Base Wallahs: Story of the units of the base organisation, NZEF IP

Front Cover

Spine

Back Cover

Title Page

This map indicates the tactical position in the Pacific in August 1942 when the Allied counter offensive was beginning. Principal bases and Shipping and air lines are shown by black triangles and the long arrows. Enemy bases are represented by white triangles. The darker mass indicates the extreme depth of Japanese penetration in the Pacific. In August 1942 the Third Division was returning from fiji for reorganization.

3 Base Wallahs

Brigadier W. W. Dove, CBE, MC, officer in charge of administration and base commandant, NZEF IP, whose headquarters were at Bourail, in New Caledonia. He was one of the New Zealand officers honoured by the United States Government with the Legion of Merit

Base Wallahs Story of the unit of theBase Organisation, NZEF IP Published by A. H, and A. W. Reedforthe third Division Histories Committee

Acknowledgments

This is one of a series of thirteen unofficial narratives detailing the activities of units of the Third New Zealand Division and its base organisation during their service in the Pacific theatre of war from 1940, when the original 8th Brigade Group was despatched to Fiji, until 1944, when the division was disbanded. Between those two dates the brigade group was expanded to become a division, which came under command of American forces and with them took part in the Solomons campaign.

At the conclusion of active operations in the Pacific, unit historical committees were appointed to select editors and arrange for the compilation and collection of all material, photographs and drawings. Final decisions and arrangements for printing and distribution were vested in a Divisional Histories Committee and its editor. All the work associated with the writing and publication of these narratives has been done by officers, NCOs and men of the units and has been performed anonymously.

Acknowledgment is made for the use of unit war diaries and, narratives, to which the writers were given access by the archives section of Army Headquarters. Photographs were collected from private and official sources, both New Zealand and American, and the drawings and paintings of two official war artists who went into the Pacific have also been used.

The copyright is held by the trustees of the Third Division.

This Book is Dedicated to

Those of Our Comrades of

The Second New Zealand

Expeditionary Force Who

Take Their Final Rest on

Pacific Islands

Set up. Printed and Bound in New Zealand by

Coulls Somerville Wilkie Ltd. Dunedin - 1946

Foreword By Brigadier W. W. Dove, CBE, MC

Base Wallahs is an attempt to give those interested in the Third New Zealand Division some idea of the work done by the men who were selected to remain at base. Its chapters each represent the life story of one unit, and since they have had to be limited to an average of 2,000 words each, are entirely inadequate.

To the contributors, whom we were forced to ask to write the history of their units in the space taken up by an average letter, we offer our apologies. It was obviously impossible in such a meagre quota to do more than give a faint impression of the work their unit did. The colossal quantities of stores and equipment handled, the acres of buildings erected, the almost astronomical figures in road mileages covered—all such statistical data has received little more than passing mention.

It is felt, however, that the interested reader will realise that behind each sketchy narrative lies evidence of a story of consistent and monotonous work, unrelieved by the excitement of action, and almost unrecognised except by those who, by virtue of their associations and appointments could appreciate the magnitude of the task with which the base was charged. In this regard I was especially privileged. These units were my responsibility. I saw them at work daily, listened to their grumbles, and joined in their revels. More than any other person in the force I was in the position to appreciate the difficulties surmounted and the conditions under which they lived.

They were good soldiers, possessed the team spirit at times almost to excess, and evinced always an inordinate capacity for hard work. It was this last characteristic which was, I think, mainly responsible for the splendid record of achievements set up by the base units. They have reason to be proud, as I am, of the job of work they did.

Contents

Chapter Page One—Advanced Party 9 Two—Hq, Nzef Ip 13 Three—Base Reception Depot 20 Four—Records Section 27 Five—Pay Corps 33 Six—Graves Registration and Stationery 43 Seven—The Nzef Ip Band 49 Eight—Base Training Depot 54 Nine—Artillery Training Depot 60 Ten—15th Brigade Headquarters 67 Eleven—the Scots 70 Twelve—the Ruahine 79 Thirteen—Medical Units I —4th Motor Ambulance Convoy 87 II —Base Camp Reception Hospital 90 III —4th NZ General Hospital 95 IV —2nd NZ Convalescent Depot and Kalavere Hospital 105 Fourteen—Dental Services I —Fiji 113 II —New Caledonia and the Solomons 115 Fifteen—Army Education and Welfare Service 123 Sixteen—Public Relations 137 Seventeen—Kiwi Company Nz Waac 142 I —4th NZ General Hospital Detachment 143 II —Btd Detachment 145 III —2nd NZ Convalescent Depot and Kalavere Hospital 146 IV —Kiwi Club Detachment 149 Eighteen—National Patriotic Fund Board 152 I —Early Days in Fiji, Tonga, and Nox'folk Island 154 II —The YMCA in New Caledonia 155 III —New Caledonia, May 1943 to August 1943 157 IV —Nat Pat with the Division in the Combat Zone 161 V —Activities in New Caledonia 167 VI —New Caledonia, May 1944 to September 1944 170 Nineteen—29th Mt Company 174 Twenty—Field Bakery 185 Twenty-One—Works Services Units 188 Twenty-Two—Base Ordnance I —Pacific Outpost 198 II —Equipping the Division for Battle 203 Twenty-Three—Noumea Units 210 Twenty-Four—Base Signals 213 Twenty-Five—Canteen History, 3rd Nz Division 219 Twenty-Six—Field Maintenance Centre 223 Twenty-Seven—Postal Unit 227 Twenty-Eight—Censor 238 Twenty-Nine—Movement Control 243 Thirty—Force Rear Party 251 Thirty-One—Mangere Camp 254

Chapter OneAdvanced Party

In those critical days of the spring of 1942 there was a concentration of troops in the Waikato. These troops were the men of the Third NZ Division who were to be sent to the islands north of New Zealand to assist in denying the enemy further progress in his drive south. In command was Major-General H. E. Barrowclough, CB, DSO, MC, recently returned from the Middle East. The general had embarked the division upon a vigorous set of manoeuvres in the difficult back country of the Kaimai Ranges, and it was while these manoeuvres were in progress that the advanced party of the division was assembled in readiness for an early move. It was on 28 October 1942 that the party, comprising 140 all ranks, embarked on an American transport. This marked the beginning for most of us of an association with our powerful ally, upon whom we were destined to become dependent for nearly all our means of existence, and to whose command we were to be committed. Travelling on the same transport were units of the US Marine Corps, en route to Guadalcanal.

'Whither bound?' had been the dominant thought in our minds ever since we had been assembled together and it was not until the second day at sea that we officially learnt that our destination was New Caledonia. We were informed that the party had been designed to make members familiar with the location of US Forces units, dumps, installations and defences generally and to contact corresponding branches of the US units. The island of New Caledonia is an important point on the air and shipping routes between Australia and North America and lies at the south western approach of the numerous islands which extend north eastward to Hawaii. Enemy occupation of New Caledonia would have closed the most practicable line of communication between Australia and North America.

The role of the division was to take over the northern half of the island and the members of the advanced party were to be accommodated in American camps whilst they made reconnaissances of the area and selected camp sites for all the units of the division. On the morning of 2 November we sailed into the blue lagoon inside the coral reef that surrounds New Caledonia and dropped anchor in the beautiful harbour of Nouméa. There, all around us, were scores of warships of the American fleet; Nouméa itself was nestling under the protection of barrage balloons.

We had a very cordial reception at the US Camp Barnes, just outside the town area of Noumea where we were quartered for the first night. During the next few weeks we met many officers and men of the US forces and we were all very much impressed with the welcome they gave us, at their readiness to help in every way and by their friendliness towards us. We found that we had many ideas in common, including a real desire to get things done the quickest way possible.

Comprised as it was of representatives from all units, the advanced party split up into various groups and each group set about its task of preparing for the arrival of the main body and to the needs of their own branch of the service. Some of these groups became dependent upon their own resources, and as they had no equipment of any description of their own, initiative and ability to improvise became valuable and necessary. One such group established itself in the local town hall and managed to get its own cookhouse functioning. Having no transport it snared passing American vehicles and enveigled the drivers into cooperating for an hour or two. The fame of the town hall soon spread and it became a favourite stopping place and half-way house. Most of the other groups, however, were more fortunate, in that they were quartered with the American forces who were extremely hospitable to all members of the advanced party. Reconnaissance trips were organised by the various branches of the US Army and all information, maps, etc., were made available to the Third NZ Division.

The senior representatives of each branch of the service in the advanced party were required to make out a comprehensive report on conditions existing in New Caledonia, and from these reports Army HQ would obtain guidance as to the requirements necessary for each branch of the service to function efficiently. The publication of these reports would undoubtedly convey a better idea of the work done by the advanced party, and perhaps this may be possible when the official history of the division is written.

Gradually, in spite of mosquitoes, of dysentery and of the new-fangled food the immediate necessities—water points, supply dumps and petrol points began to appear. In the early stages the distribution of pay and mail presented great difficulty as members of the party were scattered over the whole island.

Some artillery units of a US division had been equipped in Australia with British equipment. Prior to moving out of New Caledonia their own equipment came to hand and under instructions from the American island commander a portion of the British equipment was handed over to the New Zealand division, including some 25-pounder guns. Personnel of the field artillery took over control of the Moindou-Bourail Pass from US artillery on 15 November and had a bad time owing to the prevalence of mosquitoes. Some troops were so badly bitten that they had to be relieved of the duty. Other personnel of the artillery proceeded to Népoui about this time and spent some time there unloading ships. By the middle of November the main bodies of coast and anti-aircraft artillery had arrived. They immediately took up operational roles.

On 24 November all officers of the advanced party attended a conference at the temporary headquarters of the division at Nemeara, when Lieutenant-Colonel J. I. Brooke summarised Major-General Barrowclough's appreciation for the defence of New Caledonia allocated to the Third Division. The officers were then divided into three groups for the reconnaissance of brigade areas. By 1 December a few service units had arrived and were busily engaged unloading ships and transporting supplies. One amusing incident was the arrival of the field butchery. This unit had arrived complete with its equipment and was all prepared for action when it was discovered that there was nothing to 'butch.' This proved an excellent opportunity to demonstrate how versatile men can be once they are in the army. The situa-tionsituation was dealt with in a flash. There was a great shortage of bakers because the New Zealand bakery unit had been diverted to the New Hebrides to help the US forces, who had lost their bakery equipment when the President Coolidge was lost, so over night half of the butchers were turned into bakers. The remainder of the unit was transformed into market gardeners, the policy evidently being that if the country could not supply fresh meat it could at least produce fresh vegetables.

One of the main considerations had been to ensure that ten days supply of rations were delivered to each camp site before the units arrived, and when the main body of the division arrived on 1 January 1943 units found everything ready for them to settle in.

Chapter TwoHQ, NZEF IP

Base Headquarters, Third NZ Division came into being in August 1942 when Colonel (later Brigadier) W. W. Dove, CBE, MC, was appointed Commander 3 Div Base, with an office in Maritime Buildings, Quay Street, Auckland, and a staff of two other ranks. The formation of a base headquarters became necessary consequent upon the decision to build up the Third Division, which had returned from service in Fiji, to the strength of a three brigade division, with its attendant base organisation. Early in September 1942 Headquarters 3 NZ Division Base moved to Papakura Military Camp where the nucleus of the base units that had been in Fiji were located. At Papakura, Captain (later Major) G. W. Foote and Lieutenant (later Captain) H. N. Johnson were appointed DAG 2 echelon and staff captain respectively. The office staff was increased by six other ranks. Base Headquarters was responsible for the formation of the various base units and for the reception and posting to units of the numerous reinforcements which were arriving continuously.

When the division moved to the Waikato District, Base Headquarters and the various base units moved to Rugby Park, Hamilton, having an office located in the drill hall. The camp at Rugby Park was under the command of Captain (later Major) A. R. Stowell, of Base Reception Depot, and early in the piece he was inconsiderate enough to institute a morning parade with an inspection of arms. Base Headquarters personnel, normally the 'untouchables' had perforce to attend. They managed to get their rifles to the port arms position, but in some instances by rather unorthodox movements. However, after a month or so a modicum of uniformity was attained Another necessary evil was the daily march to the drill hall, a distance of about one and a half miles.

About the middle of October 1942 Brigadier Dove proceeded to New Caledonia on a preliminary reconnaissance of our future area of service. Upon his return the division was ordered to move overseas to New Caledonia, the advanced party, consisting of personnel of divisional and base units sailing from Wellington on 29 October 1942. The GOC, accompanied by the base commandant, heads of services, the GSO 1 and the AAQMG, proceeded to New Caledonia by air on 7 November 1942. On 11 November two members of base headquarters' staff disembarked at Nouméa from the Maui. Temporary accommodation for the office of base headquarters was made available by the US authorities in the Hotel du Grand Pacifique. Later in the month, with the arrival of further personnel, the headquarters moved to premises in the Rue d'Alma, Nouméa. Shortly after his arrival in New Caledonia Brigadier Dove was appointed officer in charge of administration, NZEF IP, and carried out those duties in addition to his existing appointment of Base Commandant 3 NZ Division.

The first base personnel to arrive lived in two French houses, and were able to make themselves reasonably comfortable. One Saturday night the other ranks had a small celebration as a result of which they slept in the following morning. Unfortunately the absence of the duty personnel from their posts was noted by higher authority on an unannounced visit to the office. He immediately proceeded to the houses where all were sleeping peacefully. The scene changed at once. There was feverish activity and the vacant chairs in the office were filled in record time.

On 31 December 1942 the West Point, with the main body of the division aboard, arrived at Nouméa, and anchored in the stream for the night. Certain unlucky base headquarters personnel spent New Year's Eve aboard ship under blackout conditions, with Nouméa a blaze of lights. In mid-January 1943 base reception depot moved to the site later known as Nouméa transit camp, and base headquarters personnel had to give up the comforts of-a house and move into tents erected on the side of a hill.

By January 1943 the various units of the division were established in the northern half of the island. In December 1942 Major H. F. Allan, a recent addition to base headquarters staff, went to Bourail and secured a vacant French dwelling for a base headquarters office in that 'metropolis.' Major Allan's stay with us was short and, on his transfer to divisional headquarters in January 1943, Major D. E. Trevarthen took over in Bourail. At this time the office staff consisted of two other ranks who were accommodated in base signals camp (later Bourail camp). The main body of base headquarters remained in Nouméa under Brigadier Dove. As from 1 February 1943 the main office of base headquarters was located in Bourail, a small detachment being left in Nouméa under Captain H. N. Johnson for liaison purposes with the US forces.

The increase in staff at Bourail made it necessary to secure larger premises, and after negotiations with the French authorities, the two-storied premises of Ballandes, in the centre of Bourail, were made available to us. The ground floor of the building was used as an office for base headquarters and DAG 2 echelon, and the top floor converted into a mess and sleeping quarters for the officers. Most of our personnel lived at the back of the premises and the remainder in Bourail camp. Tents were erected at the back of the building, and use was made of the upstairs portion of a narrow two-storied building that had rather obviously been the living quarters of the Javanese employees of Ballandes, At first we had a makeshift cookhouse in a tin shed, but before long an old bakehouse at the back was converted into a cookhouse. A mess room was erected, and it represented a vast improvement on the tin shed we had hitherto used. From time to time efforts were made to have the floor of the mess room concreted, but for one reason or another the engineers never got round to this particular job. Later on the tents were replaced by four-men huts so that we all had a roof over our heads.

The establishment for the various base units had never been very satisfactory. The headquarters in this story referred to as 'Base Headquarters' had carried out the functions of HQ NZEF IP and Base Headquarters NZEF IP. In April 1943 new or amended establishments for most of the base units were issued. During this month HQ NZEF IP and Base Headquarters became separate entities, with different staffs, and their respective functions and duties were defined. Both headquarters were located in the same building, and Brigadier Dove continued to hold the two appointments of officer in charge of administration and base commandant. The establishments provided for a staff of six officers and 25 other ranks for HQ NZEF IP, and two officers and ten other ranks for Base Headquarters, and the necessary personnel to bring each headquarters up to full strength were marched in.

In army parlance 'flaps' were not uncommon in HQ NZEF IP. The first of these was usually at 8 am when 'Signals' handed in a flock of messages received during the night from New Zea-land. These had to be dealt with in time to catch the 9 am couriers, and the two typists would be 'flat out.' One in particular was in the first flight for an army typist, but was, quite often expected to do the impossible, such as to run off some ten copies of a two page signal in something better than five minutes. This particular person had a rather volatile temperament which, on such occasions, was not improved by 'proddings' by five or six staff officers. Another cause for complaint by the typists was the rule that signals received up till 9 pm each evening had to be dealt with immediately. When the duty clerk was one of those wise men who had never familiarised himself with the mysteries of a type-writer, it meant dragging a typist down from his comfortable bed-cot to do such typing as was necessary. The non-typist, when this happened, was usually, and perhaps justifiably, unpopular with his confrere.

Our main entertainment, apart from what we organised for ourselves, was the bi-weekly picture show in the village square. Our cookhouse wall, kept a snow white colour by one of the batmen, served as a screen. Being handy we were able to get a front seat.

At first we were dependent on Coleman kerosene lamps or candles for lighting, but later on a generator was installed, and the building wired. Those living at the back acquired wire, fittings, and globes from somewhere, and were soon enjoying the boon of decent light. In fact, some went to the extent of having a light alongside their beds for reading, as well as one from the roof. Our camp commandant, also known as the 'staff learner,' was a handy man, and many of the amenities round, the camp were the result of his ingenuity. He fiddled for days with tin drums, lengths of pipe, and an army petrol cooker. The final result was a hot shower and, what is more to the point, it worked. It was thrown open to the other ranks twice a week and was much appreciated by all While on the subject of our camp commandant, it might be mentioned that he had a nasty habit of

Officers of headquarters mess at Bourail. Front row: Brigadier J. W. Twhigg, DSO (DDMS), Brigadier W. W. Dove, CBE, MC (OICA), Major W. G. Hammond (AAQMG). Rear row: Lieutenant-Colonel O. E. L. Rout (ADDS), Major R. A. Young (PRO), Major G. W. Foots (DAG 2 Ech), Lieutenant A. G. Massey, and Captain M. A. Pattisun (DAQMG). Below is a view of the building which housed headquarters NZEF IP. Usually referred to as 'The Oicarage'

The signpost at the Téné Valley turn-off is seen above. Below is a view of Base Reception Depot showing the orderly room with the bure of the officers' moss in the background among the niaoulis inspecting living quarters and rifles on the days when they had not received the attention due to them.

One of our corporals had great difficulty in getting up and often missed his breakfast if the cooks were not in the best of humours. One celebrated morning when he was running par-ticularly late, he had the misfortune, preparatory to his usual wash, to turn on a tap which cut off the shower under which a senior officer was soaping himself. The officer concerned was annoyed, and rightly so, and the upshot was that the corporal was ordered to shift himself and his belongings to Bourail camp. This would have meant 'roughing' it in tents, washing in a muddy trickle, and such inconveniences. However, later in the day the corporal was forgiven and the movement order cancelled, but with stern threats as to what would happen if there was a repeti-tion. This particular corporal was very friendly with a local family, mother and two daughters, who lived across the road from our camp. For months he had no competition at all, and outside office hours we saw very little of him. Towards the end of our stay it was noticed that he was spending quite a few even-ings with the rest of us, and was not 'squiring' mother and one or both daughters to the pictures. The reason was that two of our staff officers had gained the entree to this household, and the girls apparently preferred their company to that of the corporal.

Another staff officer formed the habit of taking a stroll up to the premises of the commercant on the corner across from the YMCA for morning and afternoon tea. This household also in-cluded, strangely enough, two rather attractive daughters. It was common knowledge among the rest of us that this officer, accom-panied by another, used to spend quite a few evenings at this household in the latter stages of our stay. The monotony of the existence of the remaining officers was occasionally relieved by noisier if less dangerous pastimes. There were whispers which reached us of a 'social evening' when an 'A' officer ascended a flagpole suspended to the halyards head downwards. The padre on that occasion was evidently the stronger in physique as well as in spirit. The practical joke epidemic reached serious pro-portions when the 'A' versus 'Q' feud was at its height. There were collapsing beds, libellous caricatures, lockouts and vanishing mosquito nets. There was the surf team rescue of a high ranking officer from a two feet depth of broken water, the slipper race on the Bourail stream, the sawdust which tasted like 'bemax,' the major who shot holes In the colonel's hat, the dentist who tried to swim a jeep to Australia and later valued his, watch higher than Javanese virtue. There was the fate of the provost corporal who took temporary command of earth moving equipment, and 'moved earth' in the main road; and the hair-raising nightmare trips back from the 'hill-billy' hospitality; the tent from which every article of furniture and clothing vanished; the bogus shipping signals which resulted in near heart failure of the 'Q' officer responsible for transport. These were the highlights of the efforts of 'officers and gentlemen' to break the monotony of the two year sojourn.

One day a kitten arrived on the premises and the cooks took pity on it and fed it. This led to it remaining with us and it soon became a firm favourite with everyone from the brigadier down-wards. It was christened 'Whiskey.' In its early days it showed a liking for taking its repose in the various 'Inwards,' 'Outwards,' 'Pending' and 'For attention' trays that adorned the tables of our officers. It preferred the 'Inwards' and 'Outwards1 com partments as there was more room there. If any officer left his cap about upside down he could rely on finding 'Whiskey' asleep in it before long. 'Whiskey' had no respect for rank and on one celebrated occasion rather startled a United States general by jumping up on to his knees during an official call.

It has been mentioned before that part of our personnel lived at Bourail camp. This camp came under command of Major Stowell who at first insisted on a morning parade and inarch down to toil for the office staffs. However, wiser counsels prevailed, and walking down independently was the order of the day. In the late summer dengue fever was rife in Bourail, and as a precaution longs with gaiters and sleeves rolled down was the pre scribed dress. Two corporals who worked in the building decided they were immune from dengue, and that longs were much too uncomfortable in the hot weather. They were strolling down one morning in shorts with sleeves rolled up. Unfortunately they were seen from the officers' mess. They were taken to task over their dress and sent back to camp to dress in conformity with orders. Next day Bourail camp personnel had to resume the morning parade and roll call and march down to their labours. Needless to say the two 'outlaws' were not popular with their fellows. During the hottest weeks of the year, however, those in authority relented, and the marching was cancelled.

In June 1944 all ranks were advised of the scheme for leave to New Zealand which had been authorised by Army Headquar-ters. Those with the longest service considered themselves practi-cally home and there was many an argument as to how long it would be before everyone in the division would have had a period of leave. The first draft from base left early in July and was shortly followed by a second lot. Replacements were obtained and there were new faces round the camp. Then on 1 August 1944 the order was promulgated to the effect that it had been decided to return the division to New Zealand. To say such an order was well received is putting it very mildly. Being 'base wallahs' we knew that some of us would be there to the bitter end. Each of us had his own ideas as to why he should not be in the last lot. In the upshot some of us were lucky to get away in September.

On 1 September HQ NZEFIP closed down in Bourail and moved to Nouméa. Just prior to this, numerous local citizens were invited along to a cocktail party which was a howling success. The people of Bourail seemed genuinely sorry to see us 'fold our tents' and depart, and while we were elated at being a step nearer home, we had to admit there were worse places than Bourail— but not many.

There was not a great deal of work to be done in Nouméa and we were able to spend our accumulated dollars buying this and that to take home. The fact that a customs declaration was to be completed on ship was, however, a discouraging factor. The Talamanca arrived in Nouméa on 11 October 1944, and those of us whom duty kept till the bitter end finally sailed for New Zealand on the following day.

Chapter ThreeBase Reception Depot

Even now when the Third NZ Division, as such, is but a memory, doubt exists in the minds of many as to just what the functions of a base reception depot really are. This is all the more remarkable when one considers that at some stage or other during the period from September 1942 until October 1944, some 90 per cent of the actual division's strength either stayed at BRD or passed through its portals. Contrary to what appeared to be the general belief it wasn't just another opportunity of a 'cushy' job at base, nor was it intended as a refined form of torture comparable to the Spanish inquisition and devised mainly to ensure that if the soldier was fortunate enough to arrive at base without having been 'mucked about' BRD would rectify this oversight and chuckle at the prospect of another boarder for the adjacent detention barracks if the soldier took umbrage at the treatment meted out.

