HOME AGAIN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 212, 7 September 1945, Page 4

HOME AGAIN

WANGANUI PERSONNEL FROM MIDDLE EAST WEIX’OME AT BTATIOM One of the largest drafts of Wanganui men from the Middle East arrived in the city yesterday afternoon, having travelled by special train from Wellington. Scenes of welcome to returning men have grown familiar to thousands of Wanganui residents, yet they lose none of their spontaneity with each successive draft. Yesterday, both at Aramoho and at the town station, there were the same excited crowds of relatives and friends on the station platforms, which were bedecked with flags. At the town station the crowd numbered more than 500. When the train drew into the station amid a medley of sound, and soldiers leaned eagerly from every window to catch a first glimpse of friends and relatives they had not seen for several years, a great roar of cheering went up from the crowd. On alighting from the train the men were soon reunited with family groups. When the first welcomes were over the men were conveyed to their homes by members ot the transport section of the Red Cross.

Among the official representatives on the platform to welcome the men back were Messrs. C. S. Smith, president of the Wanganui R.S.A., C. R. White, town clerk, N. R. Bain, representing the Wanganui Patriotic Committee, W. D. Young, the Red Cross, and Major D. W. Curham, M.C., of the Army Department. The men will be given a reception and complimentary luncheon in the R.S.A. Hall next Wednesday at 12.15 p.m. by the Wanganui City Council, in association with the counties of Wanganui and Waitotara. Any returned man from overseas who has not yet attended one of these functions should make application to the town clerk, Mr. C. R. White, for an invitation.

Inadvertently omitted from the list published yesterday was the name of Captain W. McH. Davis, M.1.D., sor. of Mrs. S. J. Davis, Waverley, who returned with yesterday's draft from the liner Strathaird.