NEVER BE FORGOTTEN

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21574, 9 February 1940, Page 6

NEVER BE FORGOTTEN

“ Disciplinary ” March

NEW ZEALANDERS IN PERTH

“A march by the New Zealanders from Fremantle to Perth. 12J miles, will never be forgotten.” says the Australian newspaper Smith’s Weekly, “not only by the unfortunates who took part, but also by the silent, sympathetic crowd which lined Perth’s streets watching the troops pass through the city.

“One hundred degrees in the shade it was that day. and the troops arrived in Perth at the peak of the heat —after 1 p.m. “Some of them were reeling, and doggedly persisted, only to collapse in the main streets. ! “These men had not had boots on for a fortnight, and then to trudge 12. miles in the heavy, unyielding military issue was asking too much of men. “When the Enzeds had gone through the city and were allowed to dismiss, most of them did not worry about food. They were too eager to get to the nearest water-tap io cool their feet, on which blisters—the size of an egg in some cases.—had formed. “It was rumoured the march had been a disciplinary one. If so, the troops paid by not only the sweat of their brows, but in weariness, exhaustion and blistered feet.”