It is not possible in this brief chronicle to outline in detail the actual allotted tasks of BRD, but in the main they consisted of

1. Keeping an up-to-date record of, and dealing with all personnel marching in to or out of the division. 2. Dealing with all personnel evacuated beyond the unit RAP, including the posting and ultimate disposal of all those graded lower than one. 3. Supervising the weapon training of all base units other than the base and artillery training depots. 4. Under command the following raits in addition to BRD:—Bourail Camp; Nouméa Transit Camp; Base Provost Section; NZEF IP Detention Barracks; Kit Store; Base MT Pool; plus all personnel posted to units but remaining temporarily in BRD. 5. Maintaining, and responsible for the camp organisation and discipline of:—Base Records; Pay and Audit; Divisional Band; Graves Registration and Stationery; and No. 1 NZ Camp Dental Units.

The foregoing is quite an imposing list, and has not been entered as justification for any of the so-called 'incidents' that occur in every organisation big or small, or to ease the pain of any corns that may unwittingly have been trodden on by the BRD staff. It is intended, though, to draw attention to the long hours of organisation and hard work necessarily performed by each and every member of the BRD staff and to show that their jobs were no sinecure. In point of fact the secret of success in any walk of life is discipline in its many forms and, like any other soldiers, the BRD staff had to do as they were told. It was not possible, in many instances, to grant the men their wish and transfer them to combatant units. They grumbled certainly, but this is a soldier's privilege, and no tribute this humble pen may write can adequately describe the bond that existed between all ranks or the excellent job of work they performed; this in spite of the fact that the exigencies of war, ill-health and other causes were responsible for constant changes in the staff.

When the depot was re-organised in September 1942 to cope with the rapid expansion of the division, a staff of 60 was assembled at Papakura Military Camp to deal with the large numbers of territorial and other reinforcements being marched into the division from all parts of New Zealand and later, when the force moved to dispersal areas in the Waikato, the depot operated at Rugby Park in Hamilton. Shortly after moving to the Waikato the advanced guard proceeded overseas, and on 28 December 1942 the main body embarked in the West Point for New Caledonia. The original staff of 60 was then divided into three groups and formed the nucleus of BRD, Bourail, and Nouméa transit camp staffs. Many of these men had outstanding ability, but it is not proposed to individualise, suffice to say that any success obtained was due to team work.

Of the many difficulties that confronted all units on arrival in New Caledonia only passing mention will be made. The Kiwi has proved himself to be adaptable and resourceful and camps were quickly established, and determined efforts made to combat the mosquito menace. The rains of March 1943 were a definite setback, and in Téné Valley at Bourail, where Base Reception Depot was located, it rained continuously for 28 days. During this period, when the camp was completely isolated on three occasions, the only bright spot in an otherwise drab existence was the entertainment of the band, and tunes we will always associate with this period are 'The Strip Polka' and' The Jersey Bounce.'

It was in March, too, that the first group of what we at BRD nicknamed 'zombies' (walking dead or wraith-like spirits) marched into our camp, All personnel graded lower than one were our particular responsibility, until such time as they were either reposted to units or transferred to the New Zealand roll, but to recount faithfully all the humorous and not so humorous incidents associated with this regime would require another and longer article. Cases such as the forceps, swab, button, pyjama-sleeve, and forkhandle swallowing bandsman, and others, read like an article in the 'Truth is stranger than fiction' series, and at times would appear to exceed the bounds of credulity.

Shipping and transport were problems, and as a consequence up to 200 men (mostly very bitter), were congregated at our camp where a high ridge was partially cleared of niaouli trees and reserved for the 're-boards.' This feature was dubbed 'Zombie Ridge' although it was sign-posted later by some sympathetic soul with a sense of humour as 'Beverley Hills.' As an explanatory note it is desired to point out that the term 'zombie' was never intended as a personal affront or to belittle the misfortunes of our less fortunate comrades, but was mainly used as a term defining the category of a section of our 'boarders.' Many of these men were in a bad way and the state of their nerves was such that they required very tactful and sympathetic handling. The sights one witnessed and the many and varied experiences associated with the disposal of the 'zombies' have left an indelible imprint on the minds of us all, and to appreciate fully the magnitude of the task it should be remembered that a considerable proportion of the BRD staff were themselves downgraded men.

Because of the mobility of opposing factions in present day warfare, plus the stepped-up tempo of air operations, base is not always the quiet rest-home it is sometimes referred to by the men of the line. Therefore, in order to be prepared for any pos-siblepossible emergency, all members of the depot, in addition to their many other tasks, carried out all forms of infantry training, and were forced (this is the only word that really fits) to do physical training every morning, excluding Sundays, at 0615 hours. At this time more than any other, the legitimacy of the camp commandant was seriously doubted, but the imposed exertion and subsequent plunge in a nearby river had the desired effect, as was evidenced by the general good health of camp personnel. The medical history of all 'zombies' was also checked over with the medical authorities, and much to their chagrin quite a few were also detailed to attend the PT parade.

Sport, always dear to the average New Zealander, played a most important part during our sojourn overseas, and to the 'base wallah' active participation in some form of sport was of paramount importance as, apart from the eagerly awaited mail from home, it was the only antidote to counteract the boredom and monotony of his existence. Most of the base units, it must be remembered, languished unhonoured and unsung in New Caledonia for two years. To put it mildly this wasn't funny.

Our national game was, of course, the most popular pastime, and although base units were not eligible to compete for the Barrowclough Cup, we 'played in our own back-yards' for two handsome trophies, presented by the base commandant, for rugby and soccer competitions. In all due modesty it is recorded that the BRD teams, composed of course of all units resident in BRD camp, annexed the rugby cup, and tied for first place with 144 Battery for the soccer honours. No one will gainsay the fact that the standard was high, and as the depot teams were composed in the main of players in the sere and yellow class, or designated as definite 'zombies,' the wins were all the more meritorious.

Cricket, baseball, basketball, athletics and swimming all had their following, as also did the NZEF IP Surf Life-Saving Club at Bourail Beach. This movement, which was fostered and controlled by BRD, eventually mustered eight six-man teams, all well equipped, and with 31 rescues entered in their logbook they have a record of which they may justifiably feel proud.

Listed under the heading outdoor sports is the shooting of a steer and a heifer by the camp commandant. These beasts were the property of a local farmer in the Téné Valley; and as they both had broken legs it was necessary to destroy them. This sounds easy, but to those of us who know the gaunt, garrulous, be-whiskered wearer of three-quarter pants who owned the kine, and the fact that he wouldn't kill them or permit anyone else to do so until the local gendarme had taken statements, there is no mystery in the fact that it took 24 hours on each occasion, after the animal had been injured, before it was mercifully shot. Reference to this incident was made in a camp publication styled Pay Parade where, under the heading 'Camp Commandant claims his first war victims,' a request was made that anyone finding a bullet in his beef was to return same to the orderly room.

Then there were our church parades. All units have these parades, and after a time even the most hardened 'haver of something else to do' on Sunday mornings is run to earth by the sergeant-major, and resignedly takes his place in the parade. Although the spirit may not be willing the body is present and correct, and that is the main consideration. One church parade worthy of mention was the occasion of the 1943 Joan of Arc ceremony in Bourail. The good news went forth from the 'Oica-age' stating that all RCs (termed by those in the know as right-footers) in the Bourail area would represent 3 NZ Division at a ceremony to be held at the Bourail church. The great day arrived and when the troops had assembled at the cross near the 'Fromage' factory, it was found that quite a proportion of those present had even forgotten how to slope or order arms. This ranks very high in the bad moments in history, as for such an auspicious occasion nothing less than a 'present' was expected. However, a very smart run through was carried out, and as no one was impaled on a bayonet we took the risk and marched to the church to the strains of 'We are the boys from way down under' played by the band.

For the benefit of those who have not witnessed the pomp and ceremony of Joan of Arc day, it is pointed out that this anniversary is a most important one in the French calendar of important days. The local residents of the township of Bourail had congregated in force, all dressed up in their Sunday best; some of the children had been scrubbed so clean we didn't recognise them. Mass was solemnised on this occasion on the outside steps of the church, in accordance with what is evidently a time-honoured custom, and the congregation, which on this

Life-saving drill on Bourail Beach, with a group of interested spectators in the background. An exhibition rugby match in Nouméa. Although well watered these grounds were invariably as hard as flint and skin was torn from knees and elbows during each game

The staff of records grew proportionately with the increase of the 8th Brigade Group to divisional strength. Above is the staff in Fiji in 1940; below is the staff in New Caledonia, 1943

The base pay office was sited among the nianulis in Téné Valley. Below is a staff group photographed against ihe framework of a bure

This practice training net was known to the troops as HMS Niaouli. Here all combat personnel overcame the novelty of embarkation and disembarkation in a hurry. At Népoui practice landings were made as realistic as possible, with bombs bursting nearby on the beach particular day was made up of New Zealand and American soldiers, French civilians, Javanese, Tonkinese and Kanakas, endeavoured to find a shady spot under a palm or a flamboyant tree. At the conclusion of mass the priest knocked thrice on the massive church doors as a signal for admittance, and to the amazement of all present the dull ring of the last tap on the church door had hardly died away on the stifling morning air when a chance passer-by who had tarried to see what was doing called out in a loud voice' Open up those pearly gates.' This unrehearsed incident caused quite a stir for a moment or so, but fortunately the priest didn't understand English and the service proceeded according to plan.

After a lengthy address by the French Governor's representative, the grand parade through the township commenced with French buglers in the lead, followed by the band, New Zealand soldiers, Joan and her knights (mounted and clad in business-like armour), more equestrians and then school children from the convent. It was necessary on several occasions to halt the column, but unfortunately for a well-known major in the Dental Corps, the command 'Halt' was completely ignored by Joan's 'charger' with the result that every time the column stopped he either received a most unbecoming jolt in the small of the back, or was obliged to remain stiffly at attention while the horse playfully nuzzled the back of his neck. An appealing glance at Joan only received the haughty indifference and raised eye-brow to be expected from one representing such a dignified and famous personage.

No record of our island campaign would be complete without reference to the open-air pictures, weddings, unit anniversaries, beer-ration nights, and restful hours spent at the Bourail and Kiwi Clubs and also Anse Vata beach, Triangle Gardens, and American Red Cross Club at Nouméa. To those of us fortunate enough to draw a lucky marble in the roster and who were able to take advantage of attending these functions they will long remain in our memories as refreshing interludes in the dull monotony of our existence. Strangely enough, now that we have once more been re-united with our loved ones, be it permanently or just for a short time prior to sallying forth in quest of fresh fields to conquer, our term in New Caledonia, which was likened at the time to durance vile, seems but a memory of the distant past, and even the thought of 'Lazy' and 'Crazy' serving us sweetened tepid water at 15 cents a time affects us not one whit.

Ere long the sports grounds and neat encampments on which we lavished so much thought and time will, no doubt, revert to-the guava and scrub covered areas we converted, but apart from the decaying bures, huts, and improved roading facilities which will last for some time yet, as tangible reminders of our occupation, many of our customs and mannerisms have unconsciously-been adopted by many New Caledonian families, and the New Zealand hat badges, presents bestowed, small fortunes netted by some, and the memories of happy hours and friendships firmly cemented will keep the memories of our stay ever green and many a Yuletide toast will honour 'absent friends.'

Chapter FourRecords Section

One of the few things on which all soldiers can be induced to agree is the irksomeness of the 'paper war.' That it is an evil they will all admit, but they will not always so readily concede that it is a necessary evil. However, be that as it may, it is a notorious fact that there is very little a soldier can do, or have done to him, without someone, somewhere, filling in a form about it.

To deal with the multitudes of forms and records concerning New Zealand troops in the Pacific the Records Office, in an embryo form, came into being in November 1940, when a staff under the command of Lieutenant G. A. R. Johnstone, sailed for Fiji as records office of the original 8th Brigade Group. The establishment of New Zealand troops in Fiji had just been embarked upon and for some weeks accommodation and working arrangements were rather makeshift, the office being established in the Government Buildings basement (bearing a marked resemblance to the humble fowlhouse) in Suva, while the staff lived at the Fijian camp at Nasese, some two miles out, and later in the Boys' Grammar School. In January 1941 the Group HQ camp at Tamavua was completed and the office settled down in comparatively permanent living and working quarters in which, despite a serious attempt at dislodgment by a hurricane shortly after the move, it remained until returning to New Zealand in July 1942.

The period in New Zealand from July to December 1942 was one of considerable difficulty and activity. The movement from Fiji, the reorganisation of the division, and simultaneous inward and outward movements of troops on a large scale occasioned a great deal of work, and despite a considerable increase of staff by 'borrowing,' and the magnificent assistance rendered by the local woman's volunteer service at Hamilton, a great deal of midnight oil was burnt before the records were brought into a satisfactory state. Those who were on the staff at that time will long remember that hectic period.

Borrowed staff worked in scattered borrowed premises; a move of the whole box and dice from Papakura to Hamilton, with disconcerting complication; weeks on end of work through Saturdays and Sundays and until midnight on week days; embarkation rolls and files constantly demanding urgent attention; frantic wires to and from all areas asking for the whereabouts of men and files—all these would have been enough to daunt a less stout-hearted team. On this was piled—in the earliest stages at least—the crowning humiliation for a records office, of having to tell the very 'Highest Quarters' that we did not know whether men for whom enquiry was made were in the division or not, or where they might be found. Fortunately, however, this desperate stage of our difficulties did not last very long, and by the time the main body of the division embarked for New Caledonia at the end of December 1942 the situation was well in hand. Meantime advanced parties of the office had left for New Caledonia and, in view of the increasing work, staff, and responsibilities, Second-Lieutenant Hayward was commissioned and assumed charge at the New Zealand end, bringing to New Caledonia the remaining staff and equipment with the main body of the division.

This was our first experience—indeed probably the first in the New Zealand Army—of a records staff and its records closing down with the departure of the troops with whom it dealt and proceeding en bloc, with its records, simultaneously with the troops. In such circumstances the preparation and running amendment of embarkation rolls (with corresponding re-arrangement of files) and the movement of personnel and equipment as a going concern, while at the same time maintaining the essentials of normal service, is a problem of some magnitude. There were very long hours and much hard work. A number of army regulations pertaining to movements may have been slightly bent; the staff's Christmas dinner was sacrificed to the good cause, but the job was done with no material hitches and, we believe, with the minimum of headaches for the New Zealand authorities responsible for the 'washing up.'

Meantime the advanced party in New Caledonia was operating in temporary quarters in Nouméa, working in a dilapidated shop in the town and living on an old cemetery in the 'Red Light' quarter of the suburbs. Life in Nouméa had its disadvantages, but it was never devoid of interest and moments of excitement, both official and otherwise, effectively prevented boredom. After a few weeks in the Paris of the Pacific, however, authority said 'move' and the advanced party and its equipment set out in five trucks on the long, dusty, bumpy road to Bourail, where Records, Pay, and DAG's office shared the tenancy of the Town Hall which, supplemented by tents, accommodated the complete office and staff when the remainder arrived. Here we carried on for some weeks; ploughing through the great volume of work attendant on the arrival of the troops, and finding time, after much discussion and argument of hypothetical cases, to introduce the system of war accounting for personnel.

The hotel de vllle, however, was some distance from our living quarters, no artificial lighting was provided, and there were other drawbacks, so we were not sorry in February 1943 to move to more permanent quarters in the base camp at Bourail racecourse. Here we worked for some five months in eight large IP tents with earth floors and conditions which were initially very primitive, However, these gradually improved with the provision of electric lighting, paths, and other amenities until in July we occupied our permanent working quarters, comprising a large fire-proof hut, a native style grass hut, a wooden sectional hut, and a small hut for the storage of effects. As this move coincided approximately with the forward move of the division, and the greatest development of the office in scope and size, it may be appropriate at this stage to review our work and organisation.

When it was established in Fiji, the office was required to perform purely records work for a brigade group, and the staff totalled 16 under Lieutenant Johnstone, and Warrant-Officer E. R. Newman. It was early found that the preparation of embarkation rolls could better be done by records than by units; with the natural development of a gangway check by records of actual individuals moving. After a few months the issue by records of a prechecked and consolidated routine orders was inaugurated (it is believed for the first time in the New Zealand army) and a little later the maintenance of war establishments, with a pre-check ot promotions and extra duty pay, was assumed. The work of the office continued on this basis until the increase to divisional strength in early 1942 and the return to New Zealand, but there were considerable changes in staff during this period. In May and August 1940 successive replacement drafts resulted in the return of almost all the original staff to New Zealand. In 1942, Lieutenant johnstone was boarded home, and in September of that year Sergeant-Major Newman was commissioned as officer in charge, Warrant-Officer S. P. Hayward and Warrant-Officer L. E. Orr being also commissioned in November 1942 and July 1943, respectively, as the scope of the work increased.

On the division moving to the forward area the staff totalled three officers and 64 other ranks, comprising the following main sections:—

Officer in charge: Lieutenant E. R. Newman. Chief clerk, main roll, files, war establishments: Warrant-Officer V. D. Learning. Casualties, officers, statistics, deceased effects: Second-Lieutenant L. E. Orr, Warrant-Officer A. C. E. Beams, Warrant-Officer A. M. W. Martin. Corps records, movements, routine orders: Warrant-Officer O. M. Phillips. Advanced 2 echelon: Second-Lieutenant S. P. Hayward, Warrant-Officer E. G. Craig. Nouméa liaison: Sergeant D. F. B. Nash. Tontouta airport liaison: Corporal C. L. Crowson.

As will be seen from the above, the work of the office had by this time so developed as to cover almost all aspects of Second Echelon administration.

On the decision to withdraw the division from an active role the drafting of troops to New Zealand for essential industry commenced, Mr. E. J. Hamlet, manpower liaison officer from New Zealand, was provided with staff and quarters in the office for the selection of men for this purpose. The return of the division to New Caledonia and of industrial drafts to New Zealand created a great deal of additional work, while several of the staff, including Second-Lieutenant Orr and Warrant-Officer Learning, were among those leaving for industry. Meanwhile Lieutenant Hayward and advanced Second Echelon, having com-pletedcompleted their operations in the forward area, had returned to the main office and thus filled some more of the gaps; but the pressure for a time was extremely heavy, and this was maintained until the eventual return in October 1944 of the balance of the division. By this time the staff was severely depleted by further Josses to industry. Lieutenant Newman had been recalled to New Zealand for civil employment, Lieutenant Hayward had assumed control of the office from the New Zealand end, and Warrant-Officer Beams, later succeeded by Warrant-Officer Martin, directed operations of the remaining staff in New Caledonia. Indeed most of the 'operations' from Easter 1944 onward were part of the general 'winding-up' process of the NZEF IP.

With so large a staff, working under tropical conditions, fairly frequent changes in personnel were inevitable, and the total number who have from time to time been on the staff would approximate 130. We were very fortunate, however, in securing men of good calibre, and cases where men were transferred out through inability to measure up to the rather exacting requirements of the work were negligible.

Sporting and social activities were maintained as far as circumstances permitted, and the staff, in addition to taking their full share of camp enterprises of this nature, also promoted their own recreations by way of country trips, 'smokos' and lectures. These were particularly valuable during the earlier period in New Caledonia, where isolation and lack of organised recreation made life rather dull; and such activities contributed largely to the maintenance of a strong esprit de corps which was of great value when long hours of hard work had to be done under difficult conditions.

Administrative work in the base is never spectacular but it is a necessary and essential part of the organisation, and upon its performance depends the well-being and efficiency of the fighting soldier whose interests such offices as ours exist to service. It may justly and without exaggeration be said that the maintenance of a high standard of efficiency in the work was regarded by each member of the staff as his personal responsibility, and all other considerations were subordinated to this object. Now that the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the Pacific has passed into history, and we who were its records office are dispersed, we look back with pleasure upon our membership of a staff who were a great team to live with and to work with, and with a modest pride upon having been able in our small way to contribute towards the brief but honourable achievements of the force and the Third New Zealand Division.

Chapter FivePay Crops

Conceived in Wellington of an uneasy mating between Army and Treasury, born in Fiji, raised to lusty manhood in New Caledonia and condemned to premature death in New Zealand; such in short is the history of the New Zealand Army Pay Corps in the Pacific. But what of the men who served during her brief span of life? We were the flesh that covered the bare bones of establishment; who lived, worked, played, and together formed a tight and efficient little body, without whose aid the Third Division could never have functioned. There were not many of us, a bare fifty odd at full strength, and nothing glamorous in the role assigned. We fought no battle, killed no Japs, and gained no honours or distinctions. Many of us were no longer young and few completely fit, yet we have no cause to regret the part we played, and are proud to have served in a manner best fitted to our capabilities. Let us turn back the clock to January 1943 and in memory speed over the ocean to the little village of Bourail, dreaming in decayed isolation under the hot New Caledonian sun. The flamboyant trees flame with beauty; except for the marauding mosquito all nature nods; but across the street in the hotel de ville the ancient floors tremble to the tramp of feet, and the worm-eaten rafters lift to the sound of many voices. For here the Pay Corps is at work, cheek by cheek with records, DAG and the local notary. Admittedly conditions are crowded. The majority of us have overflowed to the verandah where we drip perspiration over pay cards, swipe wildly at hornets, or make a dash for the interior when a sudden shower cascades through the rusted roof. We are only about thirty strong at this time, with Major McGowan in charge as paymaster. Major McGowan has been in Pay for a considerable time, for when 'B' Force sailed for Suva in 1940 he was there with a small staff. Known to his associates as 'Shaggy' the then Lieutenant McGowan was a man of small stature but an infinite capacity for hard work, and quickly placed the infant corps on a sound and workable basis. Although never one to suffer fools gladly, 'Shaggy' was regarded with esteem and pride by his staff and seldom hesitated to give battle with higher authority on their behalf. Now, with the rank of major, the financial responsibility of the Third NZ Division rested on his slim shoulders. With the paymaster is his second-in-command, Captain Galbraith. Our remaining officers have recently been established as field cashiers; Mervyn Moore is at 14th Brigade, Ralph Wallis with 8th Brigade, and Maurice O'Connor is in Nouméa. Good fellows, these one-pippers, although it must be admitted that we have no very great regard for rank and at social gatherings Christian names are well in evidence. Nevertheless, discipline is well maintained and relations generally all that could be desired. Although all the world appears to sleep, the pay corps is extremely busy, for we have been overseas but a few weeks and there is much to be done— allotments and paybooks to be checked, rolls to be posted and routine orders to be entered. Fortunately most of us have had previous experience in pay, for the original Fiji staff was augmented from NMD and SMD when the Third Division was formed. Those last hectic weeks in New Zealand, when we constantly worked into the small hours of the morning, are still a bitter memory, and we hope that active service will at least be less active in this respect. Soon the clock will indicate 4.30 pm, which means a dip in the stream for some and a march back to camp for the rest, an unsympathetic authority having decided that gentle strolling is unsoldierly. Dark, bespectacled Sergeant-Major Stevens takes the parade as it swings in threes up the hill past the memorial cross, and down by the cheese factory to Bourail Camp. There is nothing very impressive here, just a huddle of tents on the hillside, bure mess room, and a typical Kiwi cookhouse of wood and scrap iron. No electric lighting, even candles are in short supply, and as night falls with disconcerting suddenness there is nothing to do but walk once more to the darkened village, sweat out a cup of tea in the pint-sized YMCA and go to bed.

