FINE PARADE

Camp News (Northern Command), Volume 1, Issue 1, 3 May 1940, Page 7

FINE PARADE

Second Echelon Men’s Grand Bearing CHEERING STREET CROWDS For the second time this year the city of Auckland turned out in force on Saturday to pay tribute to troops who are destined to serve overseas with the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. They were members of the Second Echelon, who, for several months . past have been in training in the Papakura and Ngaruawahia mobilisation camps. And a splendid sight ' they made as, led by military and pipe bands playing martial music, they marched through the city. Their bearing was excellent, and the hearts of onlookers beat faster at the sight of the second generation of Anzacs. Auckland showed that she was proud of her soldier sons, who are prepared to sacrifice their all in the cause of freedom and justice, and, although the skies were leaden they were not in harmony with the wramth of the citizen’s reception. This was tinged with regret at the need which made soldiers of civilians, but the hearty cheering demonstrated in a striking manner the gratitude of the neople for the ready response made to the call to serve King and country. A Triumphal March The parade was more in the nature of a triumphal march than a mere display of so many men in uniform.

The absence of sunshine robbed the parade of much of its glitter — the flashing of well-polished bayonets in particular:but the officers and men made a grand showing as they marched with heads erect and shoulders back to the Domain, and later through the streets of the city. : There was warmth in every cheer given along the route, but the reception reached its crescendo in the Domain. Here all vantage points were occupied, and, during the brief ceremony in which messages of good .cheer and good luck were conveyed to the men, the crowd showered its goodwill upon the troops in a manner which has rarely been equalled. The cheers called for by members of the National Military Reserve and returned soldiers who had assembled in a body were responded to with the wholeheartedness for which Auckland is renowned. It was a demonstration aptly tuned to the occasion. Taking part in the parade were 2600 troops who had been brought from Papakura and Ngaruawahia camps in three special trains as well as some 150 officers and ratings from the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, who have been mobilised recently.