SECOND DRAFT OF J-FORCE LEAVES JAPAN FOR HOME

Wanganui Chronicle, 4 August 1948, Page 4

SECOND DRAFT OF J-FORCE LEAVES JAPAN FOR HOME

(P.A.) Parliament Bldgs., Aug. 3 The second draft of the J-Force left Kure for Auckland this morning aboard the troopship Westralia. Though the passenger list numbers 590, only 536 are New Zealanders, the remainder being Australian dependants returning home. Commanding the New Zealand draft, which includes Maori troops of the 2nd Battalion New Zealand Regiment, is Major J. W. Mac Murray, o. Papakura. Brigadier L. Potter, Commander of the J-Force, is travelling home on the ship, but is expected to return to Japan in September. Most of the personnel returning or. the Westralia have spent almost an exact year in Japan. They arrived in August last year aboard, the Dunera. The Westralia is making one stop only at Dreger, in New Guinea, for water.

Last night two New Zealanders caused a mild stir in harbour control circles in Kure when a 12-foot yacht which they were sailing capsized in mid-harbour. The men were Jim Thorne, of Masterton, and Norman Silk, of Auckland. At seven o’clock they had taken the yacht out in the calm waters of the harbour. Half an hour later when they headed out into the centre of the harbour, the weather changed suddenly. They tried to get back to the shelter of the wharves, but were overturned before they could do so. Fortunately, a Japanese fishing vessel was close by, and picked them up immediately. This, however, was not known by harbour control, who had rescue craft searching for them for some time before it was discovered that they were safe. Neither of the men suffered any injury and returned to their unit today slightly chastened but unharmed. The Wellington camp, at Ozukl, until recently the headquarters of the 2nd Battalion New Zealand Regiment, to which headquarters of the 2nd N.Z.E.F. and all units except the 19th A.S.C. are now be’ng transferred, was inspected by Air Marshal G. Jones, chief of the Air Staff, R.A.A.F., during a two-day V'Sit to the New Zealand occupation area. He also visited the 6th New Zealand General Hospital at Kiwa which is being vacated for return to the Japanese in the next few weeks.