Several weeks pass, and about the middle of February we find ourselves at Racecourse Camp in Téné Valley, some six miles out of town. The long disused course can still be seen beneath a covering mantle of guava scrub, and nearby we erect the Base Pay Office, four large IPP tents which serve until the promised prefabricated building arrives from New Zealand. Here we settle down to a routine which is undisturbed for the remainder of our stay in the Pacific. Some are fortunate enough to be assigned duty with field pay offices, or in Nouméa; others will later journey to the forward area, but for the majority the steep brown hills close in for 18 months or more. Racecourse camp in these early days is no health resort, and as February gives place to March and the annual rains pour down it becomes a vast sea of mud, the dappled green grey tents standing like islands of refuge in an ocean of discomfort. Racecourse, which is headquarters of Base Reception Depot, shelters an odd assortment of base units, including pay, records, stationery, and half a dozen others. We thus have to defer to the camp commandant as well as our own officers and it speaks well for the tact and forbearance of all concerned that although serving two masters, we neither love one nor hate the other. While racecourse can never be termed a model camp, and for many months lacks even the barest amenities, it has the virtue of being easy and tolerant. Most of the occupants belong to specialist units and their job absorbs the greater part of their time. Nevertheless we are still soldiers, and as such are concerned with those trappings so dear to the military mind. Rifle inspections are held with monotonous regularity, as are spots of 'bull ring,' weapon training and afternoons at the range, from which we presently emerge, filthy, and without a dry stitch to our bodies. It is, however, in the pay office, that our real duty lies. The function of an APC is that of financial father to the force and it matters little if our temporary home be Tamavua, Papakura, Nouméa, Bourail, Téné Valley, or Guadalcanal. While the average army unit cuts a cross section of industrial strata, pay staff are drawn largely from men with clerical training, and some of humble rank hold high qualifications. At one period, no fewer than half our number are bank clerks, the balance being divided among civil service, insurance, and commerce. It is probably no more than a coincidence that the chief paymaster, a WO1 and a WO2 all hail from the Bank of New Zealand, and that no bank officer other than very late reinforcements, holds rank lower than sergeant. Chief administrative NCO in the pay office is Harold Stevens, later commissioned as field cashier. Succeeding Ralph Wallis as warrant-officer, first class, in October 1942, it was he who guided the staff through long hours of overtime and, at the risk of unpopularity, demanded much but gave more himself. That once commissioned his work was more limited, and perhaps less useful, bears no reflecton other than the well-known fact that senior NCOs carry a greater weight of responsibility than junior officers. Warrant-Officer Les Watson, also commissioned a few weeks later had, as accountant, been in charge of 'imprest' since our Fiji days, and will in due course go to Nouméa as field paymaster. His work, and rank, are taken over by Jack Salisbury, young in years, but completely capable. Chief ledger clerk, rotund and genial Jack Beauchamp rises to warrant-officer and holds that rank until his return to New Zealand in April 1944. It is in May 1943 that our new establishment is finally approved and, with an increase in staff, promotions come thick and fast. A few are heartily approved, many hotly debated, and some of those destined to remain sergeants to the bitter end are later found the most competent and useful. But despite a few misfits, we have a good team and one that works loyally and well, and it is no truism to state that if the men are fortunate in having good officers, the officers are doubly fortunate in possessing a good staff.

The largest section of Base Pay, and one that expands rapidly as reinforcements pour into the island, is 'ledgers.' Training ground for more highly specialised work, ledgers are a most essential part of our organisation. The work, however, is mostly routine, and after six or twelve months the job becomes one of deadly monotony. Those men who spend the whole of their Pacific service as ledger clerks in Téné Valley deserve honourable mention for patience and long suffering. It is from this portion of the office that all the juicy pieces of 'cod' originate, where all the hopes, fears, and grievances have birth, and the lost causes find champion. At the time of the Green Island landing we have built up to nearly twenty thousand ledger cards, and these are set up in alphabetical sequence, a sub-section of two men handling roughly fifteen hundred cards. It is their duty to post and check acquittance rolls and schedules of kit deficiences, establish a soldier's credit and generally keep his account in good order. They also help check paybooks when a rush of business necessitates. Closely allied to ledgers are routine orders, all those detailed little entries that appear daily telling of promotions, reversions, punishments and the like which have an effect for good or ill on a soldier's pay account. In order that nothing is left to chance, all entries from routine orders are handed to audit for a final check, and the placing of the little green tick of approval. Audit, although a separate unit and probably the smallest in the force, consisting of two officers and one batman, works hand in hand with pay and puts the seal of efficiency on our efforts. It is the overseas representative of the Audit Office, carefully watching the interests of the New Zealand taxpayer. The two audit officers. Major Ward, quiet and thorough, and Lieutenant Cartner, not so quiet but just as thorough, are the terror of slipshod workers but otherwise popular with all ranks.

When in August 1943 the long promised office building finally takes shape and the IPP tents are folded to be seen no more the staff are at last housed and protected from wind and weather. A bure set on the hill contains ledgers and allied sections, while the main building shelters the paymaster, auditors, imprest, cashier, and a few others. The change-over also sees the last of picket, the pay-clerk's nightmare, and the introduction of a weekly duty roster to take it's place. How we hated picket. Long hours in the darkened tents guarding the precious safe, and fighting an ever losing battle against mosquitoes, heat, and utter boredom, it will probably remain our most unpleasant memory of sunny Necal.

One of the first duties of a pay office is the payment of troops, and during our period of service in the Pacific the division is paid in American dollars at the rate of four to the New Zealand pound. This currency is obtained from the American finance office in Nouméa, but the procedure is rather more complicated than that involved in cashing a cheque. Having first ascertained his requirements for any pay period, the paymaster sends a requisition for cash to the finance office. This amount is advised by cable to Washington, and the American authorities then contact their representative in Wellington who makes the necessary arrangements with New Zealand Treasury. To complete the circle, American finance in Nouméa is authorised to make payment and the paymaster takes the long dusty journey to Nouméa to uplift the money. While our relations with American finance have always been the best, it has so happened that owing to a slight unavoidable hitch on one or two occasions the authority has not arrived by the required date. Our French hosts have readily come to the rescue and the Banque d'Indo Chine has loaned the money, without interest, until repayment. When the long last balance sheet is drawn up at the close of our Pacific service, it is revealed that between November 1942 and October 1944 nearly seven million dollars were drawn in pay by the division. Nearly 80 years ago the British War Office remarked that 'the soldier is not a saving animal,' but the fact that Base Pay Office sent home over two and a half million dollars, or approximately one-third of all pay drawn, as remittances from troops shows how things have altered in the intervening years. That the amount received as remittances from New Zealand was less than one per cent of that returned, proves among other things, the lack of opportunity for spending in our Pacific paradise.

Owing to lack of facilities in the South West Pacific, the Pay Office also acts as general banker to the force and handles, among-others, such divers accounts as regimental and patriotic funds, insurance and compensation, sales of clothing and equipment, and payment of native labour. On occasion it also pays not only the Royal New Zealand Navy and Air Force, but British and Dominion army personnel visiting the area. In all, our receipts and expenditure total well over 16,000,000 dollars.

During the long months between our first embarkation to Fiji and our farewell to Necal, there have been many staff changes, and when we left New Zealand for the second time in the last days of 1942 many of the original staff were missing. Lieutenant Gordon and party had sailed for Norfolk and others were left behind for medical reasons. At the time the division returns home on furlough in July 1944 only three of our Fiji pay veterans remain, Lieutenant Watson, Warrant-Officer Turner and Sergeant Windsor. Two of our officers are returned home for medical reasons in 1943, Lieutenant O'Connor and Major McGowan. Maurrie O'Connor had served in the Middle East and Fiji and was acting paymaster in Necal until the arrival of the main body. Major McGowan, never robust, had not spared himself in the service of the Pay Corps and those that follow owe much to his knowledge and zeal. He is succeeded in office by Major Galbraith who is appointed chief paymaster and financial adviser with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Lieutenant Moore becomes base paymaster and is promoted to captain.

Although the Base Pay Office is our largest organisation, it is by no means the complete corps. Soon after our arrival in Necal a field cashiers office was set up at both 8th and 14th Brigades, and these operate until the divisional troops move to the forward area. The original Base Pay Office in Nouméa moves from Rue D'Alma to the transit camp and continues as a field pay office. Service in Nouméa is always popular, and a system is worked whereby senior sergeants do service of two months or more, giving them a slight break from the monotony of Téné Valley. Shabby little Nouméa, though no tourist town, seems excitingly metropolitan after long months in the niaouli and even work takes on the aspect of a holiday. When the final move to New Zealand approaches, life is not so easy and the midnight oil burns again, but for most of us Nouméa holds all the delights of a tropical Babylon.

It is in October 1943 that HQ Pay sets up as a separate organisation and moves into the village of Bourail where it houses the chief paymaster and looks after administration, maintains the imprest, receivers, and regimental funds accounts. During the early winter of the same year it becomes apparent that a move is in the air and that the division is to have the long awaited chance for action. Speculation runs riot as to who will be the first in pay to journey north, but it is not until the eve of departure that the names are revealed. Ralph Wallis is in charge as paymaster, and with him go Staff-Sergeant Barlow, Sergeants Little and Willis and Private Hunter. Many are frankly envious, a few doubtless relieved, but our best wishes go with them as they journey forward.

The island of Guadalcanal at this time is still subject to enemy attack, and a few nights after arrival on 3 September the pay staff experience their first air raid. Raids continue for about ten nights, coincident with the moon, and then cease until the following month when they are repeated for about a week, after which they cease altogether. But although conditions may have become more peaceful, for a long time they remain primitive and during the first weeks rations are woefully meagre. Two large cases of tinned goods selected by the staff at base are forwarded from New Caledonia, but one never reaches its destination and the other is dumped on an open beach and swept away by the tide before it can be retrieved. Despite these drawbacks, life in advanced pay has its moments and certainly holds variety, so sadly lacking in New Caledonia. It is almost certain that members of the NZAPC see far more of the Pacific than those of any other unit for they not only travel to every island where New Zealand troops are fighting but to many adjacent areas held by allied forces. Journeys made by both sea and air are not without thrills and on several occasions there are narrow escapes from injury. Every visit to Treasury Islands coincides with severe air raids and Ralph Wallis paints a graphic picture of diving into a fox-hole clasping the precious pay roll while shrapnel and bomb splinters spatter round. In all, five return trips are made to Vella Lavella, eight to Treasury, and four to Nissan. Each member of the staff has a share in these duties and it is seldom that one or more is not absent from the pay office. While the orginal staff is not relieved, it is augmented from time to time. Sergeants Harcourt and Windsor arrive in November on a short tour of duty to help out in a scheme that gives personnel in the area an opportunity of remitting money home for Christmas. Early In January 1944 the efforts of Sergeant Scott are rewarded by a trip to the forward area, but after three months he is invalided back to New Caledonia. With the occupation of Nissan and the extra work and travelling thrown on Ralph Wallis, the services of another officer become necessary and Harold Stevens is dispatched in February. The extra staff helps relieve the burden on the original stalwarts who by this time have journeyed many thousands of miles by sea and air under extremely trying conditions. In April they are visited by the chief paymaster who is on his way to Nissan where he confers with the general on matters of finance. A month later Harold Stevens takes over the duties of paymaster and shortly after Ralph Wallis returns to New Caledonia.

Back at base we have not been idle but life, thank goodness, is not all work. We have our lighter moments and extract enjoyment from most unpromising situations. In the realm of sport, rugby and cricket have their seasons and we are fortunate in possessing Les Tilley and Don Cleverley, both outstanding players in their respective games. Swimming in the local stream is a constant delight and necessity and for the first few months is the only form of recreation. Later we have movies, with occasional visits from the divisional band, USO and Kiwi concert parties, although in the main we are thrown on our own resources and cards supply the greatest need, bridge, five hundred, crib and poker having their devotees. There are, of course, the parties, convivial evenings at which a certain amount of liquor is consumed and all the old songs, profane and otherwise are sung. Tradition has it that pay clerks are hard drinkers, and a certain liveliness in Fiji days may have prompted the change from the distinctive yellow pugaree to the more anonymous red. Be that as it may, there is never any surplus liquor in Téné Valley, due more to the stringent beer ration than any great teetotal element. However, on very special occasions we manage to lay in large stocks of the necessary and on those nights there are overflow meetings at 'Shag Court,' 'Virgins' Retreat,' 'Mon Desir' or any of those tents which bear quaint names and house several warm, thirsty human occupants. Even the sacred precincts of the pay office has its moments when the whole staff, from colonel to batmen, gathers to toss one over the eight. In years to come some snatch of melody will recall George Lawson singing 'Mountains of Mourne,' Gordon Windsor giving 'Dear little camp in Bourail,' Kennedy Scott rendering 'The soldier and the sailor,' Artie Thompson's elephantine antics over the 'Needle in the haystack,' Reg Reed's strident tenor extolling the Auckland and Britomart Hotels, or Bill Turner's incredible performance with a glass of beer and a set of false teeth known as 'the trick that made him famous.' Other aids, trivial in themselves, help maintain morale. There is the fortnightly sweep run by John Harcourt in which most of us show a dead loss and few a handsome profit. In the early days 'Honest Ted Prisk' catered largely for the sporting section, but he has passed on to what we hope are greener pastures. Then there is Pay Parade, that ego-deflating paper that has the longest run and probably the widest circulation of any unit publication on the island. Produced by Les Barrett, it cocks a snoot at all authority and pokes fun at brigadiers and bombadiers alike. The complete file of Pay Parade gives a more complete, though possibly distorted record of our activities than is possible here and the final number contains many messages of congratulation and goodwill from our own officers and others in Téné Valley.

Easter 1944, and with it comes the news that dooms the division to a lingering death. Men are required for essential industry and at once the impossible happens. The midnight lights burn again, and with each draft the pace becomes more hectic. Many of our own staff leave to man the industrial front, and the pattern of dissolution is writ large for all to see. In June Ralph Wallis returns from the forward area, and soon advanced pay is just another memory Comes July and furlough helps to swell the tide of returning men. Those of us who remain work even harder until the long dreamed of day when we climb into the truck and set off on the Nouméa road for the last time. 'Goodbye Téné Valley, farewell Racecourse camp.' What hard things we have said of you at times and yet, looking back, it was not so bad. We had our moments, you were a decent crowd, and life could have been a good deal worse. We owe thanks to Major Stowell and Bill Bentley of BRD who worked hard to turn a wilderness into a place of decent habitation, and whose efforts, sometimes unappreciated, were not without reward.

Even after we depart, some still remain and the rear party has quite a job to do. Lieutenant-Colonel Galbraith and staff move at last to Nouméa before returning home, and Téné Valley sees pay no more. But although the bures burn and Kanakas haunt our former home, old memories will never die. There is probably a modicum of truth, after all, in the final verse of Gordon Windsor's song:—

When the trumpet shall sound the all-clear And the world is no longer at war, We shall be at a loss, life will lose all its gloss, When we're bullied and sworn at no more. We shall sigh for the days that are passed, Tears of memory will dim every eye, How our sad hearts will yearn, we will long to return To our dear little camp in Bourail.

Chapter SixGraves Registration and Stationery

The Graves Registration Unit was formed in Rugby Park, Hamilton, in October 1942, Lieutenant D. G. McL. Smith being appointed temporarily in charge. He had under him a unit photographer, a draughtsman, and a clerk. In December 1942 the unit arrived in New Caledonia having its headquarters in Base Reception Depot, Bourail, and early in January 1943 Lieutenant A. G. Lowry assumed command. With us was amalgamated the Divisional Stationery Unit. The stationery unit played a major part in our various duties, as it was responsible for supplying the whole division with stationery, typewriters, and—yes, even red tape—in order that the efficiency for which the division was noted could be maintained.

A fine cemetery was established in Bourail, New Caledonia, where 31 New Zealand servicemen and one New Zealand service-woman, together with a member of the Fiji Military Forces were laid to rest. Before leaving New Caledonia for New Zealand the cemetery was beautified, and the work earned high praise from many senior officers.

Prior to the division moving from New Caledonia to the Solomons, the unit was re-organised so that its future employment, which we found to be very extensive, could be readily maintained. Captain J. R. Wink assumed temporary command of the unit at base during Lieutenant Lowry's absence with the sections in the forward areas. So on 15 August 1943 we said 'Cheerio' to New Caledonia for a few months. On our arrival in Guadalcanal, after proving ourselves good sailors and showing our worth in the invasion manoeuvres at the New Hebrides, we settled down for a short stay, becoming accustomed to 'Washing Machine Charlie' and the thousand and one jungle pests.

With the move of the 14th Brigade to Vella Lavella and later the 8th Brigade to the Treasuries, the unit was split up into sections so that it would have representatives with each brigade and also at the field maintenance centre on Guadalcanal. Corporal R, A. Fitz-William was the NCO in charge of the latter section, later assisted by Corporal K. F. Harris, of the DAG's branch. At Guadalcanal a bulk stationery store was established, where stationery and typewriters from New Caledonia were received and distributed to the units and formations in the forward areas. This entailed a great deal of organisation, considering the difficulties of transport to the forward areas, but it was not long before the whole show was working very smoothly. A section in the main American cemetery was set aside for our use, and during the time the division was in the Solomons 14 burials took place at Guadalcanal, three of which were RNZAF personnel.

On the 25 September 1943 Lieutenant Lowry, with Sergeant Varnham as photographer, Corporal Preston and Privates Clare and Warwick, left with the 14th Brigade for Vella Lavella, where our time from the start was fully occupied. As the Third Division held the Island Command on Vella Lavella, the responsibility of the graves registration for the island fell upon our unit, and during our stay there we laid to rest 51 of our own New Zealand comrades and over 100 of our American allies. We were often called upon to perform many arduous duties, but they were always overcome efficiently and well, aided by the fine co-operation of those called upon to help us. The cemetery was one of the finest in the South Pacific and nothing was spared to make it a lasting memorial to our gallant comrades who rested there. The natives of the island expressed their desire to erect a chapel to show in some small way their appreciation for those who fell in freeing their island from the Japanese. The chapel, including the altar and the various other fittings, was really a beautiful example of the craftsmanship of the Solomon Island natives. The chapel and cemetery were both dedicated by the senior chaplain to the division, the Right Reverend G. V. Gerrard, CBE, MC.

In addition to his normal duties, Lieutenant Lowry was asked to choose a site and establish the 3rd NZ Divisional transit camp of which he became camp commandant. The camp quartered all transient officers and the various entertaining units which visited the island, besides the 5th NZ Provost Company, the 6th NZ Field Hygiene Section, and the canteen and bulk stores. Perhaps one of our lasting memories of the transit camp would be Boxing Night 1943, when a party was held in the jungle, the divisional band being present along with the band of the 58th Naval Construction Battalion. It certainly was a great show; after all the 'jungle juice' had been consumed, many found it rather difficult to retrace their steps homeward. A box of 'urgent stationery' arrived from Guadalcanal on Boxing Day, and it was soon opened and every 'envelope' in the case readily consumed.

On one of his visits to Guadalcanal by plane from Vella, Lieutenant T.owry met a number of reinforcement officers who were on their way up to Vella, one of their number being a certain signals officer. Questions were being fired at Alf in all directions. He stated that things up that way were 'pretty sticky' and enquired of the signals officer whether he had drawn his shroud. Upon receiving a negative reply, big-hearted Alf informed his friend and colleague that each officer going to the forward area had as a personal issue a shroud which he could use as sheets until such a time as its proper use was necessary. After a visit to our graves section in Guadalcanal, the officer was quite-happy in that he had procured the necessary shroud, which he proudly took with him to Vella, only to find that Alf had indulged in one of his famed 'leg pulls.'

One of our number, during his stay on Vella, became an expert sprinter—especially during air raid alerts. We all remember the time one very moonlight night when 'Tojo's' visits were quite regular. No sooner had the siren started wailing than our ack-ack opened up overhead. All we could see was one streak of white through the dark—that was Bill tearing for the fox-hole, in the 'nuddy,' carrying over his arm his shirt and trousers. Once in the fox-hole Bill felt the presence of mosquitoes and started to dress himself. After fumbling for some time we heard him moaning and 'telling God all about it.' He could not find the other leg of his trousers. We discovered eventually that Bill had one leg in the sleeve of his shirt and was feverishly trving to find the other 'leg.' Our stay on Vella Lavella, although at times very monotonous, was quite a pleasant one, and we often look back upon the many 'headaches 'we had there, and the many friends we made.

Sergeant A. G. Hill was the NCO in charge of the detachment at the Treasuries, and on the morning of the 27 October 1943 he, together with Privates Raymond and Lashlie, left Guadalcanal to represent graves registration and stationery unit with the 8th Infantry Brigade Group in the Treasuries. There again the New Zealand brigade commander was also island commander and the work of the island graves services fell upon the unit. Thirty-nine of New Zealand's warriors fell in action or died of other causes in the Treasuries, together with over 50 of our American allies. A fine cemetery was established on Mono Island, together with a beautiful chapel which serves as a splendid memorial to our fallen comrades. For his work in the Treasuries, Sergeant Hill received the highest commendations. He left there with the first manpower draft to New Zealand, and his work was ably carried on by Private Lashlie.

On 15 February 1944 our section from Vella Lavella landed with the first shore parties on Nissan Island. On this trip we experienced our first attack at sea. From our ringside seats on the landing craft we saw the 'Nips' meet their end when they tried to prevent the capture of the island which was to be our home for the next five months. As was the case on Vella Lavella we lived for over a week on those delicious K and C rations, put up with a few isolated air raids, and did our turns at going on guard in order to secure our safety from a couple of wandering 'Sons of Heaven' who were known to be in the vicinity of our camp. In a few weeks we had settled down to the normal routine and once again we were called upon to take charge of the island graves services, as the divisional commander was again the island commander. The job of establishing a cemetery on Nissan was an extremely difficult one, and the going was very hard for all concerned. Each grave had to be blasted in order that the hard masses of coral could be removed. We laid to rest there 16 divisional comrades, together with over 50 of our American allies. Again the natives built a fine chapel which was dedicated by our own and American senior chaplains. Once again Lieutenant Lowry established a transit camp and was appointed camp commandant. The site was near the old Roman Catholic Mission, and many a time, during the height of a storm and gale, some excitement prevailed because of falling trees. Eventually the area had to be vacated.

From Nissan came news of the first manpower drafts for return to New Zealand, and soon we were to lose two or three of our number, at a time when we were doing a very important job of work in moving the cemetery. However, the difficulty was overcome and the job completed. The remainder of the unit left Nissan in June and rejoined the rest in New Caledonia. After a comparatively short stay in New Caledonia we had the glad news that we were bound for home.

The history of the Graves Registration Unit would be incomplete without tribute being paid to those of our gallant dead whom we laid to rest in the various islands in the Pacific. What could be a more fitting tribute than the following poem written by Sergeant G. S. (Duke) Windsor, late of the Base Pay Office, NZEF IP.

White Crosses White crosses of the fallen brave Where palms their silent watches keep; They lie within each narrow grave Untroubled in the last long sleep, And all is hushed save where a bird Sings sweetly, gently overhead, The leaves, by gentle zephyrs stirred, Pay homage to the gallant dead. They rest in peace, their travail o'er, Brave hearts of home that beat no more. No more the blood of youth leaps high Within their veins; the thrill of love And life and laughter spent, they lie In silent rows; the sun above Beats down upon each mounded bed. They heed it not, for dark that night Enshrouds the fallen; life is fled Beyond the gleam of this world's light. They rest in peace within the Vale, Untouched by moon or starlight pale. They fell in battle, each calm face Towards the fate which struck them low; And as they fell, to take their place Lo! Others stood to mock the foe And died in turn, and yet again Until the victory was won. The life they gave was not in vain For in that life the task was done. Their zvearied eyes are closed at last, The turmoil of this world is past. As glorious the sun's last ray, Touches each cross at daylight's close, Tread softly, ye who walk this way, Lest ye disturb their last repose. For all that life held dear they died, And for their faith they fought and fell Pay homage then, with reverent pride And bow your head in hushed farewell. 'Tis hallowed ground, where marks each grave, White crosses of the fallen brave.

Chapter SevenThe NZEF IP Band

The 8th Brigade Group band, later to become well known as the band of the Third NZ Division, NZEF IP, was mobilised for service in the Pacific at Hopuhopu on 23 October 1940. The personnel of 30 players was drawn from the Papakura, Trentham and Burnham Military Camp bands, and the RNZAF, whilst some were enlisted from civilian bands. In this personnel were representatives of 23 bands. The short time—18 days—which was spent at Hopuhopu prior to embarkation was a busy one, for in addition to being equipped as a unit, each bandsman had to be inoculated and vaccinated and music had to be rehearsed.

