SEEING NEW YORK

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 230, 30 September 1942, Page 6

SEEING NEW YORK

NEW ZEALAND AIRMEN TYPICAL HOSPITALITY From three different training camps in Canada, two sergeant-pilots from New Zealand and one pilot-officer from the British Isles recently arrived the same morning in New York City. They were three of thousands of young men in the United Nations armed forces on furlough in the big American metropolis that week, typical of the 3000 visiting service men to come to the city every seven days. Dick Garvin and Paul Mason, both from the North Island of New Zealand, and Ron Hutchins, from London,England, had not met before. But they all happened to register at the same hotel on the same day and go to the same coffee shop for breakfast at t-Jie same time. It was over identical plates of ham and eggs that they began talking, and discovered that each had the same five-day leave in which to see New York for the first time. They decided to spend those live carefree days together. Changes Since the War. What the boys saw and did in New York was not what they might have seen and done if they had come in peacetime. The city, whose fabulous lights are its most striking landmark, is dimmed out for the duration. The war accounts for the slimmest theatrical season in years. Night clubs have lost much of their zest —many of the former patrons are away in the armed services, and so are the waiters and entertainers. The once innocent sport of photography is prohibited in the city’s most exciting spots—the harbour, the production plants, the tops of tall buildings—unless Government permission is obtained. Many Concessions Granted. There is, however, one important advantage the uniformed visitor has over ordinary visitors. Free admission to sports events, concerts, theatres, moving pictures, and art shows are available to men in the armed forces of the United Nations. Owners of entertainment centres set aside blocks of tickets for soldiers, sailors, pilots and marines, and various volunteer groups distribute them. Biggest of these groups aiding service men is the United Service Organisations, through whose clubrooms daily tramp an estimated 2000 uniformed men. Dick, Paul, and Ron, like most of their colleagues, in the armed forces, made the U.S.O. their first port of call. They got tickets to musical comedies, a play, several movies, and chose their lunch and dinner rendezvous by U.S.O. recommendations. The last two days of their leave they spent sight-seeing. They covered a good 35 miles a day, criss-crossing Manhattan Island and travelling its length on foot, by bus, subway or taxicab.