U-series. A soldier's 200 mile desert walk. Part 1

Rights Information
Year
1941
Reference
12068
Media type
Audio
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Rights Information
Year
1941
Reference
12068
Media type
Audio
Series
U series
Duration
00:03:52
Credits
RNZ Collection
Moore, Ronald Joseph

New Zealand Broadcasting Unit commentator Doug Laurenson [Military Service no. 34957] introduces a talk by a young New Zealand soldier, nicknamed "Skin", who is from Taihape. [He could not be named at the time of the recording due to military censorship, but he is Ronald Joseph Moore, DCM military service number 1248.]

A member of the Long Range Desert Group, Skin was reported 'missing believed killed', then posted 'missing, believed to be a prisoner of war'. Next of kin were notified that he had been wounded and was recovering in a Free French Hospital.

Wounded in the foot, he had in fact walked 200 miles over the desert with only a gallon and a half of water between himself and his three companions and no food at all. His escape journey lasted ten days.

"Skin" tells his own story starting the on the day the LRDG patrol he was with left the French post at Faya on January 27, 1941, travelling through to Bishara, where they encountered first an Italian aeroplane and then a ground patrol at Gebel Sherif. They came under fire, which killed one New Zealander [Corporal Francis Rex Beech, 1093] and destroyed three patrol trucks.

Three planes continued to machine gun and bomb them as they made their escape.

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.