Lieutenant W. H. Craven was appointed officer-in-charge. A large marquee had been placed at our disposal as a store and rehearsal room, and systematic rehearsals were held. Such was the keenness of the bandsmen, and so rapid was the progress made, that in the short time we were at Hopuhopu, two band recitals were given for the citizens of Hamilton, and the band was able to take up full duties in camp.

On the morning of Friday, 8 November 1940, reveille was at 0100 hours. We fell in with our kit bags for roll call at 0300 hours. Rain was falling and conditions generally could not have been more unpleasant. On being told that we had to disperse to our tents as our departure had been postponed, there was the usual cursing and growling at being dragged out unnecessarily at such an early hour.

It transpired that our ship, on berthing at Auckland, had been caught in a strong rip tide and had collided with the end of the wharf, with resultant damage to some of her bow plates. However, this was not of a serious nature, and we eventually went aboard at Auckland on 11 November 1940. Directly after the two minutes' silence had been observed—the day being Armistice Day—the ship slowly pulled away from the wharf and we were on our way. The band had taken up a position on the boat deck and several marches and popular song hits of the day were played as the ship moved off.

Land was sighted on the morning of 14 November 1940 and the ship made her way up the coast to Suva, Fiji. The band played a short programme of lively music as the ship was berthing, and in a short space of time the wharf area was thronged with people. Upon arriving at our camp—Samambula—we were agreeably surprised at finding one so modern. Daily rehearsals soon had the band in good trim and ready for any duty. Our morning syllabus provided for parades and rehearsals, while the afternoons found us receiving instruction in first aid and stretcher bearing duties. Upon the entry of Japan into the war, the unit qualified in these duties and we were then armed and became part of camp defence.

Each company could, by making application to brigade headquarters, secure the services of the band for one day each week. By this system it invariably chanced that the respective companies held their route marches on the day on which they had the band allotted to them. For this reason the members of the band came in for quite a good deal of road work. Marching and playing over those dusty metal roads was really hard going; the dust dried our mouths, the loose metal on the roads did not allow for firm lip control, and the dust settling on our instrument valves and trombone slides did not help to make the playing any easier. Generally speaking the conditions were difficult.

On Sunday evening, 1 December 1940, the band made its debut before the citizens of Suva with a concert which was given in the Botanical Gardens, the proceeds being in aid of the Fiji Bomber Fund. On this, their first official engagement, the bandsmen acquitted themselves exceedingly well, and the press reports appearing the following day were decidedly flattering. Our star performer was undoubtedly Bill Limpus, with his 'Pop-eye' and child impersonations, during which he played his own accompaniment on the ukelele. Other entertainers on our programmes were Bert Sawyer, with his farmyard impersonations; Roy White, with his humorous sketches and monologues; Bill Gosper and his piano accordian; and Bunny Gardner, whose artistic cornet solos never failed to please the audiences. The accompaniments were nicely played on the piano accordian by Ben Cunnings. A vocal quartette consisting of Lieutenant Fox, Lloyd Lee, Ben Cumings and Jack Stevenson also added variety to our programmes, as did Jack Stevenson's fine baritone solos sung to a full band accompaniment. After having spent something like 20 months in Fiji it was decided to return the band to New Zealand for leave.

Prior to embarking for New Caledonia, several replacements of personnel had to be made, because of medical boardings. Lieutenant W. H. Craven was medically unfit for overseas service and he relinquished command of the unit. Sergeant Louis Fox was promoted to the rank of warrant-officer and he assumed control. Upon the establishment of a base reception depot at New Caledonia, this was used as our base camp and from here the band departed on duty tours of the various camps, outposts and hospitals scattered around the island. Here, also, the unit had an exceptionally busy time. When not on duty tours new music had to be rehearsed, and small arms training, as laid down in base training syllabus, had to be performed. It was here that the band, when mildly annoyed at some edict of the depot commander, would express its disapproval in music. When some request had been refused the strains of 'Be A Good Scout' would drift over the niaoulis towards the major's tent.

When one of our more wicked members caused the whole band to undergo an hour's drill as punishment, the band repaired to its lines and serenaded the major with 'Why was he born so beautiful, why was he born at all; and the 'Prisoner's Song.' Altogether the band made five circuits of the camps of the division, and also several trips to Nouméa under engagement to the American Red Cross, playing at their camps, hospitals and rest camps. We were certainly popular with the American forces, and it was not unusual to play to audiences of up to seven thousand men of all branches of the American forces at Nouméa.

While in New Caledonia, and later in the Solomons, a change from the usual type of brass band programme was brought into being. Our audiences were allied and, in an endeavour to suit all tastes in musical entertainment, swing and more of the popular song hits of the day were interspersed with classical numbers, waltzes, vocal and humorous items. Eventually it was decided to send the band on a tour of duty in the forward area, and on 18 December 1943 the unit embarked at Nouméa for Vella Lavella-The following is a comment which appeared in the White Ensign, the magazine of the RNZ Navy, dealing with our entertainment there.

'On an earlier occasion when the Third Division was at Vella Lavella, our escort duty permitted a make and mend afternoon free from routine, when we were able to secure three ships together and enjoy the band. One thought from that afternoon —how was the band able to produce such magnificent music on an unprotected deck in such a broiling sun. Two very refreshed ships' companies resumed our escort job that evening veryappreciative of the soldiers.'

During the next six months the band was fully worked in playing to the allied forces on the islands of Vella Lavella, the Treasuries, where it had the distinction of accompanying Bob Deerborn's USO show for eight days, Bougainville, Nissan and Guadalcanal. Although no actual combat came our way, while in the Treasury Group we had to resort to the shelter of the foxholes during air raids, and during the first night on Bougainville, again we went underground during a shell bombardment put up by the Japs.

On our arrival back at our base in New Caledonia, the unit rested for a few days as the six months spent in the Solomons had been very arduous; the bandsmen had become travel weary, and a welcome respite from so much brass band playing was enjoyed. Eventually it was decided that we were to be returned to New Zealand with the division and it was a grand day for us when we sailed up the Auckland harbour.

Now the band of the Third NZ Division NZEF IP is disbanded after a record of three years and nine months overseas duty. Looking back over this period of time it is considered that the unit did the yeoman service for which it was created. No finer crowd of men could have been brought together than the personnel who have at various times served within its ranks. It was not altogether easy to render night after night, almost incessantly, programmes of music under trying tropical conditions. Many a time the men felt weary from the effects of so much travel and had grown stale at their work, but never once during the whole time that the unit was in operation did the boys fail their audiences. Lieutenants Craven and Fox were both men who had made a close study of musical theory, harmony and interpretation, and the band was fortunate in having them as its leaders. The band of the Third Division has gone; personnel are scattered the length and breadth of New Zealand; the instruments are packed away in their cases and the band has played its last rune. During its period of service with the division, no unit was more popular and there are thousands of American and New Zealand troops who will agree that the high standard of musical entertainment the band gave them helped to relieve the monotony of service life in the tropics.

This resume would not be complete if it did not put on record the unit's thanks and appreciation of the driving skill and courtesy of the motor transport and battalion drivers who have conveyed the bandsmen over some 17,000 miles of road without accident or injury. This has been greatly appreciated, and to the many drivers concerned we express our thanks.

While the unit was stationed in Fiji, Sergeant H. H. Neeve was seconded to the Fiji Defence Force as bandmaster. During the operations of the Fiji Battalion on Bougainville he was awarded the Military Cross.

Chapter EightBase Training Depot

A base training depot, whether at Maadi, or at Téné Valley,. New Caledonia, is not a romantic institution. Tt never sees action; it never stirs from its position behind the front lines; it is peopled with ghosts from the past—men who have spent their month or two there, and gone forward; and by transients in the present, who will soon go forward. So it does not get the character, the warm feeling of brotherhood, which is forged in an active unit, particularly a fighting one. Its history is a dull affair and difficult to write, because it has no purple patches which inspire the writer and absorb the reader. Yet it was not without humour, when one looks back, and after all, what matters more?

BTD was constituted a unit of the division on 25 March 1943. Its first commandant was also its last, Major F. C. Cornwall, MC, later lieutenant-colonel. At first it was used as a training institution for officers, both infantry and artillery, since the first direct reinforcements from New Zealand did not arrive till the end of April. There were also 600 men from Norfolk to swell the ranks, and by May the camp numbered over 1,000. The early organisation at Téné Valley comprised all arms of the service. Infantry wing, artillery wing, composite wing, and officers' school were all together. Later on, in July and August, after the break-up of the 15th Brigade, the artillery wing became a separate body at Neméara, and the officers' school and signals school both shifted to Moindah, leaving Téne Valley in sole possession of the infantry. Lieutenant-Colonel Cornwall became commandant of BTD as a whole, and Major V. Maxwell commanded infantry wing. 'Inf Wing,' as it was familiarly called, was divided into companies like a battalion, starting with headquarters and eventually en-croachingencroaching upon all the letters of the alphabet as far as K by October. Training was on the basis of these companies.

It is time here to say something of the Téné Valley in which the camp was established. About five miles out of Bourail, it ran back from the racecourse, and BRD, well into the hills. By any standard, other than those of base trainees, it would have been considered beautiful. A fine deep river flowed on the right hand side, close to the hills, and this later served as a bulwark for the WAACs' camp and as an excuse for erecting a swing bridge which, owing to the activity there nightly at ten o'clock, came to be called the 'Bridge of Sighs.' The valley was contained by low, niaouli-clad hills, behind which the sun rose and set in rosy splendour day after day. Beyond the camp was the house of M. Coulson, the French owner of the land. The road along which M. Coalson trundled in his cart divided the camp in two. There were companies staggered on each side, each with its signboard, orderly room tent, quartermaster's marquee, and water-drum right close to the road. Wing headquarters was on a slight rise on the side nearest the river. Behind it was the screen of the picture theatre, seatless and grassless, and before it was the parade ground on which the hapless pack-drillers sweated and blasphemed as the sun went down. Beyond the parade ground was the canteen bure, with camp headquarters facing it on the other side, and further still was the Bourail Club and its football ground and picture theatre. The main swimming pool was just behind wing headquarters, and close to it were the showers. On the far side of the river was the quartermaster's store, presided over by Captain Watters, and then came the main football ground and then, just under the hill of the assault course, came the motor transport park, shrouded in tall niaoulis.

The buildings of BTD were of a more permanent character than in most camps of the NZEF IP. They endured for 15 months, most of them in spite of borer and hurricanes. Most prominent were the men's mess huts, one on each side of the road, shaped like right angles. These were roofed with niaouli bark, and in the beginning had walls of coconut matting. This gradually rotted and fell away as time went on. Wing headquarters had a more substantial bure, though smaller, and the officers' and sergeants' messes were both thatched, solid erections. The recreation hut, begun in December and not finished till several months later, was a credit to the BTD pioneers, with a good wooden floor, a stage, and furniture made on the spot. The Bourail Club, built for the division as a whole, was the magnum opus of the pioneers, being a vast cathedral-like bure, built native-fashion, which some claimed to be the largest in New Caledonia. It had a smooth dance floor, a deep stage, and a projection-box, and was always cool beneath its native thatching.

So much, then, for the shape of BTD as it met the eye. Most important was its system of training. Naturally, as soon as the division had gone into action in Vella Lavella, the system was conditioned by the experiences of the fighting units. The emphasis was on jungle warfare and all training aimed at securing a fit, aggressive soldier, ready to take his place in any type of action in the forward area. Reinforcements first underwent a rapid course in arms drill, and then began a series of excursions into the upper Téné Valley. These excursions toughened as time went on until sleeping out, digging fox-holes, camouflaging positions, became a second nature. At the same time there was abundant range practice and training in all arms, from rifle to three inch mortars. Later came a battle inoculation, when the soldier underwent all the experiences of actual battle, bullets ripping up the leaves in front of him, mortars exploding around him, the fear of death bursting inside him.. For amphibious training a platform was thrown up in front of the MT park, which was humorously dubbed HMS Niaouli. Trainees learned to scramble up and down its corded ropes in full kit, at any hour of the day or night. Later on, a further course in amphibious training was developed in which a company at a time underwent exercises at Nepoui, under actual battle conditions of opposed and unopposed landings.

Another part of necessary experience was supplied by the jungle school, situated in the heart of the main central range, on the Col d'Amieu. During this course, which lasted from eight days to a fortnight, troops lived under jungle conditions, digging their own fox-holes, eating K rations, navigating by stars and compass, and practising offensive and defensive patrols. As the Col d'Amieu is comparatively high and exceedingly wet (rain is more frequent there than sunshine) the conditions were as bad as, or worse, than those in the Solomons. Men felt that after a fortnight on the Col d'Amieu they could go across Africa from

One of the most popular institutions was the band which periodically toured the forward areas, giving concerts to American and New Zealand units Base Training Depot, pictured below from under the overhanging limb of a niaouli, was sited in a river valley among low-lying hills

A piper from the Scots Battalion. Below: Brigadier L. G. Goss, commander 15th Brigade, with officers of the Ruahine Battalion. The large seascape shows the rock formations as seen from the look-out lower at Bonrail Beach. The allied cemetery at Maravari on Vella Lavella, with the chapel built by the natives as a memorial, is seen on the opposite page

Natives preparing turtle steaks for a picnic meal on a Fiji beach Non-commissioned officers and men of the Ruahine Battalion during manoeuvres in New Caledonia in 1943 the Congo to Zanzibar and not notice it. Other branches of training in which BTD specialized were night operations, gas warfare (with a real gas chamber), map reading, bayonet, unarmed combat, and the always essential battle drill.

One factor, however, which seriously interfered with the progress of the trainee was the system of guards which devolved upon BTD when the division quitted the island. Guards had to be supplied for the Houailou camp and for the 4th NZ General Hospital, first at Boguen and later at Dumbéa. Also, working parties were always being required for the dock at Népoui or at Nouméa. These interruptions were not always a hardship, since they often gave the soldiers a change and almost a holiday. Houailou in particular was a quiet haven, and most members of BTD will remember the loquacious old Mazurier, and have probably bought his wine at two dollars the bottle.

But training, after all, is not what one remembers about a camp. It is more the hot games of football played, and the sweltering Sundays at cricket; the cups of tea drunk when somebody had filled the billy from the mess-room, and the days out deerstalking over Jejehari. As far as sport went, BTD was very well supplied. There were two football grounds and they were always in use, either for football, baseball, tabloid sports, or athletics. The main swimming pool, whenever the dam could be kept secure, was excellent and at its best gave a 75-yard stretch of clear deep water. But each company had its own section of the river for swimming and washing, and some of the bank installations, constructed from steel jungle matting, were miracles of engineering. The great hurricane of 18 January 1944, however, and the big floods in February, made havoc of the river banks from which they never recovered.

No history of BTD could be written without mention of the bands, both the brass and the pipe variety. These two noisy organisations were inherited from the Ruahines and the Scots respectively, and were employed in BTD as a disciplinary measure in as much as no one could resort to the old excuse for late rising: 'I didn't hear the reveille bugle,' if the band had first paraded its blistering din outside his tent flap. This was not their only offence, however. During the day they would retire to the bush behind the MT park, and from there would emit such howlings and wailings as were never heard even in hell. Often these would continue late into the night until someone yelled: 'For God's sake kill that snake!' No wonder men wanted to get out of BTD as quickly as possible!

Bourail Club came to play a big part in the camp's social life. The presence of the other sex so close at hand, although it gave rise to much heated controversy, imparted not a little smartness and life to the camp. Also, its comfort was a palliative to the uncouth tent life, and the meals there were a pleasant, if frugal, change. For many, the Bourail Club softened the blow of return to civilisation. At least it compelled them to moderate their flow of language.

Apart from large institutions like the club, there were many minor peculiarities which distinguished BTD. There was Horace, for example, the pet deer who used to appear on wing parade alongside the major, and usually insisted on doing the inspection with him. There was the youngest Coulson in his floppy hat and blue pants, trudging barefoot behind the cattle. There was Boujieres with his arms full of washing, and Monsieur Tulu, the Kanaka, who rode through the camp on a horse. There were the beer queues, the mess queues, the queues outside the RAP. There was the hurricane blowing the tents flat, and the home-made primuses burning them flat (until a routine order stopped it). There were the glasses 'acquired' from the Bourail Club (4,000 in all), and the vast blanket-washing that occupied weeks, when 350 posts turned the football ground into a barbed wire entanglement. There were pictures at night with torches on the screen, and there were the crops of rumours chasing each other from impossibility to impossibility. There was the great New Year celebration with the Convalescent Depot concert party doing a harem scene, and two movies on at once, and ice cream by the bucket. There were boxing and wrestling at BRD, and standing still if you got caught outside your tent when retreat sounded. There were the AEFs and the APRs and the periodical stabs in the arm. All these were part and parcel of the life which no one will ever forget, however much they troubled him at the time. All this was BTD.

Base Training Depot was closed on 17 June 1944 by order of the GOC after having been in existence for 15 months. In the last days of its life it had not done much training. In April all the various training schools had been closed down, and the first drafts had been sent back to essential industry. From that time on the camp was a turmoil as successive drafts arrived from the north and had to be accommodated before they, too, left the island. It was obvious then that BTD's function was at an end. It was disbanded, its personnel split up, and its installations taken over by the returning brigades.

Bourail, New Caledonia, showing the site of the various base units. This small town has rarely known busier days than during the New Zealand occupation

Chapter NineArtillery Training Depot

It became necessary in June 1943 to reconstruct certain elements of the force and during this month commanding officers of certain artillery units were constantly in conference with higher authorities. This very materially seemed to spell a move of some sort or other for many of the gunners, and as a result of which conjecture had its usual run on the prospects of the future. In early July the answer to our 'hush hush' period was known, and two of the early settled artillery units in Necal were to be disbanded, namely the 28th Heavy Anti-aircraft Regiment, which had been engaged mainly on aerodrome defence, and the 33rd Heavy Regiment, which had served in a coast role in the Nouméa area. The personnel made available from this contraction would then fill gaps in the field, anti-tank and light AA units which were being brought right up to strength for what appeared to be a move. The set up was to be a training depot, where these people could be re-trained to fit into their various gunner trades of a field division and hence was born ATD. On the morning of 12 July 1943 a small advanced party selected from 33rd Heavy Regiment left Ile Nou for the Nemeara Valley— 120 miles up the main island—where the depot was to be established in the camp being vacated by the Scots Battalion.

The pioneering ability of our rugged predecessors in this area was very much in evidence and the move in of the various units was greatly simplified as a result. However, much work was still ahead to suit the camp to the full requirements of an artillery organisation. The various headquarters and batteries moved in as they were relieved of their operational positions and by the end of July the camp was becoming a virtual hive of industry, and the depot staff and layout went into action under the following directions:—

Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel B. Wicksteed; Second-in-command, Major J. R. Marshall; Adjutant, Captain E. J. Manders; Quartermaster, Captain I. H. B. Dixon; CIG, Captain I. C. Young; RSM, Mr. J. Col-clough; RQMS, Sergeant-Major N. I. Ifwerson; 'A' Battery, field and anti-tank trainees commanded by Major R. Wilde-Browne; 'B' battery, light AA trainees com-manded by Major H. L. G. Macindoe.

There had been a very small artillery training centre as a 'wing' of BTD in operation, and comprising mainly ex-Norfolk personnel. This merged with us in the Nemeara Valley as part of the general plan. Naturally it took a while to sort things out but this phase passed with surprising quickness and we were functioning properly by early August.

After having lived a fairly independent life in our various and scattered operational areas, we found a little difficulty in keeping in step with the various do's and don'ts of the base area but we soon learnt their value and necessity. Whilst in operational roles we had lived very close and in hand with our revered allies. Many very fine friends and contacts had been made but now 120 miles separated us from most of them and this presented difficulties, which in many ways could only be overcome by reading our base instructions to their utmost limits. This resulted in the existence of a very 'fluid' situation for some months, bringing with it many attendant headaches. It did not take us very long to chum up with our various base relatives and we were always glad to fraternise with them in training, sport and recreation, which usually terminated with most energetic conviviality.

The task ahead was indeed a big one for all branches of the depot. Troops, camp equipment, and general stores were arriving almost daily with each draft of unit personnel. This stretched A and Q branches to their limits. On top of this the division was on the eve of departure for the forward area and this meant a possible call for trained and equipped reinforcements. The saying 'Once a gunner always a gunner' is very true, but no matter how adept he may be, it takes more than a day or two to convert his thoughts from static conditions to an essentially mobile role. In addition to which the task of conversion from one equipment to another takes time.

These problems were somewhat aggravated by a lack of equipment for the training of such a large and varied group, consequently the chief instructor of gunnery, Captain Young, and his staff had their work cut out for a considerable time until a full complement of equipment arrived from New Zealand. Having been employed so long in their irksome but necessary static role of just watching and waiting, these fellows had just about given up hope, of seeing any fun, so that it can be understood that the change over to field, anti-tank and light AA gave a tremendous fillip to morale. Here was a chance of getting a crack after all, consequently everyone went to the task of learning with a will which helped the training staff immensely.

The rugged country surrounding the depot supplied ideal training areas for all branches of operations and the necessary schemes in keeping with the type of warfare to be expected were soon 'cooked up.' Perhaps the most interesting of these was the jungle range located just off the main north road, close by the base engineer organisation. This gave most realistic conditions and was something quite new in the game of gunners—the answers for once were not in the book. The procedure adopted had to be meticulously accurate and, if never before, the gunner was very much in the infanteers position—right out in front. If he did not do the right thing he had an excellent chance of shaking hands with shells from his own guns. It always seemed to rain when one of these shoots was planned and all who went into the OP will remember the thrill of being knee or waist deep in water with shells bursting just a few yards ahead.

A very keen interest was taken in our training by our opposite number, BTD, and an interchange of infantry and artillery officers proved a great boon to the respective problems of both corps. Treks and full scale field exercises were, of course, regular happenings for all three sections of the depot. The vigorous conditions up top demanded the highest possible standard of physical fitness and this was very well catered for in the base area. AH through the year, sport of all kinds was constantly to the fore. The depot contributed its full share to these activities with quite a measure of success and managed to pull off a number of the base titles, in addition to which our own sports officers utilised every possible local resource to the best advantage. Perhaps the best known of these was our swimming carnivals held in the depot pool. This was a lovely spot and looked a fairyland when lit and dressed for the evening fixtures held there. The intensive way in which the conversion training had to be tackled also demanded a pleasant and yet useful change—sport filled this need in a dual way.

Casualties forward were constantly occurring and in consequence notice to move up was sometimes short. This had the desired effect on all ranks and no one wanted to miss his turn through some minor physical deficiency. On 9 November 1943 we lost our CO.. Lieutenant-Colonel Wicksteed, who left to take over the 17th NZ Field Regiment. He was replaced by Major J. R. Marshall, who was equally popular. Unfortunately he left shortly afterwards to return to New Zealand and was replaced on 30 November 1943 by Major N. W. M. Hawkins, who remained with us until the depot closed officially in May 1944.

With 1943 drawing to a close, thoughts turned to the matter of festive celebrations and all that they mean to a fellow when he is separated from his home. For quite a number, forced absence from home at such a time had become just the general order of things, but it never detracted one bit from a desire to eat, drink and be merry. An energetic committee was formed and plans were immediately hatched for a real 'blockbuster.' Regimental funds received a nasty jolt, on top of which the regular ration was considerably augmented and all messes were dressed with a resplendence of greenery, while the main brace was well and truly spliced.

It was the gunner's day out and in true fashion he was waited on by the depot officers and sergeants and for once in his life exercised his prerogative to the full. Along with all the other units in the base we had a visit from the base commandant on Christmas Day. Again the boys seized their opportunity and perhaps for the first time in his life the brigadier nearly had a charge of 'failure to comply' on his file. He was greeted most enthusiastically in 'B' battery mess and was offered a drink by one of our 'clay bird' friends. This he very politely refused, the reason being fairly obvious as the road in front was still a long one. However, 'No' was apparently not the correct answer and our 'clay bird' in most definite terms made it an order. 'Have a —— drink, "brig,"' and the 'brig' had one. It was such incidents as this that made one feel the full value of our democracy.

