Third Echelon Parades

Camp News (Northern Command), Volume 1, Issue 17, 23 August 1940, Page 5

T hird Echelon Parades

ickland’s Impressive Tribute ' SPLENDID BODY OF MEN ii ■ . • — - , .

v. „ - • ■ . With the swift passage of the months New Zealand’s Second editionary Force is taking shape. On Saturday, under blue Ib and in bright sunshine Auckland saw a parade of Third don troops who, as recently as May 15, marched into Papa- . and Ngaruawahia camps as untrained men. , .

I-"-’' . Businesslike in Battle Dress see all batteries and battalions {uniformed in battle dress the e was strikingly different from of the First and Second Echewhen all save the Forestry Batwere attired in old-time service ,Battle dress gives an entirely appearance to a large body of It somehow makes them apmore businesslike and purposeThey look like fighting men. st middle-aged people who saw ,arade must have regrett ed that amous peaked hat of the New nd Division is not a proper part ,ttle dress. The jaunty service *> smart, but for New Zealanders ks the distinctive appearance of t our troops were so proud in ist war. What a wealth of trai is bound up with the old peaked 1 Old Diggers especially must rent's virtual passing. Nowadays, l, ms, the famous hat, still part h general “issue,” is worn only JI graining denims. A sad degrad!Cfor a hat which everywhere adfr’id the presence of this Dominough fighting forces in 1914-18. \rtillery, Engineers, Infantry parade was under the com11' of Lieutenant-Colonel C. E. j]j R.N.Z.A., officer-commanding ;.xth Field Regiment, and he was fi led by Captain H. E. Gilbert, !l

R.N.Z.A. Units assembled were the i i Sixth Field Regiment, New Zealand ; Artillery, the 33rd Battery of the i Seventh Anti-Tank Regiment, the Ar- - tillery Training Regiment, the 13th - Railway Construction Company of the i New Zealand Engineers, the 16th and r 17th Railway Operating Companies of f the New Zealand Engineers, the 24th - (Auckland) Rifle Battalion, and the - Frst Infantry Training Regiment. Prior to the addresses by military, z civic and State dignitaries, all units t were paraded in mass formation, z stretching the full length of the Dot main oval. Bayonets were fixed by the ? engineer and infantry units, and offi--5 cers, almost indistinguishable in bat--11 tie dress, took post in review order, i As the official party moved to the - dais, in front of the grandstand, all 1 ranks came to attention. The officer - commanding the district Colonel N. , W. McD. Weir, was received with a : general salute. i To the crowds of people massed on - the banks about the oval the drill - movements of the troops were impres- - sively smart. Applause marked each . movement. As the engineer and infantry units came to “the present,” - and afterwards sloped arms, the sim- . ultaneous smacking of many hands ; on buts and stocks sounded like the 5 splashing of water in a mechanically- , operated fountain. The precision was

admirable. Following the speeches there was a final general salute before the troops marched off. Especially striking on the march out of the Domain were the reinforcement units for the Maori Battalion now in England. Lieutenant-Colonel C. Shuttleworth’s 24th Auckland Battalion also won much admiration by their marching, bearing evidence of much skilful training and hard practice. It is a most efficient unit, of which Auckland can be proud. On the line of march most civilians were puzzled by the unit designation tags, but to those who could read them they were as. revealing as the pugaree colours of old. ,