ETERANS OF GREAT WAR

Camp News (Northern Command), Volume 1, Issue 10, 5 July 1940, Page 3

ETERANS OF GREAT WAR

g Still Doing Their Bit IuARD DUTY AT VITAL | POINTS Si;' ~~ . kite " guarding of vital points in and J .Hid .Wellington has been entrusted Me war began mainly to returned ( ftiJierS'—men who proved themselves he great conflict of 1914-18. . Fightin some of the most! stirring enof those years, they are now e aged in tire quiet and almost monoSus job of guard duty. u h. is important work, nonetheless, discipline instilled into them in the Mat War has not left them, and t /es them in good stead as they go Hint their present war job with none "-the excitement or allure of the ring "adventures of 25 years ago. SRffsre is not one who is not keen to be he fray abroad again, but age and Tdical standards bar the way. So it hey do the best they can to serve biome. that other younger men may ,be held back from overseas. Many hem served before this war in class —>f the National Military Reserve. "OJhe ribbons of these men tell then •y of valour in the Empire’s pre- ' .is Lime of trial. There are ribbons IVEhe decorations of the Distinguished vrtduct Medal, Military Medal, n nch and Belgian- awards, and ser- • medals among them. All arms of ’’CO. service are represented, and many U meats famous in military history: 1. Ida ml Light Infantry, 29 th Diviall units of the Ist N.Z.E.F. and jy Ist Australian Infantry Force, ratify regiments, tank corps, and ewish regulars who were with the Contemptibleis. There are exTe al and Air Force men, among the ■Jsner some, who served in the Dover irol. and one man who was in the jrugge raid on St. George’s Day. ’. Taken all round, they have 3*«ed in most parts of the Empire: jfia, Palestine, Egypt, and also at Mipoli, in France, and the othei yafres of war. 1 Called Out At Start. 'he;, were called out right at the rt of the war, and were at their ;ts within a few hours. And there . v have remained: There are none E'the tine social rooms and other mi ties of the mobilization camps; . fact, some of the conditions have a y|ch of the rigour of active service, •ah.none of the compensations of adA'ture. Some of the posts are partiMirly lonely, but the guards “carry j, uncomplainingly. A number of, ffij gave up good civilian posts to We, and all. exchanged , the amenities civilian and home life for what is - ios: dreary work?" Serving as prices; are men who rose to senior nonimissioned rank in the Great War. ; posts being widely scattered, there ftj not the same .opportunities for tiering with other soldiers as exist he camps, but the men, separated as. ;y’y are by distance and circumstance,, together in the comradeship of a who have proved themselves in r. is commanding officer the guards re Captain G. F. Vamye, of the Ist yiterimry Battalion, who left New aland with the Main Body of the. , i.E.F. in the Great War. Though guards are to a large extent forUften hr the general public, they have an officer a man who takes a pride ; 1 practical interest in them, and ■y are keen to acknowledge their ap‘ciation.