Sport and purely physical training, although most essential, has to be tempered with a certain measure of social activity and in this respect we were particularly well catered for. The amphitheatre which the Scots had constructed gave a good foundation to this side of our life and many bright and enjoyable evenings were filled in attending picture programmes and outdoor concerts. In addition to which the splendid YMCA bure was extensively used when weather precluded an outdoor performance-It was perhaps natural to expect an enthusiastic response to any social activity produced, but we were fortunate in the number of people who were always willing to give their time and thought to all manner of entertainment. To go into details of personalities in this short narrative is impossible but to recall a few of the outstanding ones—Election Night, 25 September 1943, when the 'Y' bloke, Len Piper, did such a good job—the all day sports meeting under the direction of Lieutenant Cleal on 23 October 1943. That well-kept secret, 'The New Year Honours,' held in the YMCA on the night of 3 January 1944. This was hatched with such secrecy and mystery that it has never been possible to trace its founders, but on pure assumption the following people could have had something to do with its production, Padre Murray, Lieutenant Bill Harvey, Sergeants Dick Lord, Baldy Walton and Doc Bennett—this performance was really a classic. Then, on 12 March 1944, an enthusiastic team from the sergeants' mess organised and ran the autumn meeting of the Néméara Jockey Club. This proved a huge success and swelled the regimental funds purse again after the severe attack made on it for our Christmas and New Year celebrations. Wherever it was possible we always made sure that the feminine touch was in evidence, and at most of our entertainments and mess life, parties of nursing sisters and WAACs were present; their uniforms and charm always just topping off our best efforts.

The degree to which this can be accurately measured is confirmed beyond doubt in the two service weddings of which the depot was very proud. That of Staff-Sergeant M. A. Iggulden and Private Betty Findlay, WAAC: on 5 February 1944; and Lieutenant W. Cox and Sister Janet Middleton, NZANS, on 22 April 1944. In addition, Sergeant C. Coates further cemented allied relations when he married Miss Héléne Berger, a French lass-, in. Nouméa on 27 November 1943.

With the New Year training in particular was able to proceed on much more elaborate lines as the necessary equipment became available and some very heavy exercises were undertaken, and despite the fact that demands for reinforcements had not been as great as anticipated, enthusiasm was still high. The division had been away quite a considerable time and in April came talk of their return to base for a spell. Our greatest hopes were realised when we were instructed to conduct a reconnaissance of the area surrounding the depot, as the divisional artillery were to settle around us. This task was readily tackled with a will as it meant a real gunners get-together, the first in the history of the force, and apart from that we wanted to give them all that was possible in comfort after their sojourn further north. Following closely on the heels of this great piece of news came our equally great blow in the form of the New Zealand manpower requirements. All sorts of conjecture arose as to how and when it would operate, all of which had a most unsettling effect on life generally. The first move came very quickly when the first draft for return was selected from personnel already in the base. This had the effect of taking about two-thirds of our strength, which in turn meant closing a large part of the depot area. This task was a disheartening one—virtually undoing the good work of so many people who had taken a pride in their efforts—but there it was. Those of us who were left were still looking forward to that great reunion when the division returned and our now depleted strength got on with the task of preparing all our stores and equipment for return to ordnance. Towards the end of April the division's move back commenced and we were able to put into effect our home-coming plans. No effort was spared in welcoming these follows after their arduous life 'up top' and the depot took on a new lease of life again as the work of unit advanced parties proceeded in preparation for the main drafts as they arrived. By early June the place was again a hive of industry and it was good to see the YMCA and the canteen going flat out. The hillsides were again restored to something of their old condition—tent lamps glowed through the niaouli trees and a general air of conviviality was about.

The function of the depot had now been completed and the then small residue of personnel were posted to divisional artillery units. It had always endeavoured to maintain its purpose as the gunners' 'home.' Many had been disappointed in not getting a crack at the enemy in the forward area but all were agreed that so far as conditions would permit, all had been done to fit all ranks for whatever task lay ahead. This short narrative would not be complete without a word of thanks to the base commandant and his staff for their keen interest in our problems and efforts. At all times there was an attentive ear to any difficulties and the utmost co-operation in our many training and recreational functions. There were much worse places to spend a tour of duty than under the care of 3rd NZ Div Base, Bourail.

Chapter Ten15th Brigade Headquarters

The decision to form a third infantry brigade, the 15th, was taken in December 1942. It was originally to consist of two battalions, 1st Ruahine and 1st Scots, but it was always understood that a third battalion was to be added at a later date. Brigadier L. G. Goss was appointed to command this brigade and to him was left the task of obtaining in New Zealand a nucleus brigade staff, the remainder of which was to be formed within the brigade overseas.

The brigade commander with the staff captain (Captain L. B. Collins) proceeded to New Caledonia on 29 December 1943. The remainder of the nucleus brigade staff, that is the acting brigade major (Captain Y. K. Fleming) and the intelligence officer, Lieutenant (Temporary Captain) F. M. Foster, an intelligence sergeant, a batman-driver and a cook-storeman, proceeded to New Caledonia with the bulk of the division from Auckland on 29 November.

Owing to the absence from the division of two battalions of the 8th Brigade which were employed as temporary garrisons in Pacific islands, the battalions in the division were re-arranged, 1st Ruahine Battalion being allotted to the 8th Brigade and 37th Battalion coming into the 15th Brigade. The Scots, 37th Battalion and the remainder of the nucleus brigade headquarters arrived in New Caledonia very early in January 1943 and the 15th Brigade was allotted an area on the road from Bourail to Houailou—one of the most beautiful though rainiest areas on tne islands.

The 37th Battalion built its camp on the bank of the Houailou River and about nine miles from the village of the same name which is on the north-east coast of the island. The remainder of the brigade and several divisional units had their camps in the Néméara area, some ten miles from Bourail. All units were allotted camps either on the banks of a river, or within two or three minutes' walk from one, and in all cases excellent swimmingfacilities either existed or were rapidly constructed. Above all the area was probably the least frequented by the various species of mosquito found in New Caledonia.

The summer of 1942-43 was notable for heavy rain and humid conditions which lasted well into May. The rainfall brottght its problems as the local streams rose alarmingly, carrying away bridges and dams and making construction of camp roads and tracks very difficult. However, by the end of January all units by hard work had constructed very comfortable camps. Training was hampered very much by the necessity for providing guards and working parties, but weapon training, minor tactics and jungle training were carried out to the fullest extent possible.

The early days in New Caledonia would have produced com-plete boredom but for the hard work entailed in camp construc-tion. In such humid conditions all hands were tired out by nighttime and had little interest in much else but sleep. By the middle of February camps were in the main completed and the men were able to take advantage of such entertainment as was available. By this time picture shows were staged twice a week for all units, an open air threatre to seat about 2,000 was well under way and splendid performances were staged by various units, notably the 37th Battalion and later 1st Scots. American USO parties of entertainers also began to arrive and these amenities did much to relieve the monotony of training and working parties in a rather uncomfortable climate and far from civilisation. Early in April the 37th Battalion left the brigade and the 1st Battalion, Ruahine Regiment, joined and took over their camp.

As working parties and guards diminished, training was in-tensified and a graduated course of route marching was undertaken. After six weeks of such training units were able to undertake, without distress, marches of over 20 miles with full kit for several days in succession.

The 15th Brigade never had a third battalion and the brigade headquarters which was gradually built up by drawing personnel from 1st Ruahine and 1st Scots was never up to its full strength.

Only such personnel as were actually required for the jobs in hand were asked for from these units. This also applied to the brigade signal section IAD and the brigade defence platoon.

During the early part of May a series of tactical exercises without troops for senior officers of the brigade, with representatives of other arms, was carried out and from 31 May until 2 June the brigade, with units of other arms under command, carried out a brigade defence exercise under the direction of the divisional commander. On Monday, 7 June, the brigade and other units in the brigade area carried but a ceremonial parade in celebration of the King's Birthday. The salute was taken by the divisional commander and was attended by the French Governor of New Caledonia. The parade, which consisted of an inspection, march past and advance in review order, was made up of the following units:—HQ 8th Infantry Brigade and LAD: 144th Light Battery NZA; 23rd Field Company NZE; 8th Brigade Signal Section; 1st Ruahine Battalion; 1st Scots Battalion; 29th Composite Company ASC; and B Company 7th Field Ambulance. The band of 1st Ruahine and the pipe band of 1st Scots supplied the music for the inspection, Royal salute and march past.

On 30 June official advice was published that the division would in future contain only two brigades and that the 15th Brigade was to be disbanded immediately. Personnel thus disbanded were to be used to make up deficiences in the other brigades and to form a reinforcement pool. This disbandment was completed by 10 July.

Chapter ElevenThe Scots

For the purpose of a history of the 2nd NZEF IP, the story of the 1st Battalion NZ Scottish Regiment begins when it was a territorial unit in camp at Tauherinikau, just out of Featherston. The battalion was at that time being trained, in common with most territorial units, for the defence of New Zealand. Towards the end of September 1942 information came that the battalion, together with the 1st Battalion Ruahine Regiment, and some ancillary services, was to become part of what was eventually known as the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the Pacific. The reaction of the troops to this news was, generally speaking, one of pleasurable excitement, except in the case of a few unfortunates who were debarred on account of age or medical grading. At that time it will be remembered that the age for home defence was lower than that for overseas service, and we had more than a sprinkling of young men. The majority of the under age group were very disappointed at being left behind, they being original members of the battalion.

Final leave over and done with, work began in earnest to bring the battalion equipment up to war establishment. This task would have been more bearable had it not been for such unpleasant interludes as vaccinations and dental treatments. At this stage Lieutenant-Colonel K. B. McKenzie Muirson, MC, took command of the battalion in succession to Lieutenant-Colonel J. L. McAllister, Since it had now become obvious that any fighting in the Pacific would be against the Japanese, there was a good deal of interest, not to say pleasure, shown by the troops when Japanese prisoners from the nearby POW camp were brought in to clean up the camp area. After the battalion returned from final leave, it was moved by trucks to Linton where it underwent the final stages prior to embarkation. At this camp the training was intensified and stress laid on jungle training (so far as we knew it), general range work, and long, hard treks. We were conscious during this period of the disadvantage of not having been included with the rest of the division in the jungle training in the Kaimais.

Outstanding recollections of our days in Linton must include the now famous haircut when, as the result of an order, every member of the battalion became the proud possessor of a 'convict cut.' Loud were the lamentations of the lads who had previously possessed fine locks of hair. Another memory was of the slugging work put in, shifting and packing the whole of the battalion stores by hand into 'two-man loads.' This was made necessary by an order to the effect that all stores may have to be 'man handled' at destination. This order gave rise to a fresh crop of the usual army rumours, everyone of us at one stage or another pictured ourselves sweating over the stores on the 'Kokoda Trail' or was it to be the Burma Road? The final two nights when, since all tents and equipment had gone, we slept where we could—if we could, will be remembered by all. There was also the occasion just prior to embarkation when a very important personage tried by all means to obtain special leave for a member of the battalion. The wires hummed, and there was a great rushing hither and thither, but to his credit our commanding officer was quite stubborn and refused to allow any privileges to any individuals. His final answer was that the man concerned could certainly have extra leave, provided every other man in the battalion was so treated.

Early in the morning of 23 December 1942 the battalion entrained at Linton siding where we proceeded to Wellington and embarked there on the USS West Point. Our desire to be first in all things here served us ill. Being the first battalion to go aboard this ship, we were disgusted to find that the vessel was to be loaded from the keel up, and the men of 1st Scots were as far down in the ship's hold as it was possible to go. On a ship of the size of the West Point, as any ex-Scot will tell you, this is a long way down. We also had the doubtful honour of being chosen as the unit to supply ship's police. When the ship was at Auckland and remained there for three days at Christmas time, this job was definitely no sinecure. Loud and bitter were the wailings of the Aucklanders, forced to stay on a crowded ship, within a metaphorical stone's throw of their own homes.

The trip to New Caledonia was uneventful, but in a ship carrying well over 6,000 men small discomforts are only to be expected. The factor that upset the sun-loving New Zealanders more than anything was the restriction that allowed each man on deck for only one hour each day. On the arrival of the West Point at Nouméa an advanced party comprising four officers and 50 men left the ship for what was to be the area allotted to our battalion. On 1 January disembarkation of the battalion commenced by means of lighter from ship to shore. The only train on the only stretch of rail on the island, 30 miles in length, was the means of transport to the staging camp at Dumbea. It was an amazing contraption, comprising a locomotive, approximating to the small engines used in the average New Zealand freezing works, and carriages reminiscent of George Stephenson's railway pioneering days. As the train pulled out from the docks the troops burst into a spontaneous bleating and other animal noises, indicative of their impressions at the time. Dumbea was, of course, a staging camp only, and within three or four days the battalion was on the road—and what a road!—to its eventual camp area at Nemeara, about 120 miles north.

During those three days, the impressions we gained were to last us during our stay on the island. The troops were impressed mostly with the heat—remember this was midsummer—then the incessant cloud of burning dust, and the ever present mosquitoes, which proved in the months to come to be persistence personified. Green hills and bush were almost non-existent, The country at the time was a uniform dun colour, sparsely patched with the ubiquitous and straggling niaouli. It was here that the New Zealanders were given their first taste of American rations, and although its novelty at the time and the abundance of tinned fruits and juices created a good impression, this was to change rapidly with meal after meal of spam, chili-con-carne, and those horrible little objects known as Vienna sausages. It was at Dumbéa that the natural forethought of the Scot came to nought. The battalion had accumulated in New Zealand and had taken with it to New Caledonia many canteen delicacies in the food line.

One fateful night some of our most prized foodstuffs were 'engineered' into the blue, but we failed to obtain evidence of our suspicions and salvaged only the empty tins.

The road to Nemeara, which was to become so familiar to, and so hated by, the New Zealand truck drivers, was at that stage 120 miles of burning dust and pot holes. It was a good introduction to the area which was to be our new home. The vehicles turned in an old 'gate' along an old farm track to the side of a stream running through virgin New Caledonian niaouli clad hills—this was it. Our first job, company areas having been allotted, was obviously to turn the wilderness into 'home.' Only when one starts on such an undertaking does one realise the amount of work involved. The first and most obvious difficulties were the opening of a quarry—for we had to make our own roads—the clearing of the area, and the erection of tents for living quarters, stores, mess-huts, headquarters, and recreation. There was, of course, the building of the cookhouses, the fording of the river and, until we were able to establish our own point, every drop of water for cooking and drinking represented a 26-mile run for the water cart Now the total capacity o£ a water cart is 132 gallons, so one needs little imagination to realise just how precious that water was when spread over 800 or so men. However, gradually the camp took shape, and before many months the men of the battalion made themselves personally comfortable, had erected a bridge and had built large bures for such essential buildings as cookhouses and mess huts, and had even produced a stage in a natural amphitheatre, which was the envy of units in the vicinity. We were lucky in that the camp area contained, as part of its river, a large hole which was ideal for swimming, for in the New Caledonian climate swimming was the only sport that was not rendered either impossible or at least uncomfortable by the heat. It was no uncommon sight to see up to 500 men swimming at the top end of the pool, and industriously washing clothes near the outlet. Our own water point was constructed by damming a section of the river and manufacturing some hundreds of yards of water piping out of heavy bamboo. This primitive reticulation system worked amazingly well and saved an enormous amount of time, petrol, and trouble until the brigade water point was established close by the Mission and within a mile of our own camp.

One of the bad moments in the history of the Scots Battalion at Néméara was the discovery among its stores of a refrigerator belonging to a brigadier of another brigade. The very fact that it had been 'discovered' by the Scots Battalion appeared to reduce the value of our explanations and protestations, and certainly gave rise to a certain amount of frivolous comment. To this day no one, even the Quartermaster 'Old Bill' can give a reasonable explanation of its inclusion with the bagpipes and other warlike impedimenta.

As soon as the battalion had become reasonably settled training started again, this time under conditions approximating to what we believed would be the real thing. Our range, which we had built in the hills, echoed all day with the crack of the rifle and the chatter of the automatic. Parties were continually disappearing, fully laden, into the heat and dust, as actual combat conditions as far as possible were the aim of the commanding officer. Being brigaded we had such extra duties as the supply of guards for the detention barracks and hospital, the usual working parties to brigade, and even a platoon which relieved a French detachment of coast watchers at Cap Goulvain, on the west coast. Among the arduous duties that the battalion was called upon to perform about this time was the identification and pin pointing of trails as shown on existing maps. This was important in the event of action in New Caledonia, but meant, as can be imagined, weeks of painstaking and gruelling expeditions through the rugged hinterland. One that will never be forgotten by those who took part in it was the testing of the nutritious value of the chocolate ration. Small parties of men were sent on trek, carrying with them the emergency ration only, and asked to live on it for days at a time, but still do a normal output of work. It will probably be years before any of those men will ever again sample even the tastiest of chocolate. They had it dry, they had it baked, they boiled it, they melted it, they mixed it with odd handsful of rice and raisins, but no matter how it was dressed up, it tasted exactly like chocolate. The results of the experiments, which were painstaking, were disappointing. Different men were affected in different ways. Some of the men, by the end of six days, simply could not keep the stuff down.

In June full scale brigade manoeuvres were held within the brigade area. Three full days were spent out in the blue under conditions as close to the real thing as could be. Looking back, most of the time seemed to be spent endeavouring to alter the landscape with pick and shovel. Every conceivable excavation a la pamphlet was dug, plus many more. At the completion of the exercise all 'holes' had to be filled in. To us this seemed unnecessary, as no beast could possibly live on such waste country. However, maybe the ghost of some Frenchman with the usual claim for 40 million francs in his hand hovered over the powers that be—who knows?

In common with all troops on the island, we were forced to make most of our own amusements. Naturally the construction of a football ground was given a high priority, and the battalion won its fair share of honours in outdoor sports. Indoor entertainment was always more difficult, but this was partially overcome by the organising of our own concert party under the aegis of 'Waddi' and the interchange of parties and artists with other units. We owe a debt of gratitude to the National Patriotic Fund Board which helped to furnish, with such items as ping-pong tables, dart boards, etc, our recreational bures. The New Zealand soldier is fairly competent when it comes to improvisation, and the men of the Scots Battalion were no exception to the rule. On three occasions the battalion organised a race meeting in the approved army style, where the horses moved somewhat jerkily, according to the throw of dice. However, the essentials, primarily a totalisator, were supplied, and were most definitely patronised. These meetings proved an outstanding success and added considerably to the enjoyment of what was normally an extremely monotonous existence. Haggis, the unit newspaper run by our adjutant was, in common with most contemporary publications, designed to create amusement by describing in no uncertain manner the amusing daily incidents of the camp, and the personal peculiarities of its occupants.

Two soldiers, who will forever remember the camp at Nemeara, will carry with them till their dying days memories of some unusual explosions. The camp latrines, for reasons of hygiene, were built away from the river and well up the hill-These two men, during one of our periodic outbreaks of dysentery, crawled up the hill in the early hours of the morning under difficulties. One of them, in search for black widow spiders, and the other in a moment of mental aberration, dropped naked lights down the hole. The average civilian is unaware of the explosive properties of gases generated by spent American rations, but these two men, both of whom recovered in hospital, will bear witness to the violence of the resultant detonation.

One of the highlights of our history in New Caledonia, short as it was, was the King's Birthday parade in June of 1943, when Major-General H. E. Barrowclough, CB, DSO, MC, his Excellency the Governor of New Caledonia, and the Commander-in-Chief of the French Forces reviewed the 15th Brigade, of which we were a part. The parade included an inspection, advance In review order, and a march past, and judging from observers' comments and the report in the Kiwi press it was an outstanding success. The battalion pipe band was, of course, very much in evidence. This band made quite a name for itself, and since its members wore kilt, was a source of never-failing interest to French and American audiences. Although the original band had been sadly depleted when we became part of the NZEF IP, training and constant practice for the newcomers had produced a pipe band of which everyone was proud. At the request of allied authorities the band was in evidence at many functions in Nouméa. At one such function in honour of the French Governor, so impressed was this dignatory by their performance that he invited the bandsmen into his bar and gave them carte blanche with his whisky. The temptation for Scotsmen was naturally too strong, and the commandant of Nouméa transit camp had a busy and almost exciting afternoon salvaging the scattered remnants of a proud race.

Towards the end of June the battalion was assembled and given its worst news. Without even the common army rumour to give us an inkling of what was to happen the battalion was paraded before Brigadier L. G. Goss and informed by the GOC of his decision to disband the 15th Brigade. Apparently manpower difficulties had arisen in New Zealand, and it was not possible at that time to maintain a flow of reinforcements to the division. The Scots and Ruahine Battalions, with subsidiary units, were to become reinforcements to our remaining two brigades. It would be hopeless to try and express the appalling feeling of frustration and disappointment. The battalion, of which all of us had become so fond and for which we had worked so hard; was to disappear. Men were to become numbers in a training depot, and the home we had built was to be handed over to the gunners.

Since this decision spelt the termination of 1st Battalion, NZ Scottish Regiment, so far as the 2nd NZEF IP was concerned, it is fitting to conclude this history by quoting its death warrant:—

Special Order of the Day

It is with very great regret that I have to announce that it has been decided that this division will be reorganised on a two brigade basis. This will necessitate the disbandment of two of our infantry units—the First Battalion of the Ruahine Regiment and the First Battalion of the Scottish Regiment. An infantry battalion is much more than a mere tactical unit. It is a band of men associated together by a strong bond of comradeship and brotherhood in arms. It is an association that is unique in human experience and there is nothing less than tragedy in the contemplation of the breaking up of such a special community.

I need hardly say that the decision to disband these two fine battalions was accepted only because it was inevitable. The demand for men, already very considerable in respect of New Zealand's commitments in the Middle East, has been accentuated by the expansion of the RNZAF. The requirements of industry for war production are increasing rather than diminishing. New Zealand simply cannot, at this juncture, bring the Third (NZ) Division to full strength and furnish adequate reinforcements. The Ruahines and the Scots must be used as reinforcements for the other two brigades or our very existence as a division would be impossible.

A soldier suffers many vicissitudes of fortune and many disappointments. There can be no greater disappointment than that which is felt by the soldier who is compelled to sever his association with the regiment of which he is a part and of which he is so justly proud. On behalf of every member of this force I wish to tender to the commanding officers and members of the Ruahines and the Scots our sincerest sympathy with them in the disbandment of the battalions which they are compelled to leave and a warm welcome into the ranks of any infantry battalion to which they may ultimately be posted. We shall indeed be proud to have them serve with us.

(Sgd.) H. E. Barrowclough Major-General.

Moindah

1 July 1943

Chapter TwelveThe Ruahines

The Ruahine Regiment, with a proud record in World War I, went into recess many years ago to emerge, when danger threatened, from the 2nd Hawke's Bay late in 1941. With the Japanese threat imminent, the 1st Battalion Ruahine Regiment was mobilised under command of Lieutenant-Colonel G. G. Hancox, ED, as part of army reserve troops in the 7th Brigade Group under Brigadier Parkinson. After long months of varied training at Solway, a flood of rumours culminated in the fact that on 8 October 1942 the battalion was told that it was to be transferred to the Third New Zealand Division and to proceed on active service—the only territorial infantry battalion in New Zealand to be represented overseas as a formed unit in both the 1st NZEF in 1914-18 (then as the Ruahine Company of the Wellington Battalion) and in the 2nd NZEF, and thus, to the justifiable pride of its members and the inheritors of its traditions, the senior infantry battalion of the 2nd NZEF, wherever serving.

