Spotlight on the 67th

Flak, Volume 1, Issue 4, 30 April 1943, Page 7

Spotlight on the 67th

For once in their lives, members of the 67th Searchlight Battery find themselves in someone else’s spotlight for a change. The' sudden glare of publicity has caught us unawares, but we will do our best. However, for the next issue we are expecting some real literary gems. A visit to the Edit of FLAK took us recently to the Headquarters of the 2nd Lt. AA . Regiment for the first time. After travelling through dense jungle for so long . that we began to wonder if we were in New Guinea it suddenly loomed into view. ’ Frankly, we were not impressed. Having inspected all the A.A. Headquarters around Auckland, we are convinced that ours is the best and that the choice of this site was a stroke of military genius on the part of the Battery commander. , ' 7

Right on the beach with a pub on the opposite corner and the picture theatre within a stone’s throw, it is the ideal location. Of course, .in the winter the beach loses its attraction, but the pub and the pictures are popular- all the year round. For security reasons, the pub is known as “C Troop HQ!” In this topsy-turvy, fast-changing world where searchlight stations can. disappear over night, it is to be hoped that Battery HQ. will 'not be. moved. " A few silent tears were, shed recently when the oldest searchlight post around Auckland was handed ever to the 66th Battery and became a Bofors position. This site was occupied in Septem- ' ber, 1939, and was one of the most popular with the men. ’ ■> At the beginning of the war . the accommodation consisted' of tents pitched on a muddy section. When these were flooded, in the first month of the war, two local residents, Mr. and Mrs. Les Smith came to the aid of the boys and have been looked on as members of the Battery to this day. It was” with regret that we said farewell to them and to “the gunners’ happy seaside home.” ? SNAPSHOTS

Who was the picquet who remarked to a certain officer as he returned to camp at 0425 hours, “Five minutes early this morning, sir”? Perhaps it was the one who stamped into another officer’s hut in the cold grey light of dawn and asked what the letters N.F.D. stood for on Battery Orders. On being told that they meant “Next For Duty,’ he merely remarked, Oh, then, it isn’t you,” and sloped off, before the officer could re-

cover sufficiently to tear him into shreds for ..interrupting his slumbers. Opening the Herald recently we discovered we were NEWS. Of course we owe it all to the Waacs. Judging by the noise coming from a passing U.S. Army truck the other day, the Yanks have also “discovered” our Waacs. . - Who was the Waac who typed Battery Orders and put a certain officer down as Orderly Officer and also as Orderly SERGEANT? In the immortal words of Cyril Fletcher, “Dreamin’ of thee, always dreamin’ of thee I be!” Thought for Easter by two of our officers: We don’t give a jacht as we lie in our yacht, drinking lachts and lachts of tachts! Wacht racht! - Who was the. bombardier, who, when making a report upon the Canteen, wrote: “It appears that there has been no attempt made to exploit the proletariat”? Yes, you guessed it . . . the wily Russian. Theatre Advt.: “Sergeant York.” “The Man Who Wouldn’t Talk.” Just shows the value of these security lectures. ‘