BACK HOME FROM SINGAPORE

Southland Times, Issue 24682, 2 March 1942, Page 5

BACK HOME FROM SINGAPORE

MAJOR-GENERAL BENNETT IN SYDNEY (Rec. 11 p.m.) SYDNEY, March 1. Looking remarkably fit despite his trying, recent experiences MajorGeneral Gordon Bennett, clad in khaki shorts and shirt, arrived by plane in Sydney today, 13 days after his dramatic escape from Singapore. He was met by his wife and daughter and Lieutenant-General H. B. Wynter, Officer Commanding, Eastern Command. Major General Bennett declined to discuss the battles of Malaya and Singapore until he had seen the Prime Minister (Mr J. Curtin) and the Army Minister (Mr F. M. Forde) probably in Melbourne, tomorrow. “I very much regret the circumstances which have brought me back home,” Major General Bennett said, “but I must say lam glad to be here. I have been away just over a year, and a whole lot has happened since, that will be told in my report, wliich has occupied my thoughts all the way down from Batavia.” Major General Bennett paid a tribute to the courage, initiative and enterprise of Major-General C. J. Moses, who planned the escape from Singapore. Major-General Moses, he said, had three times passed through the Japanese lines at great personal risk.