Morale reached a record high level and haste was apparent everywhere. Men were graded, marched out and marched in. The battalion lost its commanding officer, and received men from all over New Zealand, though the great bulk of the battalion was representative of its home area. The new CO was Lieutenant-Colonel C. N. Devery, DCM, from 2nd Hawke's Bay. Regimental funds were used to procure articles estimated to be of value overseas, and then one cold morning in November the battalion left what had been in spite of all difficulties a happy camp, en route for Linton where for some weeks training was revised, and the men revelled in the luxury of a built camp with certain amenities. Equipment was completed, checked, packed, unpacked, and packed again as a spate of orders and countermanding orders reached us. Bumff' reached a new high level. Bedcots were finally unpacked from the trucks on the very morning of embarkation. The matter of Christmas leave which had been a burning question for some time was finally settled by orders to embark at Wellington on the West Point—a pre-war luxury liner—on the morning of Christmas Eve 1942.

What a morning! Wind blew and rain fell in torrents, and it was a mass of very wet humanity that boarded a crowded train at Linton, embarked at noon, and early next morning found themselves steaming through the heads.. With our shorn Scots comrades we had a very pleasant trip to Auckland where, after several days tied up at the wharf, we set out to sea again, going one knew not where for certain, but with the very conscious feeling that half of Auckland must have come aboard. From then on conditions were cramped to say the least, and the long interminable queues for the two meals a day will never be forgotten, The ship's crew did its best for all until the ship arrived in Nouméa Harbour on New Year's Day 1943. After a few days at anchor, basking in the sun, the battalion transhipped on to a smaller vessel which made its way north-west to Nepoui. Here there was one small wharf, and after much manoeuvring and volumes of shouting the ship was secured and the battalion disembarked immediately. The waiting trucks were packed, and as the battalion journeyed late on that afternoon of Monday 4 January 1943 over narrow, dusty, dirt roads to the staging camp the first impressions of the new home were being crystallized. First impressions—a long winding hill up the side of a valley, red dust covering the trees, the trucks, the men, and most thoroughly, the following trucks of men; trees, trees, and more trees covering hills, hills and more hills, and the hills all seemed much the same and the eternal niaouli trees were much the same. It was not an impression of invigorating energy and keen excitement; there was keen expectation but an impression of a strange yet monotonous similarity that was later to become oppressive. That night the battalion dossed down in the already erected tents at the staging camp at the head of the Nepoui valley, while a small advanced party of each company Was busy preparing the first camp a few miles up the valley. The following day the battalion descended upon the nucleus of a camp and eagerly set to work to

A view of the base camp reception hospital, with the base hygiene section's workshop in the foreground. The hills in the background are typical of the New Caledonian landscape

The entrance to the camp of the 4th Motor Ambulance Convoy

As it was in the beginning—one of the wards of the 4th General Hospital at Boguen during an inspection by the Governor-General, Sir Cyril Newall. Below: The change—a ward of the new prefabricated hospital at Dumbéa make its home. Axes rang out and hammers could be heard as cookhouses were formed of niaouli and tarpaulin. Messing improvements followed. This clearing, which became the home of the battalion for the next few weeks, with its bush on the right and sizable river on the left, was not without its attractions, and although mosquito nets were necessary at night the pests were not unduly troublesome It was the considered opinion of the battalion, however, that this valley was the world's business centre for the red ant population, and a vicious, meddling, food stealing people they were. Men soon learned to raise the legs of their cots and stand them in water to avoid the carnivorous habits of the little red ant. We were feeling the heat, and the nearby river was a popular and frequent rendezvous. Training started almost immediately.

Scarcely a week had passed when, late one afternoon, warning that a hurricane was approaching came from 8th Brigade Headquarters just down the valley. That night the evening meal did not take long. In those days when food was rather short It seldom did. Tents were struck and lashed to trees; everything was secured; and as night was falling men now grimly aware that in their first bustle and excitement they had stowed their groundsheets away securely were making for the previously arranged company rendezvous in the hills where, in torrential rain but little wind, they sang their way through the night. That night was cold, and by morning rain-drenched men were vigorously running about getting warm. However a hot if not ample breakfast and an early hot sun that day soon made everyone forget the discomfort of the night, and the camp, with several additions, was restored-Hurricane warnings thereafter received the attention they deserved.

The following week sickness visited us but we were soon back in hard training. Concerts with the very considerable assistance of the regimental band were arranged to while away the few short free evenings. Brigade swimming sports found our friendly rivals over the river, the 29th Battalion, easy victors. Changes soon followed. A company, with a platoon of MMG and a section of mortars from D support company went to Plaine des Gaiacs to carry out guard duties on the red sand of the aerodrome; B company, similarly with a portion of D support company moved hurriedly to Ouatom for guard duties on that airfield and most offensive tactics against the persistent mosquito. Few who were on that tour of duty will ever forget the mosquito. The Ruahines travelled much in their six months as a unit in New Caledonia, but at no place did they meet mosquito conditions as bad as they were at Ouatom. It was early February in the heat of summer, and men had to be fully clothed with long trousers, sleeves rolled down, thick jacket, head net and long sleeved gloves. And men were glad to wear them. The little village of La Foa was visited by some, and the French people had to suffer the attempts of New Zealanders to grapple with the intricacies of the language.

Meanwhile the remainder of the battalion, with Major Brit-land as the new second-in-command, vice Major Ron. Fowler, moved to St. Vincent, or as our camp was commonly known, Tontouta, to be joined on 15 February by the rest of the unit. Here amidst caterpillars, ants, and an excessive abundance of mud we tested the country's speed of flooding during tropical downpours. The area was for the most part flat and impossible to drain. It was the wet season. Manoeuvres were carried out daily, and the battalion's manceuvres against the 29th battalion were completed in teeming rain and quagmire. Much of the flat area was flooded, and at night the men slept over a sheet of water six to eight inches deep in their tents. When the water receded, churned up mud remained. However, there were bright sides to the picture Truck loads of men visited the American cinema at the hospital a few miles down the road, and a few even found their way into Nouméa. And then our own New Zealand travelling cinema unit came to the camp. There were difficulties. The pictures, started' the first night, had, owing to breakdowns, to be completed the next, and then without sound for considerable portions of the pictures. These, however, were initial difficulties soon overcome, and the service was a heaven-sent source of entertainment, playing a major part in dissipating the boredom and monotony of free evenings.

Companies were on the move again. A company went to the delightful spot of Saramea, while on 1 March C company, reinforced by a platoon of MMGs and a section of mortars, went to Ouatom for guard duties, whilst B company went through the pass to the very pleasant Thio on the north-east side of the island. At the end of a fortnight these companies returned to the main camp, where Lieutenant-Colonel J. M. Reidy had taken over temporary command of the battalion on Lieutenant-Colonel Devery's return to the staff college in New Zealand, and Lieutenant J. E. Tier had become adjutant, vice Captain Logan. The following week presented plenty of interest. Late in the afternoon of Wednesday, 18 March, rain began to fall in torrents, and by dawn of the 19th water was everywhere. Folds in the ground eight feet deep were overflowing; a tiny bathing stream scarcely three feet deep and ten wide was 20 feet deep and 60 yards across; the very substantial bridge, sufficient to take the heaviest trucks, was washed away. In brief, the camp for some days was, like Gaul, divided into three parts, no one part being able to communicate with the other, except by raft made from petrol drums. Trucks were bogged, and for the following fortnight the very capable drivers had to exercise all their skill in extricating vehicles. Members of headquarters company will remember the rather hilarious rescue by means of ropes, of Major Britland, whose island home was completely surrounded by rushing flood waters.

A change in administration found the Ruahines in the ill-fated 15th Brigade, under command of Brigadier Goss, and on its travels once more, this time, on 3 April, to a charming spot, Nessakouja, just eight miles short of Houailou on the north-east side of the island. Set in most picturesque surroundings opposite the large native village, and skirting an exceedingly popular river, this camp, already established by the 37th Battalion, was soon improved by additional native bures, rifle ranges, grenade ranges, and a combat range. Lieutenant-Colonel C. E. Lees, ED, took over command on 8 April, and remained the commanding officer of the battalion until its disbanding. These were pleasant though strenuous days. Training was hard and with no respite, but our conditions were comfortable. There was a good river to bathe in, plenty of fruit to eat, pictures, perched on the slopes of the transport park, once or twice a week, trips to the Bourai! Beach for some on Sundays. A fine recreational bure and an excellent swimming pool constructed by the busy pioneer platoon under Lieutenant Rutherford, added to our luxuries. The unit was happy and hardworking, and its spirit was high.

Major D. Trevarthan became second-in-command of the battalion, and the company commanders were:—Headquarters com-panycompany, Captain John Conly; A company, Captain H. Glen; B company, Captain D. Cameron; C company, Captain A. Dods; and D (Support) company, Major L. Ross. Captain J. Clarkson remained quartermaster of the battalion throughout its existence. Lieutenant S. M. Jones commanded a very fine intelligence section which knew every track through the bush, and probably had no superiors in the division for bushcraft. Football, on. a reasonably good field, was popular. Our excellent brass band was a wonderful asset, and the French people of the district were most cordial. It is difficult to imagine better relationships existing between two peoples than was the case in this area. In the field of sport the battalion had some great games of football and was narrowly beaten by 1st Scots after a magnificent game, 3-0, while we trounced them at the brigade swimming sports. The brigade athletic meeting produced some fine contests, and the sight of Private Wayman winning the three mile will not easily be forgotten. (Nor will the sight of Private Tully's shorts—or nearly longs—which did not hamper him from winning the shot-putting and anchoring the winning tug-of-war team.) Private Wayman was later to be wounded in the thigh at the Treasuries—may it not hinder his athletic efforts. The brigade commander at the swimming sports suggested a commanding officers' race—a most popular event—and as the long, the short and the tall were preparing, the band played 'In the mood,' and as the trio plunged into the water for their 'dash' the band appropriately rendered 'For those in peril on the sea.'

On 7 June the battalion, which by geographical circumstances usually played a lone hand on the Houailou side of the island, crossed the range to Néméara and joined the remainder of the brigade for the brigade ceremonial parade, when it was inspected by the divisional commander and the French Governor of New Caledonia. A 15th Brigade legend, strenuously denied by all other units of the division (who were not there), holds that the Governor stated that this was the first time he had seen real soldiers in Necal. The brigade was together for a more strenuous period in the Scylla exercise, when it marched towards Cap Goulvain and took up a defensive position on Able and Baker ridges. How hard the ground was, those who dug slit trenches and machine gun posts will remember. The battalion's jeep drivers showed how near to mountaineering that vehicle could come, even if one driver did run down a steep place into the— niaouli. The exercise lasted three days and ended in a very warm march back to Néméara—a march which the battalion did singing.

This may be a suitable place to speak of the fine work of the transport platoon under Lieutenant L. Peters, who was backed up by an excellent team. Not one battalion driver was involved in an avoidable accident during the life of the battalion with the division, and the platoon cheerfully responded to every demand made on it, in spite of having some very 'iffy' trucks and some of the stiffest driving on the island. While at Nessakouja it maintained an unofficial 'breakdown' service to assist allied vehicles which got into difficulties (mainly into rivers and mainly during the week-ends). Two jeep drivers had a hair-raising drive over bridle-tracks to Kouauau Bay, to which place they took a patrol led by Lieutenant S. M. Jones following an urgent report that a Japanese submarine had appeared in that area and had landed men, For a few hours 1st Ruahine had high hopes that it might have the first chance of action in the division. The Nessakouja period involved as part of the scheme of training a number of hard three or four day treks through the bush. Two companies would start out, one at each end of a bush track— usually discernible only on the map—three days apart, and work towards each other. Victory in the 'battle' when they met usually went to the force which first made contact. After the fight the companies would reassemble and pass. The hills were steep and rocky, the bush and lantana thick, and the contrast from the cold of the hilltops to the heat of the valleys made these excursions no trifle. They were, however, more popular than the graduated route-march training laid down by brigade, at the end of which some grand marching was done, though rather perhaps at the expense of the football team, which was not excused. The combat range: fitted up by an enthusiastic party under Major Trevar-than and RSM Finlay, with many surprising targets among the bush and rocks of a steep hillside, provided more popular training, and made a great improvement in quick and accurate shooting.

On 27 June, the 'Palm Grove' rest house was opened a few miles up the river in delightful surroundings. A few parties only from the 15th Brigade were able to make use of it before the unhappy end came, but it was later put to good use as a convalescent camp. On 1 July the GO C addressed the battalion on a special parade and informed all ranks of the impending reorganisation of the division and the disbanding of the 15th Brigade, It was a sad day for the unit was a happy and efficient one. And so the battalion was disbanded. Retreat sounded on the last evening. In the following fortnight men reluctantly scattered, some to complete the establishment of units of 8th Brigade, the others, including most officers, warrant officers and sergeants to base training depot, for the other units were full in these categories. A small party formed the headquarters of field maintenance centre. The only bright spots in this unhappy time were a football match between the officers and the sergeants in which, wonderful to say, the officers ran out the winners, and a letter from Dr. Gabillon, Mayor of Houailou, expressing good wishes, and speaking on behalf of the residents of the district in the highest terms of regard for the battalion.

Regretfully we think of the friendships broken up, and most particularly of those mates of ours whose names appeared later in casualty lists from the forward area. Amongst these was the popular Major Britland who died of wounds on the LST taking him to Guadalcanal, where old members of the Ruahines there serving laid him to rest We remember them with pride, however, as we remember that Corporal Armstrong, who received his decoration for skill and bravery on the Treasuries, was one of ours—the 1st Battalion Ruahine Regiment. Very many of the old battalion saw action—many of them passed through the casualty clearing station on Guadalcanal—and few better than these old wearers of the 'Starfish and Seaweed' ever left New Zealand.

Chapter ThirteenMedical Units

I4th motor ambulance convoy

The 4th Motor Ambulance Convoy was conceived in January 1941, but its period of gestation was long and anxious. It was not until one year later that definite labour pains showed that the unit was not to be a stillborn child of the medical services. Captain E. T. Saunders was the officiating midwife and, in his own peculiar Way, slapped the infant into lusty life and severed the connecting ties with the 10th Field Ambulance. The offspring was small, but its vigorous squawkings soon made all immediate neighbours aware of its existence. Fed on a typical army diet it showed small increase in size until it was decided that red tape was the retarding influence. From the moment that this was eschewed from the diet, it quickly gained strength and size until the encouraging figure of 53 all ranks, 15 ambulances and one dog was announced as its official weight.

For ten months the 4th MAC was stationed at Greytown where the salubrious climate proved greatly beneficial to its well-being. During this period we trained and absorbed all the information that the army insists on being taught in the fond delusion that it will be of use to soldiers overseas. About October 1942 the powers above decided that such a vigorous and well-behaved child deserved no less a fate than to be allowed to grow to manhood in the tender care of the Third New Zealand Division. After the usual indescribable confusion attending such events, the unit was safely-conveyed to the scene of future operations and the first motor ambulance convoy to leave New Zealand shores, greeted its new home—La Nouvelle Calédonie—early in January 1943.

Those at home soon knew from our letters how we had journeyed through submarine-haunted, shark-infested waters; how we landed in morasses of mud at the grim and unwelcoming port of Nepoui; and how we eventually struggled to a halt at Moindah. Apart from the fact that we had no rations for three days, no transport and no home, the boys were reasonably cheerful at the prospect of (living dangerously.' The OC's habit of sleeping with a loaded tommy gun beside his bed made the night pickets avoid his tent as a plague spot. However, initial feelings of nervousness soon subsided and those condemned to night wanderings decided that every niaouli tree did not harbour the cohorts of 'Tojo.' The unit quickly settled into its routine of carrying the sick, the dying and the dead. Any spare time was fully occupied with the never finished work of fatigues and camp building. Ambulance cars were stationed out with the field ambulances of the three brigades in the north, centre and south of the island, at 4th NZ General Hospital at Boguen Valley, at Base Camp Reception Hospital at Téné Valley and at Nouméa. Thus the entire island was well serviced by our vehicles. During these early days the difficulty of replacement of vehicle parts, the really appalling condition of the roads and the considerable mileage travelled by the cars (32,000 miles in one monthly peak period), made it necessary for constant and careful checking of all vehicles to be maintained. The work of our mechanical staff and of the drivers in charge cannot be too highly praised.

As we had arrived in Necal early in January, we did not have long to wait for the rainy season. The land soon became an endless series of muddy vistas. Roads flooded so quickly that vehicles out on jobs were frequently marooned. Fortunately, such conditions lasted for only two or three months and thereafter one drove through a continuous haze of dust and more dust. The mosquito, too, was most annoying to the tenderly nurtured Kiwis but eventually we accepted him along with the spam and chili con carne of the American rations. An ambitious drainage scheme which we hoped would decimate the island's mosquito population was put under way but unfortunately was never carried to a conclusion. At this stage, May 1943, the authorities decided that the ideal site from which our motor ambulance convoy should direct operations was not Moindah, but from a hill covered with guava and niaouli trees, infested with red ants and mosquitoes and liable to be isolated at certain seasons by flooding. So in our covered waggons we trekked south to the Racecourse Camp at Téné Valley—that garden suburb of the NZEF IP in New Caledonia Here our growing pains began anew but the result was a camp of which our new officer commanding, Captain R. G. G. Wilson, could and did frequently say, 'Home was never like this.'

When the 4th NZ General Hospital removed to a site in the Dumbéa Valley near Nouméa, a section of 12 ambulance cars was attached to it there. Our vehicle strength by this time had increased to 40, 28 being ambulance cars. Unfortunately our personnel strength remained unchanged and the secession of this comparatively large section to ' 4th General' caused much juggling of personnel to maintain a driver for each vehicle. The transporting of sick and wounded New Zealanders and Fijians evacuated from the Solomons, from sea and air ports to hospital, transferring patients to the convalescent depot, and performing the hundred and one jobs required of ambulances by a hospital, kept the section fully occupied. Personnel claimed that they were happy at this location because they were kept busy, but outside opinion maintained that the presence of Waacs and proximity to the flesh pots of Nouméa enhanced '4th General's' popularity. The establishment of a further section at the convalescent depot and hospital at Kalavere further depleted the numbers at our headquarters until at times the camp assumed the aspect of a ghost town haunted by an OC, our senior NCO, Staff-Sergeant 'Mac' McMillan, our artist and quartermaster, Staff-Sergeant 'Pete' Petrie, the orderly room' stooge,' Corporal Bob Kennerley and our inimitable cook, Private Hec Webber. The deficiencies in our numbers were more than often balanced, however, by an ever-increasing flow of visitors who had heard of the delicacies which emanated from Hec's kitchen.

Local news from our camp at Téné was supplied to personnel detached from the unit per medium of a paper called The Sticks Chronicle. This contained all the latest peccadilloes of the boys, together with classified 'ads' and sporting news. Corporal Hec Gray was the editor, Bob Kennerley publisher and Sergeant Laurlie Poynter was printer's devil. After many false starts, much 'acquiring' and repeated advertisements for material in the Sticks Chronicle, the camp was eventually wired for electricity, power being supplied by courtesy of a neighbouring unit. The change-over from candles, kerosene and improvisation was a welcome one and the long wending way to the men's lines no longer offered treacherous hazards to ensnare the weaving steps of the gay night reveller on his way to his tent. Jaundice, the true 'Yellow peril' of the Pacific, struck heavily at our unit and at one time, to the discomfiture of the several sisters in charge, the majority of inmates of one ward at 4th NZ General Hospital comprised members of 4th MAC. Apart from this, the general health of the unit remained at a high level throughout its service and very few fell by the way through sickness. On Captain Wilson's transfer to Headquarters (Medical) NZEF IP, a veteran of action in the north, Captain J. G. Oliver, occupied the magisterial chair in the orderly room. About the same time our transport officer, Lieutenant F. M. Hill, was replaced by Lieutenant A, Brown.

One of the chief occupations of all was the manufacture and discussion of rumours. Eventually that grand old man of rumours —' I was speaking to someone who knows someone who saw someone unloading crates of what someone said were battledress' —came true and, after 20 months of tropical dress, we received a woolly outfit called by courtesy a battledress. A certain carnival spirit became manifest and no one minded the inconvenience of gradually disappearing tent lines and telescoping of facilities. The main body of the 4th Motor Ambulance Convoy embarked, with few regrets, late in August 1944 and we looked our last on the island overseas station which we had come to know so well.

IIBase camp reception hospitaladvanced depot of medical storesbase hygiene section

BCRH, by which four letters the Base Camp Reception Hospital, NZEF IP, was always known, cannot as a unit commence any story of its existence with the oft-repeated words 'When we were in Fiji; for although many of its personnel saw service, long service too, in those isles, BCRH itself was New Caledonian born and bred. The foundations of the unit were laid in January 1943, when the disposition of units in New Caledonia proved the necessity for a hospital in the base area. As a nucleus for this new unit, four men were transferred from 4th NZ General Hospital and, with nothing but their bare hands or with what they could borrow or 'acquire' these four started their sterling" work for the unit by setting about the preparation of a camp site on a guava-covered hillside near the base reception depot in the Téné Valley near Bourail. The first consideration was an area for accommodation tents and this was cleared and the tents erected by-the time the first reinforcement of 23 men arrived on 9 February 1943. From this date, Base Camp Reception Hospital became a unit under the command of Major John Rule, NZMC, who combined with this duty the post of senior medical officer, base area.

It must have been at about this time that the well-known cry of 'AH out general duties' was first heard echoing up the BCRH hill (some of the boys were destined to hear it every morning until August 1944) because by March 1943, with the expert and welcome assistance of two sappers, the cookhouse bure was completed and was closely followed by the mess hut and quartermaster's store. Later, other bures were to make their appearances on a well-ordered hillside. The orderly room and regimental aid post staffs soon were working In these native style huts, and last, but not least, the officers' mess was completed and won renown throughout the length of the land as a house of hospitality. Major Rule, because of ill-health, returned to New Zealand in March 1943 and Major E. S. Thodey, NZMC, took over command of the unit; soon afterwards Captain J. L. Adams arrived to become his assistant. To these two officers, and to Major Thodey in particular, must go much of the credit for the moulding of an efficient unit and for the layout of an excellent camp and hospital.

Construction work proceeded apace during March and a working party from 22nd NZ Field Ambulance earned our gratitude for the construction of ' 22nd Street '—the first all-weather road of a series which was to develop under the eagle eye, strident voice and often caustic comments of Sergeant-Major Bert Hart. During April 1943 the unit achieved its main objective. The hospital opened for patients in a series of Indian pattern tents. Sergeant Phil Scott and his assistant orderlies worked under difficult and primitive conditions to install all the normal features and fittings of a hospital. The operating theatre tent is particularly worthy of mention and credit is due to Private Gordon Poole for the creation and installation of the operating table. Heath Robinson might well have designed it, but no one could deny its effectiveness. At the same time, a little across the guava flat, Staff-Sergeant Ian Fowler and his assistants had organised, in an excellent manner, a department of BCRH which rendered a very necessary service to NZEF IP. Thus by April 1943 was BCRH functioning in all its departments and had commenced, what the staff was pleased to consider, a valuable service to the base area.

In June 1943, there came into being the medical training depot as an offspring of BCRH. Although this venture did not ever attain the maturity that was no doubt hoped for it by Brigadier J. M. Twhigg, DSO, the deputy director of medical services, the initial course for junior non-commissioned officers from all medical units, run by Sergeants Ron Hannam and Brian Richardson, was of unquestionable value to those who attended it. These two sergeants will probably long remember the work which they put into clearing the guava from what they visualised as the Maadi of the Pacific-Lieutenant L. A. Mills joined the unit shortly after the completion of this first course to become training officer cum adjutant.

This stage in the short account of the life of BCRH is a fitting time to mention two other medical units, Advanced Depot of Medical Stores and Base Hygiene Section, which were installed within our area and shared what amenities our camp possessed. The Advanced Depot of Medical Stores had developed considerably since its formation in Fiji in 1941 and, by July 1943, it was the proud possessor of a huge warehouse in the racecourse camp, Téné Valley. This warehouse was the clearing house and store for medical supplies and equipment for the NZEF IP. When the division moved north, a proportion of the unit under the command of Captain Saunders accompanied it, leaving Staff-Sergeant J. O. C. Meredith in charge of the New Caledonian store. 'Joe' and his small band of stalwarts did an excellent job of work supplying our hospitals and camps on the island with their medi-calmedical requirements and acting as a clearing house for equipment and supplies received from New Zealand.

