Two Kinds Of Frenchmen
p. 43 · Read in the full issue
From Our Own Correspondent
Noumea, Nov. 22.
WRITING to Noumea from Syria, the Rev. Pere Podevigne, Catholic padre with the Free French Pacific Expe ditionary Force—which he left the Solo mons specially to join—speaks of the surprise of young wounded Frenchmen, whom they had come across, to find that the French flag was still flying in the Pacific. These men recounted the manner in which they had been misled by their Vichy officers.
“The older men, on the contrary, were happy to see us arrive,” the letter con tinues. “They had heard of us, long ago, and had begun to believe we should never come. Their welcome was brotherly and comforting.
“In them, it is pleasant to meet French men of the kind to whom I have been accustomed, and not conquered people who accept defeat almost with satisfaction.”
The letter speaks of the excellent morale of the Pacific troops and their anxiety to play their part.
Mr. G. L. Ditchburn, who has been mill superintendent and metallurgist with Emperor Gold Mines Ltd., at Tavua, Fiji, returned to Australia in November, with his wife and daughter.