Defence Notes

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 256, 28 October 1937, Page 5

Defence Notes

.(By

“SENTRY.”)

Notice Board.—All men of B Coy. who qualified at the course for N.C.O.s. h|ld at Trentham from September 11 to 18 and were not in bivouac over Labour week-end, will be presented with certificates of merit at their next parade, November 1. To say the least of it the bivouac held at the racecourse over the weekend was a success. It served not only to instruct the men in the manipulation of their various weapons, but also to bring all ranks together socially, and it is mainly through these weekend camps that the men get to know their officers and N.C.O's. off parade. The weather was not all that it might have been, but a shower or two only reminds us of what the boys had to go through on active service. 1 Mortar Section. Great credit is due to the personnel of the newly-formed mortar section who have only been practicing since the inauguration of the new scheme. They put up an excellent show both on the tactical exercises and on the range. Several N.C.O’s. and men were transferred into this interesting section at the camp and judging by the enthusiasm with which they carried out their work, it is going to be a big job to get them back into their original companies. Among those noticable were C.Q.M.S. F. Shapleski, of the Marton platoon, Private A. L. Skilton, of M.G. platoon and Sgt. Bustard of B Coy. This is a section■ which is going to go ahead very steadily under the excellent instruction of Staff S.M. Harvey. N.Z.P.S. B Company. With men in from both Taihape and Marton, B Coy. turned out in full strength. It is very encouraging to the officers and N.C.O’s. of the company to have so many on parade and Captain S. H. Gould has every reason

to be proud of his men both on and off parade. This was the first parade of W. J. Oram, as Sgt., and his drilling of the men is a splendid illustration of what steady and conscientious application to study will do. After practicing squad drill on Saturday the company took part in the coast defence exercises on Sunday, when they did ve4y good work with the Lewis guns and rifles. Monday was spent on the Futiki range where all weapons were again used, Lieut. S. Hanton commanding in his usual efficient manner.

M.G. Platoon. Under the command of Lieut. Bassett, the machine-gunners turned out their usual high standard of drill. Squad drill with and without arms was practiced on Saturday and judging by their turn-out, B Coy. will have to fieep at it is they want to retain their place in the annual guard mounting competition. Pvts. Dellow and McDonald did very good work for men of their experience and are to be complemented on their drill. The shoot at Kaitoke was very interesting and was greatly appreciated by all who took part in it. The few stoppages which did occur only going to make it a real practice of what the men of the platoon htV*e been doing theoretically at evening parades. Some very high scoring was registered on the range on Monday under the command of Captain J. H. Luxford, both with the Vickers heavy machine gun and with the pistol.

On Monday, certificates of merit were presented, by Major Lilburne, to those N.C.O’s. who won them at their courses at Trentham last month. It is understood that the £1 bonus with each certificate will be forwarded up to Wanganui later, probably with the annual out of camp pay. After the parade one young chap said that he would rather have the pound, but his mate pointed out to him that no number of pounds could buy a certificate of merit.

Just a word to those who were not in camp over the week-end. You miss-

ed the best week-end camp that has been held for years, particularly the shoot at Kaitoke on Sunday. We trust that you will all turn up for the next bivouac which is held, because when we consider the amount of time our officers and staff men put in preparing these camps for us (to say nothing of the money they cost) the least that we can do is to turn up and give our whole-hearted support to the show.