The Base Hygiene Section, like BCRH, was formed in New Caledonia. Commanded by Lieutenant S. P. Pushman, it performed a most useful function in giving practical help and advice to units on the island to enable satisfactory standards of hygiene and sanitation to be maintained. The hygiene section's workshop, constructed from niaouli timber and bark, was always a busy place and from it issued many excellent improvised contrivances ranging from flytraps to caliphonts. Our camp, and in particular our hospital, benefited markedly by having as our guests the ingenious and hard-working members of this section.

September 1943 saw the arrival from New Zealand of a batch of about 50 reinforcements and, once more, the training depot went into action to initiate these new arrivals into the rigours of life in New Caledonia. About this time, too, divisional troops further north were going into action and those whose unfortunate lot it was not to be with them (and somebody had to do the base jobs) were watching the progress of friends and acquaintances in the division with pride and not a little envy. Soon began the supply of reinforcements to forward medical units and consequently the staff of BCRH began to change. A few of the older divisional men came back to begin useful jobs for the unit, and some of the younger men got the coveted chance of going forward. Both Major Thodey and Captain Adams were given a long-awaited and well-deserved opportunity to join divisional units and they went to the 7th and 24th NZ Field Ambulances respectively. Major J. B. W. Roberton, DSO, returned to take command of BCRH and later Captain S. W. Burcher arrived as medical officer.

Christmas 1943, for some the first away from the homeland, will long be remembered for the festive spirit which prevailed, despite the fact that everyone's thoughts must have been of home. The quartermaster, Sergeant-Major Eric Lash, and his cooks spared no pains to provide, from the material available, a Christmas dinner par excellence. BRCH meals were always good, but this surpassed any that had previously been produced. NCOs took over all fatigues on the day and the manner in which the officers and sergeants handled the serving of dinner bordered on the professional. Good cheer flowed liberally and the meal, in fact the whole day, was an outstanding success. For the patients who were unfortunate enough to be spending Christmas Day in hospital, the wards were decorated, dinner was served in the traditional manner and no effort was spared to make the day for them as happy as possible. In Corporals Maurice Brewer and Tom Lyle, the patients had two men whose main concern was always the comfort of their charges.

In sport, too, BCRH was strong in endeavour if not in success. There were not many sporting activities organised by the base sports committee in which the unit was not represented. The cricket team, under the capable leadership of Private Jim Noble, did particularly well considering the size of the units (BCRH, Base Hygiene Section and Advanced Depot of Medical Stores), from which the players were drawn. A cricket match played in the sweltering heat between officers and sergeants and 'the rest' will long be remembered, if not for the standard of play, then for the singular bowling of Lieutenant Stan Pushman.

January 1944 will probably be marked in the memories of most of the personnel then in New Caledonia by the hurricane which hit the island in the early hours of one morning. Fortunately, the patients in the comparative safety of the wards suffered little discomfort, but for the personnel of the unit, who in a futile attempt to save their homes hung on to tent ropes from 4 am until 8 am, it was an experience which will not soon be forgotten. The regimental sergeant-major and the regimental quartermaster-sergeant, who had the best tent anyway, were the only ones who did not have to seek temporary refuge elsewhere for a few days while new tents were obtained and personal belongings salvaged.

March 1944 saw the erection of the third ward for the hospital: and Corporal 'Shorty' Oborn and his assistant orderlies set about to make this new building the hospital's pride and joy. April saw the first batches of men selected for return to New Zealand for essential industry and BCRH began the task of medically boarding all personnel prior to embarkation. This meant an enlargement of the existing organisation for medical boards and additional medical officers and other ranks were congregated at BCRH to undertake this task. (Camp Oakey' was founded on the old training area as a temporary home for medical officers who often, it is said, rivalled a certain group of 'Indians' who from time to time repaired to their reservation for the beating of tom-toms The medical boarding of successive drafts returning to New Zealand continued spasmodically until the whole force was completed. By this time most people were able to visualise the answer to the question, 'When are we going home?' which had been repeated so often during the preceding months. The matter was placed beyond mere conjecture by August and the task of packing up was begun happily because it meant home, but not without a tinge of regret at the thought that BCRH would be no more-Base Camp Reception Hospital NZEF IP will, it is hoped, be remembered by many people—by the base commandant, for the service it rendered to the base organisation; by Brigadier Twhigg for the useful part it played in the medical services; by the patients, for the good treatment they received there; by the countless soldiers who presented themselves for medical boarding and often for the first step towards home; and last, but not least, by all the personnel, officers and men, who served as part of it because they will surely endorse the opinion that it was one of the happiest units in which a soldier of the New Zealand Medical Corps could wish to serve

III4th Nz general hospital

Unlike the mule, which has neither pride of ancestry nor hope of posterity, the 4th NZ General Hospital can boast of two lusty and honourable parents, though the question as to which can be more rightly referred to as the alma mater, must be answered only by the reader according to his affections. It was on 1 September 1942 that the Tamavua and Namaka hospitals of Fijian fame gave birth to that then somewhat disjointed child, the 4th NZ General Hospital and, in so doing, sounded their own death knells. On that date the remnants of the staffs of these two hospitals were amalgamated and, under Major J. D. Willis as temporary commander, the new unit moved from Papakura Military Camp to Wesley College, Paerata. We spent a little over a month at Paerata where we were occupied mainly with training and in sorting the Fiji equipment in Auckland. When in October it was decided that the Third Division should operate in the Waikato district, we shifted to Hamilton and at the Hamilton

West School, where additional veterans of the Fijian hospitals were rallied together, we set up a tented hospital to service the division. It was here that our administrative and medical staffs were appointed. Lieutenant-Colonel A. A. Tennent, NZMC, recently returned from service with the Second Division, was appointed commanding officer; Lieutenant-Colonel E. Y. Comrie, NZMC, the former commander of the Tamavua hospital, became OC surgical division; Lieutenant-Colonel E. G. Sayers, NZMC, then on his way' back from the Middle East, became OC medical division; and Miss D. M, Hall, the erstwhile matron of Tamavua hospital, was appointed matron.

The hospital at the Hamilton West School was only partly equipped and many personnel were still scattered, some undergoing training at the Waikato hospital, others under the quartermaster, Captain J. G. Oliver, employed in collecting, sorting and packing equipment in Wellington. The members of the New Zealand Army Nursing Service were assembled at Papakura Camp and were kept busy preparing dressings for future use overseas and in completing all necessary pre-embarkation formalities. On 11 November 1942, the hospital closed and the packing of equipment commenced, to be later despatched to Wellington. Happy days these were at Hamilton with everyone keyed up with the thought of adventure in strange lands ahead. An advanced party under Lieutenant-Colonel Sayers had departed on 27 November, with other troops of the Third Division, for an unknown destination and expectation and speculation ran high. During this period, the 4th NZ General Hospital had grown by the addition of four attached units—Nos. 1 and 2 Field Surgical Units under Majors P. C. Brunette and G. E. Waterworth respectively; No. 1 Field Transfusion Unit under Lieutenant I. M. Cairney, later to become registrar of the hospital; and No. 1 Army Optician Unit under Lieutenant E. R. Boyd.

The hospital proper embarked in two parties—working parties at Wellington on 24 December and the remainder at Auckland on 28 December. Baggage parties realised for the first time that the sisters had arrived as they laboured up the gangway with suitcases and kit bags in wild profusion containing those mysteries of the official NZANS kit that still confound the pundits. Then followed an uneventful voyage characterised chiefly by the close proximity of one's fellow human beings and all too infrequent

New Zealand's Governor-General visiting a, physical training class at No. 2 Convalescent Depot during his tour of New Caledonia. Patients busily engaged in the occupational therapy department are seen below

Sections of the Dental Corps moved to every unit of the New Zealand forces. Above is a typical sub-section at work in the field, set up in close proximity to a camp. Below is the interior of a dental laboratory in a bure. Note the improvised polishing lathe run from a battery visits, on a roster basis, to the upper deck. Meanwhile the advanced party of 23 all ranks under Lieutenant-Colonel Sayers, ably supported by those veterans Major Brunette, the former commander of Namaka hospital, and Major L. S. Talbot, the eye and ear, nose and throat specialist of the force in Fiji, had arrived in Nouméa on 7 December 1942. After six days in the transit camp in the Dumbéa Valley, they travelled north to Boguen River valley arriving in the mid-afternoon in pouring rain. The feelings of the advanced party can well be imagined when the guide pointed to a desolate, maouli-covered, mosqnito-infested area and said, 'Here it is.' However, they set to work erecting tents, digging drains and latrines and setting up a cookhouse. On 17 December their period of complete isolation was ended when a telephone was installed and a jeep made available. Contacts and exploration beyond the valley to Bourail, the island's second largest town some ten miles away, were then possible.

Christmas Day 1942 was an eventful one because, contrary to expectations, a dinner of turkey, green peas and new potatoes was provided by the Americans, secondly because 25 December marked the first real attack from an army of mosquitoes, and thirdly because the first mail from home was received. The Christmas Day invasion by the mosquitoes was but a taste of what was yet to come, and from then on this pest was a terrific problem. They became incredibly bad—so bad that at the end of December the advanced party searched without success for an alternative less mosquito-ridden site for the hospital. On New Year's Day our main body disembarked at Nouméa to be temporarily accommodated at the Vallee des Colons, where later No. 1 NZ Transit Camp was built. The mysteries of a French colonial town were explored before the party set off, on 3 January 1943, in open trucks on the rough and dusty 120 mile drive to our new home at Boguen. There we found our site in a fairly wide valley surrounded by hills and covered by typical open bush of niaouli trees-—a species of eucalyptus. The advanced party had done its work well and we found a camp where accommodation tents, mess tents, cookhouse and administrative centres were all ready for use, a main road had been constructed and even swimming pools in the river had been allocated for the various sections.

From then on followed a period of two months that all will remember for its toil under pioneer conditions of our forebears— a period of bush felling and clearing, of road construction, of a never-ending battle against nature and her mosquito hordes, mud and rain. But above all, there was an all-pervading sense of good fellowship and cheerfulness under difficult conditions. Our carpenters excelled themselves in the construction of native type huts for the administrative centre, cookhouses and mess huts, all built from the stripped trunks of niaouli trees and thatched by natives with grasses or bark. These natives, of whom we employed 25, belonged to various tribes round the area and came under the control of Staff-Sergeant Eric Lash, whose knowledge of the French language and whose innate persuasive manner could rouse even the most lethargic Kanaka to some show of energy. Our admiration for the ubiquitous niaouli increased as we saw our own native type bures rising and as we noted the multifarious functions it was called upon to perform for the natives.

With the assistance of engineers from the 23rd Field Company, a working party from 1st Scots Battalion, a bulldozer and our own personnel, roading was completed, concrete floors laid for tented wards, kitchens and the operating theatre, a water supply from the river installed and an intricate draining scheme for the whole area inaugurated. The main portion of the hospital equipment arrived from Nepoui during the first and second weeks of February and the opening date for the reception of patients loomed near. With the equipment came four generators and, for the first time, electric light was seen in Boguen Valley. The hospital opened for the reception of patients early in March. Though additional wards were still required and much work yet remained to be done, we managed to continue our expansion ahead of the rate of influx of patients.

The first few months in New Caledonia will be remembered as the days of spam and chili con carne. Over 90 per cent of the food came out of tins and, in actual fact, a moderate but definite degree of macrocytic anaemia was found among a number of the staff. During March, however, supplies of fresh meat began to come in and then fresh vegetables and fruit. At about this time a new appointment was made and a messing officer, Lieutenant W. Blakey, was appointed to our quartermaster's staff. This officer handled the messing of staff and patients and controlled the purchasing of certain local fruits, vegetables, eggs, fish and fresh milk from French inhabitants. When an additional team of trained cooks arrived from New Zealand, and with the help of locally produced fresh foods, meals at the 4th NZ General Hospital never looked back. During the following month the hospital slowly settled down into the routine of a wartime army hospital—always busy with new problems arising so that life was seldom monotonous. Sports teams developed and achieved their measure of success. Entertainments were given by hospital and other concert parties. Mobile cinemas made their very welcome appearance and so 4th NZ General Hospital became gradually a civilised community. Walking parties found many pleasant and interesting places to visit—magnificent views along the ridges and hilltops, bush clad hills and valleys and peeps of a deep blue sea and wavy coastline in the distance. During this period, too, weeks of high temperatures and high humidity gave way to cooler days and nights of unexpected freshness. Mosquito attacks eased as the temperatures became lower but they never entirely deserted the hospital.

In June we became parent to yet another attached unit—a sub-section of No. 1 Mobile Dental Section under Captain W. R. Hamilton, NZDC. This section, which later became No. 1 Maxillo Facial Injury Section, provided dental services for patients and staff of the hospital and other troops in the area. On 16 June a new era dawned with the arrival of two officers and 78 other ranks of the New Zealand Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. Prior to this date, six somewhat shy Waacs could be sometimes seen in the vicinity of the sisters' mess or recreation hut, but when this latter band arrived and began their parade ground marches down to mess, the male members of the staff realised that the bachelor days of the 4th General were at an end and that henceforth the women's hand would become increasingly evident. For days before their arrival working parties had been busy preparing the 'Waacery' so that the girls might have some comfort. They soon became a happy, thoroughly established and important section of the hospital.

Because of manifold reasons, the medical and dental facilities available to civilians in New Caledonia were limited and local inhabitants throughout the island availed themselves of facilities offered by allied military hospitals. At Boguen there was a constant stream of French, Javanese, Tonkinese, Arabs and Kanakas —all seeking medical advice or treatment for their many ailments. Language differences caused some confusion, but the pooling of the combined lingual talent of the staff and the frequent use of sign language, usually overcame the difficulty. That our efforts were appreciated was evidenced by the profusion of thanks showered upon us and, far more welcome, by the gifts of delicacies and rare wines and spirits given us during the Christmas season. In August 1943, the division began its move to the Solomons and it became obvious that to cater for divisional troops under these changed circumstances, the 4th NZ General Hospital would have to move its location nearer to a port or an airfield or, if possible, within easy distance of both. The Boguen site had been selected in 1942 for tactical reasons and it had served the division and base organisation well for some six months. A new site was finally chosen on the slopes of a hill in the Dumbéa valley within easy range of both the Nouméa harbour and Ton-touta airfield. There, a far different hospital from the tented institution at Boguen was to be built—a modern hospital of prefabricated parts prepared in New Zealand. The engineers of the works services construction company were in charge of construction and, under Major E. Blacker, NZE, did a magnificent job and our American allies, who are accustomed to speed, were amazed as they watched the mushroom growth on the hillside.

Pending the erection of yet another hospital at Kalavere which was to work in conjunction with No. 2 NZ Convalescent Depot, the deputy director of medical services, Brigadier J. M. Tvvhigg, DSO, decided to leave a hospital at Boguen to service base troops in the Bourail area. This hospital, under the command of Major Willis with Charge-Sister E. D. Cargo as matron, was staffed by our personnel and became known as Boguen detachment, 4th NZ General Hospital, Always a happy centre, Boguen continued to flourish and the peak of good times was reached there at Christmas 1943. Patients were treated to a traditional Christmas and Sergeant M. Guy, a generously proportioned X-ray technician, made a convincing Santa Claus as he distributed gifts from an ornately bedecked bullock-drawn 'sleigh.' Late in January 1944, No. 2 NZ Convalescent Depot assumed responsibility for staffing Boguen, though 4th General left sufficient equipment for a 60-bed hospital. Captain F. N. Sharpe, with Charge-Sister W. M. Gunn as matron, controlled the destinies of the hospital until March when the new Kalavere Hospital was ready for occupation and Boguen was finally closed.

The hospital in the Boguen River valley will long-be remembered by members of the NZEF IP—by the patients who were treated in its wards; by the many visitors to see friends, male or female, who lived there; by the travellers who stopped by for a meal or a bed to break the tedious journey up or down the island; by troops on leave who came to rest in the quiet of the valley; and last, but certainly not least, by members of the staff. Boguen to them may recall memories of hard work, incessant trouble, rain and mud, but it will also recall memories of quiet nights in the valley when the toil of the day was over, moonlight glowing through the niaoulis, beach and river excursions in glorious weather, those countless little incidents which seemed to make army life bearable—but we remember pre-eminently the spirit of camaraderie which was so characteristic of our service there.

But to turn now to the activities of the 4th General at its new location, Dumbea. An advanced party of 50 personnel had left Boguen on 25 September 1943 to make the necessary preparations for the reception of the main body and to handle equipment as it arrived. This latter was a major job as, in all, some 142 six-by-four truck loads of stock and equipment had to be moved—a quartermaster's nightmare but which entirely failed to disturb Lieutenant W. J. Freddy or his imperturbable RQMS, Sergeant-Major H. W. Jones. The balance of the hospital personnel was due to arrive on the same day that advice was received that patients evacuated from Vella Lavella would require admission. It was then that a wardmaster in the advanced party, Staff-Sergeant Fred Archer, showed his worth when he set up, at extremely short notice, a 60-bed ward. Fortunately the patients were delayed en route and did not arrive until 9 October, two days after the medical staff had reached Dumbea. The hospital at this stage, when it opened, consisted of four wards, a hospital kitchen, laboratory and dispensary, while sufficient personnel huts were available to house the existing staff. The theatre block had been completed but, until late November, it lacked steam equipment and autoclaving had to be done at the neighbouring 8th US General Hospital.

Towards the end of October our first New Zealand battle casualties from the 14th Brigade operations on Vella Lavella were admitted. They had been evacuated by sea and air transport, through the 2nd NZ Casualty Clearing Station at Guadalcanal, to Nouméa harbour or Tontouta airport where they were met by the vehicles of the 4th Motor Ambulance Convoy and transported to our hospital. We had had some earlier experience of battle casualties from amongst Fijian troops who, along with all other British personnel serving in the South West Pacific area, were given hospital treatment where possible in New Zealand facilities.

On 15 November 1943 our commanding officer, Colonel Ten-nent, relinquished his command. Colonel Tennent had seen the unit through its early formative days and his task had never been an easy one. He had, however, the satisfaction of seeing his unit safely installed in a hospital which could be, and did become, as fine as any base general hospital working under the Union Jack. Lieutenant-Colonel Sayers, on his return from Vella Lavella which he was visiting in his capacity as consultant physician to the force, was promoted and assumed command. From this time until Christmas, the building programme proceeded apace and we were able to treat a continually increasing' number of patients. Buildings completed and pressed into immediate service were the unit cookhouse and messes, a fifth ward for psychotic cases, a recreational hut for patients and Waacs, bulk ration store, medical equipment store and bakehouse. The completion of the latter building enabled a section of the field bakery unit to be attached and allowed us to make a very welcome return to New Zealand bread. The opening of the patients' recreation hut saw the arrival of Sergeant-Major M. W. Kennedy to become AEWS and education officer, and Private L. G, Scott and, later, Sergeant C. Mcl. Robertson as YMCA representative.

Christmas 1943 at Dumbea was celebrated in a manner traditional to hospitals. On Christmas Eve, sisters (wearing their attractive red capes) and VADs, all with lighted candles, filed through the darkened wards singing carols. Next day, Lieutenant-Colonel M. Williams, the new senior physician, made a most realistic and jovial Father Christmas as his sleigh was dragged through the wards by cavorting 'reindeer,' those erstwhile Boguen collaborators, Major C. L. E. L. Sheppard and Captain Hamilton. The New Year saw the building programme still forging ahead and we gradually occupied completed portions until nine of the ten wards were in use and all administrative and technical personnel were housed in new buildings. The job of installing the colossal boilers for steam production and an improved electricity supply was not completed until June.

Though most of the staff were kept fully occupied with their normal work, recreation and amusements were not neglected. Nouméa was fairly close and many enjoyed visits to this picturesque and very busy community. For the energetic, tennis could be played in Nouméa, there were ideal hikes up the valley available to trampers, swimming could be indulged in the Dumbea river or at more distant beaches, Sergeant Peter Gowing led a band of soccer enthusiasts while Private B. W. Chandler's rugby team claimed the really tough. Films were shown three times a week by a mobile thirty-five millimetre machine in the 'tennen-torium'—an open air theatre named in honour of the first commanding officer. Concerts, unit dances and the inevitable unofficial parties all helped to pass away any further surplus time.

April saw the beginning of a heavy undertaking for the medical services of the force when it was decreed that all personnel returning to New Zealand under the recently announced manpower scheme should be medically boarded and, if possible, X-rayed. This meant an increased tempo of work for many medical officers who were required to form medical boards, and set an almost impossible task for Captain G. L. Rolleston, the radiologist, and the radiographer, Sergeant Ron Harvey. However, these two did a splendid job and, by reorganising their department, they were able to cope with the work and were eventually completing X-rays at the rate of one every minute. By the end of July it became obvious that the force as a whole would be withdrawn to New Zealand and preliminary preparations toward this end were made. Hospital numbers were reduced as far as possible and many of the staff embarked for New Zealand— officially on furlough to return at its.conclusion to New Caledonia, but we all knew that their chances of return were very slight. By the end of August, all patients and the majority of personnel had left Necal for home and, by early September, only a small team under the quartermaster remained as members of the force rear party to clean up. On 9 September 1944 this latter team left Dumbea to join the main body of the New Zealand rearguard in the Bourail area. And that was the end of the 4th NZ General Hospital, though final rites were not observed till later at Mangere Crossing Camp, Auckland, New Zealand.

The 4th General Hospital at Dumbea, conspicuous on the slopes of a hill overlooking the length and breadth of the valley and with a superb view out to sea, was a magnificent building, Constructed from prefabricated wooden parts, the whole establishment was spread over 33 acres and buildings occupied a total floor space of 133,799 square feet. There were nine 60-bed wards, one 76-bed ward for infectious diseases and one 20-bed ward for servicewomen—a total of 636 beds. Every department usually found in a metropolitan hospital was there, with the exception of a radio-therapeutic branch. A 70,000 gallon water reservoir on the hill at the back of the hospital drew water from the main Nouméa supply and was fed to the whole hospital area by gravity feed. Steam was produced by two enormous oil-fired Babcock and Wilcox boilers in the power house and this made possible an excellent steam and hot water service throughout the hospital. The kitchen was equipped with the very latest in the way of steam ovens, steam presses and steam cookers. A 125 KVA electric generator, steam driven, supplying enough power for a small town, lit up the 959 electric lights in the area and also supplied the power for 157 power points. For the officers, NCOs and men of the Works Services Construction Company who built this splendidly appointed hospital, we have nothing but the highest praise.

During its existence, changes in the hospital staff were considerable. Of the officers who joined the unit in New Zealand, only Colonel Sayers and Captain M. W. Gatman, the pathologist, survived with it to the very end. Amongst the NZANS there were fewer changes, though many sisters were transferred from our strength to the staffs of the 2nd NZ Casualty Clearing Station at Guadalcanal and to the Kalavere Hospital. Only three Waacs, Sergeant D. G. Julian, Private P. Bassett and Private B. M. Iggulden (nee Findlay) remained of the six girls who had embarked with us on the West Point in 1942. Considerable changes in NCOs and men were made, especially when the advent of Waacs allowed for their release to field units.

The casual manner of the final break-up of the unit was most disappointing to the members of the staff. To the last we, had hoped that the unit might retain its identity and operate again as

Headquarters of the AEWS were situated in this quaint building in Bourail. Below is the Kiwi Concert Party ready for one of the many shows which entertained Ihe men in the. Pacific. At the foot of the page is an AEWS art class in progress in the native type bure which was used as a library

On the narrow and often tortuous roads of New Caledonia accidents were bound to happen. A 3-ton truck went off the road near Moindah Prefabrication played an important part in the building programme for the NZEF IP. Here are the parts of

Athletic meetings were popular and interesting contests were witnessed

The Bourail Club, claimed to be the largest bure built in New Caledonia. There were no doubts about its popularity. The immense framework of this building, before it was covered with niaouli bark, may he seen above. Below is the completed building, facing parade ground in Téné Valley the 4th NZ General Hospital in some other theatre of war. Such was not to be and our members are now scattered far and wide— some in civilian life once more, others still in the service at home and abroad. However, we feel that we can confidently claim that ' 4th General' did well all that it was asked to do, and that it can take its place with pride alongside other units on the roll of honour for the Third NZ Division.

