ask why, and there was no surprise at the enthusiasm of the celebrations that followed the announcement of it in his unit. But even more of those who returned vesterday could recall a cold, showery night—three years ago to the day—in the untidy desert marshalling yards of Sidi Havcish, followed by bully beef stew and scalding sweet tea in an equally wan and unenthusiastic dawn at the Amiriya soup kitchens. It had been a strange night, tearing across the desert in unsprung steel box cars, whose grubby, ungarnished interiors did as much violence to personal appearance as the rattle of wheels did to the fitful sleep which was all that the troops could contrive. By comparison the padded seats of the train—even if they were second class —would seem to be de travel. On that occasion the New Zealand' Division was turning its back on the Western Desert for six months after the wearing days of Sidi Rezegh and Belhamed and El Duda. Of other experiences on January 5 1941 in Hclwan and the arid Garawi Wadi; 1943 in the vanguard of the battle in Tunisia; and 1944 in the snow and mud of Orsogna on the Adriatic coast of Italy—stories and recollections are without doubt still in the telling. A Human Operating Table

As the men filed out of the station there could be noticed one or two who were returning on their second furlough, and among the first to leave the still-moving train was the rotund, bouncing figure of a jovial Irishman, who acted involuntarily as an operating table on a gimcrack Greek train on the way to Katerlne nearly four years ago. A protesting patient, suffering from a split head that seemed to suggest the use of a bottle as a weapon, was being sewn up by the M.O. As the last stitch was going in the operating table, which had the appearance of just an ordinary pile of bedding, burst into vigorous life. Beneath the heaped-up blankets another victim of civilian hospitality in Athens was thrusting upwards for air —the Irishman.

Official Party

Among the official party which greeted the men were the Mayor (Mr D. C. CameronK the president of the R.S.A. (Mr D. Forsyth), the secretary of that organisation (Mr O. L. Ferens), and Colonel S. M. Satterthwaite (area commander).

There were seven men who left the train at Port Chalmers, and they were met at the station there by the Mayor (Mr H. S. Watson) and the president of the local branch of the Returned Services’ Association (Mr W. Porter). The Port Chalmers Marine Band was also in attendance.