Marching Through City

Camp News, Volume 1, Issue 5, 12 January 1940, Page 4

Marching Through City

SPLENDID SIGHT. Over the whole of its route from Parliament Buildings, down Molesworth Street, along Lambton Quay, Willis Street, Mercer Stret, Jervois Quay, Customhouse Quay, and Waterloo Quay to the Railway Station, the procession of returned soldiers and men of the First Echelon of the Special Force were greeted with applause and cheering of a sincerity which not even a Royal visit has aroused. Punctually at 10.45 the parade began to move off from the grounds of Parliament Buildings, down Molesworth Street, and as the head of the procession reached the War Memorial the crowd there was increased by hundreds who deserted their posts in the Parliament Grounds after the speechmaking was over. The officer commanding the parade, Lieutenant-Colonel F. S. Varnham, M.C., E.D., Officer Commanding the 19th Wellington Battalion, marched at the head of the parade immediately

behind the Artillery Band. TRIBUTE AT WAR MEMORIAL. As each unit of the parade passed the War Memorial, where the band of H.M.S. Ramillies was stationed, silent tribute was paid to the memory of those who did not return from the last Great War, officers giving the salute and men the “eyes right.” ' Preceded by a traffic officer on a motor-cycle and two mounted constables, the parade left the War Memorial to the martial strains of “Colonel Bogey,” played by the Boys’ Institute Band. As the Tong line wound its way up the Quay its approach was heralded by a buzz of excited applause, which travelled all the way a hundred yards or so ahead of the leading units, and crowds which had previously been contented on the footpaths pressed forward suddenly to join the ranks of those already lining the tram rails. Opposite the Magistrate’s Court the crowd was eight deep on both sides of the road. Given pride of place by reason of sacrifices already made, the returned soldiers who led the procession were

a stirring sight, and they recei measure of applause that Was ? due. Hundreds of them p artici ~ in the parade, the very great ~ ity wearing medals, some limping keeping pace with the rest, and j ‘ few in Army and Air Force unifi of to-day. Behind the ranks o f turned men in “civvies” marched t ' coastal battery returned men, ing again the khaki with which t first became familiar more than years ago. They, too, were gj rousing reception at different p 0 along the route. The ex-servicemen, with their; bands, the other being the pl Nicholson Band, took seven min; to pass the War Memorial.

MARCHING IN THREES. Then came the men of the f Echelon, led by the band of the J ond Field Brigade, New Zealand tillery. Except for one small sett they marched in threes, in arrest contrast to the Tours formation oi preceding parts of the parade. Stretching as far as the eye « see along the curve of the Quay shouldered rifles made a splendid impressive sight. The men mi: with precision, some with afe as if mindful of the serious m their misison, but the majorr more cheerful countenances, tfe greetings to friends in the era Midway in the procession car Band of the Ist Battalion, Well Regiment, and after it was the conspicuous figure in the pan half-proud, half-bewildered white the unofficial mascot of the 19th lington Battalion of the SyForce. Though he was rarely in he kept station faultlessly, condi? himself throughout his ordeal the soldierly bearing expected of More troops were followed hl pipes and drums of the First 1 talion, Wellington Regiment, and came the final sections of the pat People stood or clung precar: to every possible vantage point car roofs, trucks, and tramcar' stationary, of course, were fart grandstands. Hardly a window!. the Quay and Willis Street was' out its spectators.

Streamers were freely usrf. 4 long after the parade had pas-j toons of them from overh® 4 bore testimony to the the people. All along the> parade was cheered and app * the occasion being one to ai°--Wellingtonians from their ie . dourness. As soon as the last of the P had passed from Lambton Q® wards the heart of the city> J thousands of people who ha the beginning of the marc ~M grounds of Parliament Bui *| .. the streets and building streamed across to Waterloo be in readiness for the , U jj I soldiers to the Railway a had not long to wait, for ! sion was so long that i s l turned north along J ,> very few minutes after had entered Lambton j The men marchedl - platforms, where three were waiting to convey camp. The entraining - out quickly and withe" j but a final example of. th #s efficient organisation tn .nt throughout the w •

The splendid bearing of the men on the march was the subject of favourable comment on all sides, particularly by old soldiers, many of whom preferred watching from a vantage point to parading with the returned men.

In the wake of the parade surged an admiring crowd of people, and after them came the traffic jams. Willis Street at one time was filled'bn its eastern side with a line of trams and motor vehicles which extended from Manners Street and down Lambton Quay to Hunter Street.