Well-Kept Secret

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21038, 14 February 1940, Page 8

Well-Kept Secret

ARRIVAL OF ANZACS

POLISH LINER AS ESCORT ESTABLISHMENT IN CAMP fUnfted Press Assn. —Elec. Tel. Copyright) (Received Feb. 14. 3.15 p.m.) SUEZ, Feb. 13 The first welcomes over, and though the echoes of the mighty reception have scarcely died and the Suez ports are still pulsing with excitement, the New Zealanders and Australians spent the first night encamped on desert sands. They were astir early, establishing themselves In active service quarters. It is revealed that one transport was a Polish liner, manned by Poles, who were most popular with the New Zealanders and Australians. Gunner J. R. Mathieson provided an historic touch at the New Zealanders’ debarkation when he piped them ashore with bagpiDes used in the Crimea and Great Wars. A British regimental band on the wharf played old and new war tunes. The arrival of the Anzacs was one of the best-kept secrets of the war. No local people knew whether overseas or Egyptian troops would be accommodated at the great camp which was being erected for weeks in the desert, built through sand dunes. Water tanks supplied from the Nile were installed, and the city of soldiers, consisting of yellow, brown and camouflage tents and wooden huts, took shape. New Zealand Nurses Thrilled One of the six New Zealand nurses accompanying the contingent said: “Everybody is grand. We are thrilled with Egypt, which is something like home. The Egyptian complexion reminds me of the Maoris.”