DIGGERS IN SYDNEY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 102, 3 May 1938, Page 8

DIGGERS IN SYDNEY

AUSTRALIAN PRESS ITEMS SIDELIGHTS ON THE HOMAGE MARCHES CITi BECAME A PARADE GROUND Clippings from the leading Sydney newspapers are being kept by Wanganui ex-servicemen who had the privilege of marching side by side with the Australians on Anzac Day. “Thirteen hundred New Zealanders have stolen Sydney's heart.” Sydney Sun.) "All sorts and conditions of men were these soldiers. ... a grey-head or 88, a comparative youngster of 38 who had enlisted at 15.” (The Sun.) “Before the procession the maimed ■and crippled rode in cars. For these the tragic years continued, and tne crowd greeted them with full hearts. Broken in body, baulked in opportunity that should have been theirs, for them the war is a tale: ‘Of old, unhappy, far-off things, and battles long ago.’ ” (The Sun j "One old soldier, Henry Charles Nagel, 63, of Newcastle, died in the procession. Another, David Kennedy, 61, collapsed while marching and died later in the Sydney Hospital. A third, Frederick Vintiner, aged 51, was found dead near the Town Hall.” (Daily Telegraph.) "There was something extra in the warmth of the greeting given V.C. winners and the New Zealanders, who marched 2000 strong. The Maoris among them were ‘barracked’ in friendly fashion.” (Telegraph.) “Some of the colour parties were drawn from ex-mllitia men. who proudly bore the standards their fathers had made famous. Towaids Lhe end the Governor (Lord Wakehurst) led a small band of Old Contemptibles. . . . The mass service, conducted from a flag-covered dais, by Chaplain G. C. Cruicksahnk, Dean of St. Paul’s, Dunedin, began at 11.45 a.m. Commands were given by means of amplifiers.” I “Hundreds of Diggers played , two-up in the main streets in the sight of policemen. Between Bathurst Street and Martin Place ' at one stage there were 37 open- j air, main-street, two up schoolx.” ■ (The Telegraph.)