Part 4 of 4
Continuation of a radio talk by New Zealand Rhodes Scholar Geoffrey Cox [Military Service no. 969 ], who went to England in 1932 to study at Oxford and then became a foreign correspondent for the News Chronicle and the Daily Express. He enlisted with a New Zealand infantry battalion and is now 2nd Lieutenant with his unit in the Middle East. [Cox was an intelligence officer with the 2NZEF and received an MBE for his war work. After the war he returned to journalism, becoming founding news editor of the television network ITN and was later knighted in 1966 and made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2000.]
He continues his description of travelling from Britain to the Middle East as part of a great troopship convoy. They landed at a port in the Middle East and travelled by train to 2NZEF Base Camp [Maadi]. They were welcomed by a New Zealand band, and with their arrival, the 2NZEF became a united force once again.
This item is part of a collection of recordings made by the Mobile Broadcasting Units, which travelled overseas with New Zealand forces between 1940-1945. They recorded New Zealanders' experiences of war and messages to their families and friends, which were sent back home to be played on a weekly radio programme.