CARE OF AIRMEN

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4558, 10 April 1942, Page 4

CARE OF AIRMEN

“FIRST EVERY TIME” A MARVELLOUS CROWD Describing the care of the Royal Air Force for its personnel, SergeantObserver John Jasper, of New Plymouth, wrote: “They treat us like their only chicken. There is anxiety on every face till the last kite arrives home, and I’ll defy any man not to feel a warmth around his heart when he steps out of the plane after a trip to find a ground staff that has been waiting patiently in the cold for the best part of the night. They flock around us, all obviously pleased at our return. “They are a marvellous crowd, who place our safety above their own discomfort. Cigarettes are handed out, and then we pile into a waiting lorry to be conveyed to headquarters, where we are greeted with grins, coffee, and more cigarettes. Then into the intelligence room, where we are questioned about things noted on the flight, over to the mess, where we have cocoa, bacon and eggs, and then into a bus and away to our billet and bed. No longer is the value of the kite placed above the safety of the crew. We are first every time.”