FIGHTING STOCK

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21418, 12 May 1941, Page 9

FIGHTING STOCK

TODAY’S GENERATION SOLDIERING COMPARED GALLANT MAORI BATTALION Speaking at the annual reunion of the Waikato Returned Soldiers’ Association on Saturday night, Major A. E. Gibbons compared the presentday soldier with the soldier of the Great War period, and his comparison was, in many respects, distinctly in favour of the former. He said one of the prerogatives of age was to criticise and make comparisons. The Llder man was apt to say that the men of today were not the equal of their forebears. “But in our heart of hearts,” he said, “some of us may not be doing justice to the modern generation, and we know it. The present way of life is softer than in our generation, but the British are a fighting race, and though the modern young soldiers may need a little more training to toughen them the same /round stock is there. The modern army in its service and skirmishes today is living up to the best standards of the past. “Actually they are mqre intelligent than we were in our day; - they realise more than we did what they are fighting for; they glow with an inward conviction of the righteousness of their cause, and have a grim determination to see it through. Our generation could not assess the cost, but modern youth heard us, saw for itself the wreckage that war leaves—but did not hesitate because of that Spirit Still Lives “They answered the call in a magnificent manner,” continued Major Gibbons. “The spirit of the old Division lives on. The moderns raid* the canteens with equal sang froid, they overstay their leave in the same way. Look how they fought back in Greece. “From the all-too-scrappy accounts that have reached New Zealand, it is abundantly evident that they are of the right material. They were not content to leave the risks to others. Colonel Dittmer and his gallant Maoris at Thermopylae will ever be remembered as worthy of the highest traditions of the race. Their deeds will live throu.Ji history with those of Leonidas and nis 300. The army of the Empire has been unfortunate in many ways in the present war, but give them the equipment and with the aid of the Air Force and Navy, they will win their way forward, and live to dance on the ruins of Berlin.”

Major Foster, the guest of the evening, said that he could honestly endorse the remarks of Major Gibbons. He was proud to have been associated with the younger generation on active service. They were true representatives of a fighting stock, and could be relied, on in every emergency.