REPATRIATED MEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25804, 27 March 1945, Page 4

REPATRIATED MEN

DOMINION PRISONERS OF WAR SPELL AT ENGLISH RESORTS (N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, Mar. 26. The plans for the reception in England of repatriated N.Z.E.F. prisoners of war have undergone some reorganisation recently. All will now be housed in hotels, boarding houses, or modern flats in seaside holiday resorts —Westgate, Margate, Broadstairs, Folkestone Hythe—and Ord Park barracks and the Duke of York barracks at Dover will now be used. This is to meet the changed War requirements. Some 50 buildings have now been taken over, many of them firstclass hotels to which holiday makers thronged in peacetime. The majority of them look directly on to the sea, which is only 100 to 150 yards distant. It means some decentralisation and perhaps more problems of administration, but on the whole the change is regarded as an advantage. While the facilities may not be so adequate in some boarding houses as in barracks it is felt that the returned men will prefer to be away from barracks and any suggestion of their former , confined life, and will welcome the greater freedom in holiday resorts. Some will be luckier than others for obviously accommodation in first-class holds is better than in boardinghouses, but it is hoped there will be spring beds for all and hot and cola running water in their rooms. The messing in many cases will be in restaurants especially taken over for the purpose. General headquarters is housed in Westcliff Hotel, Westgate.

A Month’s Leave The returned men will be divided into seven different “ wings,” each with its own headquarters. On arrival every man will go to a transit wing known as the “Puttick Wing at Margate. There they will be medically and dentally examined and receive pay before going on a month s leave. On their return from leave they will be distributed among other wings according to their classification. Thus the infantry will also be housea in “Puttick’s wing,” and the Maoris, armour, medical, dental, pay, and postal personnel will be housed in the “ Barraclough wing.” also at Margate. There will be accommodation for about 2100 men in this town. . At Westgate, in addition to general headquarters, there will be the “park wing” for engineers and machinegunners. It will take 500. At Broadstairs, the “Hargest wing” will take men from the South Island and the “ Crump wing ” will be for the Army Service Corps. About 2000 New Zealanders will be at Broadstairs. At Folkestone men from the North Island and infantry will go to the. “ Freyberg wing,” which will accommodate about 16,000. At Hythe the “Miles wing” is for artillery. Each wing, in addition to its own headquarters, will have its own Y.M.C.A., N.A.A.F.1., education, and rehabilitation centres, and 1 its own medical, pay, and postal sections. The staff at each wing will comprise seven officers and 100 other ranks. Majorgeneral H. K. Kippenberger is. of course, in command, with Colonel L. F Rudd, second in command. Colonel A. C. Trousdale will command the “ Freyberg wing," and Lieutenantcolonel T. Thornton the ®“ Puttick wing.” Appointments to the others have yet to be made. A large percentage of the staff will be English personnel. They include a camp commandant, a catering officer, and also cocks, ordnance, administration, and general duties. In addition to the New Zealand staff at present in England, it is understood that more will be sent from Italy. Hospital Taken Over

A former isolation hospital at Haine, a little way inland, has been taken over. It will be commanded by Major A. A. Lovell, and will be opened with 60 beds. If necessary, 200 beds can be put into use. Major. Lovell’s total staff will be 37, including six nursing sisters under the charge of Sister M. J. Scott, and nine nursing orderlies. It is felt that this is somewhat inadequate, and application has been made for six V.A.D.’s. The equipment is stated to be good, but there is no Xray. There is an X-ray, however, at another hospital two miles away. The change from Dover was probably most trying .for the hospital staff, for they had "everything ready there, and at Haine they had to set to work with paint brushes and brooms to clean up the place. The National Patriotic Fund will see that adequate sports equipment is available at the wings. In addition to 260 tons of comforts already stored for distribution to the men as soon as they arrive, comforable chairs are being acquired for the lounges and reading rooms, and good libraries are being formed. In some towns the residents, are still away, since they were evacuated earlier in the war, but already many people have come forward and made themselves known., and invitations are pouring in for .men to visit and stay at private homes. It would be difficult not to be impressed by the whole organisation and the desire to do everything possible for the returned men. It is the policy to see that every man when he embarks for New Zealand will be ready for immediate discharge on arrival heme. If one thing has given more pleasure and confidence to the staff—who realise they may not have exactly an easy task ahead of them—it is the fact that Major-general Kippenberger is in command. His direct, firm methods and “humanness ” are bywords.