IV2nd Nz convalescent depot and kalavere hospital

The 'Con Depot' was born at Papakura Military Camp on 28 March 1943 without the aid of even one medical officer; a hybrid medical unit destined to be staffed mainly by members of the infantry corps. We were housed in E block, but even that muddy and coldly unsympathetic environment failed to dishearten those of us who were pioneering the unit. In June, Lieutenant-Colonel J. H. H. Wood, NZMC, was appointed commanding officer. His first action was to move the unit to Trentham—a false alarm to many of the staff as rumour indicated that we were at last on the way. We were not sorry to be leaving E block, which lacked the amenities of other parts of the camp, and it was a grand excuse for levity and celebration. As so often happens, we were not expected at Trentham on the day of our arrival because of some hitch in the paper warfare. However, the other ranks were quartered under the grandstand on the racecourse while the officers were provided with morning tea in one block, lunch in another, afternoon tea in a third and finally took root in a fourth. Subsequently we were allotted huts and stores in the No. 3 Training Battalion area and there we remained while at Trentham. The stack of carefully numbered cases in our store grew in direct relation to the frequent Wellington visits of the commanding officer and the quartermaster, Lieutenant S. H. Williams.

At last, after the usual run of embarkation rumours and an additional final leave, we bade a joyous farewell to Trentham on Thursday, 19 August 1943. The following Monday evening found us in Nouméa harbour with ample evidence of allied naval might around us. Then followed what seemed to be the longest, dustiest, craziest, most hair-raising journey ever inflicted on the uninitiated. We did learn afterwards that the dust was inevitable and the drivers were experienced, but even with these known factors that ride on the back of an open truck left much to be desired. After four days at the Base Reception Depot, near Bourail, we moved to the site of the Gonde roadhouse on the Houailou Road. This had been used as a rest centre for several weeks and 76 convalescents were awaiting us. We lost no time in putting our house in order; tents were erected, orderly rooms established, drains constructed and a training syllabus issued. Five days after our arrival in New Caledonia we were functioning according to plan.

Gonde is a pleasant spot situated in a valley at the junction of two rivers. Coconut palms predominate on the landscape and it is reasonably free from mosquitoes; in fact, if there had been suffiicent room for expansion and development, we could have done much worse than remain there. In these days our work was limited, due to the non-arrival of our equipment but, under the training officer, Lieutenant G. Hobson, the patients were organised into categories for remedial physical training, recreational games, launch trips and outings. A library and canteen were opened, several concerts staged and the first issue of our unit magazine, Relax, made its appearance under the editorship of Lieutenant E. G. Spraggon, Army Educational Welfare Service and occupational therapy officer. After only three weeks at Gonde we received instructions to move to Kalavere, on the western side of the island. An American hospital had been located there and Lieutenant T. Morris was sent in charge of an advanced patty to prepare the site for our occupation. He did this with characteristic thoroughness and the change-over was completed by Saturday 18 September.

The scene at Kalavere was one of intense activity as we strove to establish our depot and look to the welfare of nearly 100 patients. All worked unstintingly as expedience demanded; there were tents to be erected, drains to be dug, trucks unloaded, equipment stored, medical and dental services to be maintained—including a modest ten-bed hospital under Sister Myra Burke, an improvised but none the less effective physio-therapy department run by Sister Jean McKellar, and Captain J. D. Beresford's dental surgery equipped with appliances worthy of the ingenuity of Heath Robinson—and last, but not least, a permanent layout for our camp had to be planned and finalised. The next excitement was the arrival of ten Women's Auxiliary Army Corps personnel from New Zealand. Everything possible had been prepared for their comfort and three small bures were set apart for their quarters. Arriving as they did in the midst of camp construction, these girls are deserving of the highest praise for the manner in which they quickly adapted themselves to their new and somewhat primitive surroundings.

It was early in April that Brigadier Dove, officer in charge of administration, asked us to provide a programme on the occasion of the official opening of the Bourail Club. We immediately commenced rehearsals on 'Splitzkreig III' so named because most of the items were produced by Lieutenant Spraggon from a previous production of that title in New Zealand. The show proved an immediate hit and, after two performances at the club, we visited several other units giving a total of seven performances in all. Humour with whirlwind speed was the keynote of the programme and it took the form of a sparkling revue. The Waacs appeared in a much discussed eastern ballet, but 'The Angels' probably created the greatest impression, when many well-known personalities were introduced. To quote one verse:—

Brigadier Dove, Went in his car one day, He forgot the speed restriction, And his auto hit a dray! There's another little red cap on the sideboard, And a dozen mourning colonels standing by, There's a hundred thousand angels shouting 'OICA,' Getting Admin, orders in the sky.

A week after our arrival at Kalavere we had erected hospital expanding tents as wards, each capable of accommodating 20 hospital cases (as distinct from convalescents) and, by the end of November, two wards were in use. Admissions of patients, both to the depot and hospital, showed a steady increase. Brigadier Twhigg decided to expand our hospital to 150 beds to provide medical services for the base area. There was also a possibility that some malaria cases and battle casualties might have to be catered for if the 4th NZ General Hospital in the Nouméa area should become crowded. The engineers were therefore consulted and plans prepared for prefabricated hospital buildings to be erected on our present site.

A detailed procedure for admission of convalescent patients had been planned before we left New Zealand and experience proved that this required little or no modification. While it was essential that adequate control should be exercised over patients in the depot, we dispensed with unnecessary regimentation as far as possible. After all, our principal job was to turn out fit bodies and our training was so designed that it should not impose a mental burden on a patient already suffering a physical disability. Lieutenants Hobson and Morris administered specialised physical training and, under them, was a staff of sergeant instructors, all of whom had had experience in similar work in New Zealand. Organised games also had a valuable place in the training syllabus, for not only do they provide recreation and promote general physical well-being, but they help to develop freedom and spontaneity of movement, making the patient forget his injury in the excitement of the game. Cycling was very popular, especially with the patients from the Fiji military forces, and 30 bicycles were set aside for this purpose. No patient, however, can keep on doing exercises all day long without becoming bored and his muscles overtired, and it was here that occupational therapy proved such a valuable asset, for it provided mental diversion and the medium for remedial exercise at one and the same time. By the beginning of December 1943 an arts and crafts hut, metal workshop and carpenters' workshop were the basis of our occupational therapy department. In the arts and crafts hut men made leather bags, purses, moccasins, writing cases, belts, kiddies' toys in felt and a variety of attractive reproduction in papier mache. Those interested in painting, sketching or sign-writing were also accommodated in this hut—in other words it was devoted to the quieter type of handicraft. Other patients spent many happy hours in the metal workshop. The methods of forming and decorating metal require neither excessive muscular effort nor special ability and men thoroughly enjoyed making picture-frames, rings, ash-trays, ink-wells from salvaged shell cases or duralumin. We managed to secure part of a crashed aeroplane and the metal from this provided material for literally hundreds of articles. In the carpenters' workshop, patients were allowed to make furniture for their tents or work on other articles, but, owing to the formid-ableformidable list of camp furnishings required, the majority of the men were quite happy to assist on camp jobs. Another addition to the occupational therapy department about this time was a gardening class and, to any men who enjoyed pottering about in the garden, this was an excellent pastime. We endeavoured to provide relaxation in the form of some class of entertainment each evening. Film programmes were screened twice or three times weekly and on other evenings there were concerts, dances, debates, quiz sessions, the ever popular housie game, table-tennis contests, card tournaments, mock parliaments, community sings and lectures on a wide range of topics.

The engineers commenced work on the erection of prefabricated huts for Waac personnel about the middle of November and eight huts were completed in time for occupation on the 25th, when five more girls joined us. Needless to say they were heartily welcomed by the men at our social functions, as another five girls meant the rationing system then in vogue could be relaxed sufficiently to allow the attendance of ten more men at each dance.

The weather for Christmas 1943 was glorious and temperatures over the three figure mark in the shade were being regularly recorded. Our Christmas dinner table bore a festive appearance that could scarcely have been challenged anywhere in New Zealand even in the piping days of peace. For this occasion, the Waacs (a further 18 had arrived just before Christmas) dined with the men, being judiciously spaced to ensure the best 'coverage.' In accordance with army tradition the officers, clad in white coats, aprons and chefs' hats, served the meal. Later in the afternoon all those who were musically inclined adjourned to the hospital wards and, as there were no patients on the seriously ill list, Christmas celebrations continued to the accompaniment of Captain Wood's violin, Warrie Pile's saxaphone and George Bullen's accordian. An informal dance in the evening concluded a happy day for all and compensated in a small measure for the absence from home.

All who could be spared from camp attended the New Year's Day meeting of the Moindah Racing Club. We entered several horses, notably 'Indiscretion, by Waac out of Bounds,' 'Fitness, by Soldier out of Kalavere,' 'Convalescence, by Patient out of Sorts.' The new year had had an auspicious beginning and we were all feeling the benefit from our relaxation. The commanding officer called a meeting of staff officers on the morning of 3 January 1944 and plans were formulated for our future work-it was almost like a series of New Year resolutions. Lieutenant-Colonel Wood was his usual vigorous self and little did we think that this would be the last occasion that he would preside at our conferences. The following day he took ill and, when his condition deteriorated, he was admitted to Boguen Hospital where he died on the following Thursday, 13 January 1944. We were stunned by our loss. 'Timber,' as he was affectionately known to his intimate friends, had endeared himself to us all, and to quote from a memorial number of Relax, ' … His dynamic personality and genial presence has been the guiding hand of our unit and to him must go the credit for a success which is of social as well as military importance…. He was a man who not only enjoyed living but lived for others that they might enjoy it too. His personality, his thoughts, his hopes, will continue to be expressed in the work of the unit… Such a spirit can never die.'

Our new commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel F. O. Bennett. NZMC, came to us from the 22nd NZ Field Ambulance at a time when we were developing into a very large unit. Our patients were increasing in number each week, the hospital was growing, camp construction was proceeding apace and many decisions had to be made concerning the erection of prefabricated buildings. Five days after his arrival we were instructed to take over the 50-bed hospital at Boguen which had been staffed by the 4th General up to this time and, until facilities would be available at Kalavere, we were to maintain Boguen with a detachment from our own unit. Despite all these factors, Lieutenant-Colonel Ben-net quickly adapted himself to his new responsibilities and participated in as many camp activities as his duties permitted. Our hospital buildings were now beginning to take shape and the main block of two 60-bed wards, together with the theatre block were nearing completion. A tribute must be paid to Major Stan West and his engineers for the thoroughness with which they went about their job. Undoubtedly we cursed the noise and dust of the bulldozers and growled about the muddy roads after rain, but this inconvenience was only temporary and, despite many changes in the original plan, the hospital was ready for occupation on Tuesday, 7 March 1944.

The title of our unit was now officially changed to No. 2 NZ Convalescent Depot and Kalavere Hospital. Charge-Sister W. M. Gunn assumed the duties of matron of the new hospital and seven additional nursing sisters were added to the staff. One 60-bed ward of two wings was devoted to medical cases, another to surgical, while a 16-bed ward intended for women patients was nearing completion. A week after opening we had 70 patients and this figure steadily increased to the three figure mark by the end of March.

Besides running the hospital and convalescent depot, we were responsible for medical services extending over a wide area, from the engineers' camp seven miles south, to Nepoui about 30 miles north, and Captain F. McConnell made bi-weekly visits to regimental aid posts at each camp en route. We were also called upon to give medical and dental treatment to civilians and a number of French, Javanese, Tonkinese and native Kanakas who became patients at this hospital. The language difficulty was an ever-present problem but even those of us who had not the advantage of a secondary school education in French, managed to pick up sufficient to cope with emergencies.

Our occupational therapy department had shown a steady increase since the beginning of the year. Two new branches were now added—the first, an auto-engineering class which had a 'written-off' motor vehicle available for its instruction, and the second was the 'household services section' which was designed to meet the case of the man who lacked interest in handicraft. In this section a man was taught glass-cutting, soldering, plastering, glueing and simple joinery, how to mend an electric light fuse, how to replace a worn washer on a tap—in fact, all the useful tasks which may be required of any householders. It was dubbed 'The Young Husbands' Club' and proved very popular.

In March we farewelled our adjutant Captain W. M. Mackie. He had been with the 'Con Depot' since its inception and it was due in no small measure to his personal enthusiasm and organising ability that the training of personnel and development of a unit spirit had followed parallel paths during our early history. He was replaced by Lieutenant R. Cato, formerly duty officer. The improvisation of tents and open cookhouse were discarded in April when we occupied our new block containing separate messes for officers, sisters, Waacs, sergeants, other ranks, convalescents and attached personnel. This was civilisation indeed and the facilities were excellent. We moved into the new administrative block later in the month and this completed the erection of prefabricated buildings, except for two more hospital wards, a gymnasium and the Waacs' recreation room.

Another race meeting was held at Moindah on Easter Monday when a large number of patients and staff attended, but the news that dwarfed all else was the announcement of the proposed release of volunteers to essential industry in New Zealand. An additional burden was placed on our medical staff as all returning personnel had to be medically boarded and most of them X-rayed. However, with the absence of battle casualties and the elimination of the majority of anxiety neurosis cases, the average duration of treatment at the depot was considerably reduced. When Lieutenant-Colonel Bennett left for New Zealand in July for a month's furlough, little did we imagine that our next glimpse of him would be at Papakura. It is difficult to express tributes to commanding officers, but no history of this unit would be complete without an acknowledgment of the sincere regard in which Lieutenant-Colonel Bennett was held by us all.

Early in August, the remnants of all medical units were centred at Kalavere and 'the writing was on the wall.' The last patient was discharged from the convalescent depot and No. 2 NZ Casualty Clearing Station rear party took over the hospital on 6 August 1944. Meanwhile the staff spent a hectic week packing and eventually farewelled Kalavere on Monday, 14 August 1944. A few continued on to Nouméa and left that day for New Zealand on the Torrens, while the remainder travelled by the Brastagi a week later, all to enjoy a generous furlough of 40 days at home.

So ended 'Con Depot.' The unit was disbanded during our furlough and the remains received a final stately resting place in the vastness of Mangere Crossing Camp alongside the ghosts of other units awaiting ordnance post mortem. Kalavere will always recall pleasant memories. We worked hard and we played hard, romances were made—and broken, lifelong friendships were formed. Archivists and historians of the future may make passing reference to No. 2 NZ Convalescent Depot and Kalavere Hospital, but those of us who served as members of the staff will never lose that 'Con Depot' spirit as we reflect with satisfaction on something attempted and something done.

Chapter FourteenDental Services

IFiji(October 1940 - June 1942)

The origin of the Third NZ Division was the 8th Brigade Group or B Force, as it came to be known. This force left New-Zealand for service in Fiji during October and November 1940, and with it were two officers and eight other ranks of the NZ Dental Corps. Two dental sections had been formed. The first under Captain H. a'C. FitzGerald arrived in Fiji on 1 November and it is recorded in its war diary that it spent the first six weeks at the Suva Girls' Grammar School! Subsequent entries in the diary indicate, however, that this was not for the purpose of its education, for apparently the school had been evacuated by its former occupants and transformed into a temporary military hospital. The second section, under Captain R. N. Cox, arrived in Fiji three weeks later and became established at Namaka on the western side of the island, where a military camp was being formed.

In December the first section moved to temporary quarters in the main military camp at Samambula, in the vicinity of Suva. By the end of January both sections had moved into permanent dental huts, which had been constructed for them at Samambula and Namaka respectively, However, the defence scheme of Fiji necessitated these sections being potentially mobile so that they could operate in the field in the event of engagements with an enemy landing force. Thus they soon became experienced in converting themselves at short notice from fully equipped static sections to field dental sections with a minimum of equipment. They actually operated in this way on many occasions in order to carry out routine dental treatment for units holding garrison positions in those parts of the island remote from the-two main camps. In accordance with the general arrangements for the relief, after six months, of the majority of the New Zealand forces in Fiji, these two dental sections returned to New Zealand in May and July 1941 and were simultaneously replaced by two more.

It was with the entry of Japan into the war in December 1941 that it became obvious that the original 8th Brigade Group in Fiji was destined to grow into a division. With the reinforcements that arrived from New Zealand in January 1942 was included a much larger contingent of the New Zealand Dental Corps than had accompanied the original force. Major H. a'C. FitzGerald returned as assistant director of dental services to the NZ Forces in Fiji, and with him five officers and 13 other ranks of the New Zealand Dental Corps.

The dental services were now organised into three main groups—one for the divisional headquarters area, one for the eastern area occupied by the Sth Brigade and one for the western area occupied by the 14th Brigade. These two latter groups were based in the now enlarged dental huts at Samambula and Namaka respectively, and from them, as required, field dental sections were detached for duty with individual units in the field. These field dental sections did excellent work under all kinds of conditions. They moved individually from one battalion to another wherever the battalions were stationed throughout the defence areas of Fiji. The personnel of these sections became experts at improvisation. The idea of adapting the standard IP tent by raising its height and building up the sides with bamboo thatch gave extra head room and ventilation, making the tent more suitable as a field dental surgery under the prevailing conditions. The dental services also provided for the native troops of the Fiji Defence Force. Many of these Fijian soldiers received the first dental treatment they had ever had, and their gratitude was evident. On one occasion a native from an outlying Fijian commando unit arrived at a field dental section for the extraction of an abscessed tooth, having walked 28 miles in bare feet and bringing with him a note from the vunewai (native medical prac-titionerpractitioner). Dental treatment was also carried out for the RNZAF units, and the New Zealand Naval Forces in Fiji, One field dental section actually put to sea and carried on its work aboard one of the small naval vessels operating around the coast.

In July 1942 the main body of the Pacific section of the NZEF returned to New Zealand, bringing to a close the Fijian prelude to the activities of the Third Division, by which name this force was already officially designated. All New Zealand Dental Corps personnel, together with stores and equipment, returned to New Zealand at this time, with the exception of two field dental sections which remained to provide for those elements of the New Zealand forces to be retained in Fiji, and for the Fiji Defence Force.

IINew Caledonia and the solomons(September 1942 - October 1944)

Once back in New Zealand the force which had returned from Fiji was reorganised and built up to form the Third Division proper. In September 1942 the nucleus of the dental services for this division assembled in Papakura Military Camp under Lieutenant-Colonel O. E. L. Rout, who had been appointed assistant director of dental services, NZEF TP. The units comprising this nucleus consisted of a headquarters dental services with advanced base dental stores, a camp dental hospital and a mobile dental section (designated No. 10 Mobile Dental Section, NZDC). Then followed a period of approximately four months in New Zealand while the division as a whole was undergoing training in the Waikato district. These months were fully occupied in bringing the dental units up to strength, outfitting personnel, assembling and checking ordnance and technical equipment, as well as developing the organisation and administration of a divisional dental service as a whole. In addition, as much dental treatment as possible was carried out for the troops during their training and manoeuvres. Despite these duties the social side of life was not neglected and, thanks to the lavish hospitality of Waikato residents and the many amenities for entertainment offering in Hamilton, we all have many pleasant memories of those last few months in New Zealand.

All dental units embarked within a short time of each other, the final and largest draft leaving New Zealand on 29 December 1942, and arriving in Nouméa harbour on New Year's Eve. We disembarked on New Year's Day and in a 15-mile trip by motor transport to the staging camp at Dumbea, received our first impressions of the island of New Caledonia. Predominant impressions were of intense heat, clouds of dust and almost barren hills, the only relief to the landscape being the ubiquitous niaouli tree which, with its characteristic outline and foliage, was to become a very familiar sight during the following months. After remaining a few days at the staging camp this final draft of HZDC personnel travelled some ninety miles by motor transport-to Bourail where Base Headquarters NZEF IP had been established. Bourail is a small township of some 500 very, very mixed inhabitants—-French, Javanese, Tonkinese, Kanakas and the results of breeding, judicious or otherwise, between these various races.

Lieutenant-Colonel Rout, who had arrived in New Caledonia in advance, had already established Headquarters Dental Services at Bourail in a wing of the public school or l'ecole communale— rather a 'come down' after the Suva Girls' Grammar School! However, this accommodation was excellent for the purpose, including ample space for the setting up of the advanced base dental store. Thanks to the energetic efforts of dental headquarters staff, two rooms were very soon fitted up as a first-class store. The fact is well worth mention, that the efficiency of this advanced base dental store throughout played an important part in the efficiency of the dental services as a whole. On no occasion did any dental section operating in New Caledonia or the Solomons experience any hold-up through lack of supplies.

The camp dental hospital, commanded by Major J. C. M. Simmers, was soon established at base reception depot in Téné Valley, some five miles from Bourail. This valley was surrounded by many hills heavily wooded with niaouli trees, and had a good-sized stream which afforded an excellent water supply and facilities for bathing. For a considerable time the accommodation here for both the dental surgery and laboratory was in large tents. Later when prefabricated tropical huts were available a well-appointed dental hospital was constructed from these, on the same site. The camp dental hospital was responsible for the treatment of all troops in the base area, and on the arrival of reinforcements from New Zealand in later months it examined and treated these incoming troops prior to their being posted to divisional units.

The dental care of divisional troops during their widespread activities throughout the length and breadth of New Caledonia, and later during their operational activities in the Solomons, was the responsibility of the mobile dental section. This section, commanded by Major A. I. McCowan, was completely self-contained with its own transport, camp equipment and cook. Its personnel comprised eight dental officers and 40 other ranks, including 14 drivers attached from the NZASC. For each officer there was a complete outfit of field dental equipment, so that as many sub-sections as necessary could be detached at any time for service with individual units in the field. Its headquarters and sub-sections varied their location according to the dental requirements of divisional units. With these located often hundreds of miles apart in New Caledonia, and later on four different islands of the Solomons Group, the mobile dental section fully justified its name. Whenever it was attached more or less intact to divisional headquarters or to a brigade, a permanent camp was established, and the general set-up of these camps as at Moindah, Bouloupari, and later at Guadalcanal, was a great credit to the officer commanding the section and his staff. Nor should mention be omitted of the excellent work done by the sub-sections which, after a short stay of a few weeks with one unit, would strike their tents and move to another unit, there setting up again their field dental surgeries and laboratories ready to function at short notice—not a pleasant and easy way of doing dentistry but nevertheless carried out efficiently by these sub-sections.

In addition to the camp dental hospital and the mobile dental section, several self-contained dental sections each consisting of one dental officer, one dental mechanic and one clerk-orderly were established. Some of these were temporarily attached to static units located some distance from base. Others were permanently attached to units such as the casualty clearing station, the cpn-valescent depot and 4th NZ General Hospital. The section attached to 4th General was a Maxillo-facial injury section under Major W. R. Hamilton. This was a specialist section which, apart from carrying out routine dental treatment for the staff and patients of this hospital, provided the necessary specialist treatment for battle casualties with facial injuries, and for any of the more advanced oral surgery which was presented in the course of routine treatment at all sections.

During the first few months in New Caledonia the accommodation for all dental sections was limited to tents. The Indian pattern tents were adapted to a more suitable height for a dental surgery as had been done previously in Fiji. Later, prefabricated tropical type huts were available and these were used to replace the tents for the more or less permanently established sections. In two locations native type bures were constructed as dental surgeries and laboratories and served the purpose reasonably well. The members of the various sections, in spite of the great shortage of dressed timber, showed great ingenuity in improvising all sorts of additions in the way of furniture and fittings. Improvisations of technical equipment were also extremely numerous. There was hardly a dental section which did not construct an electric polishing lathe by adapting the starter motor of some wrecked vehicle and running it from a battery.

It was probably in the dental section attached to 4th NZ General Hospital, however, that the greatest height of genius was attained in the matter of improvisation. In the surgery at this section was to be seen an ultra-modern looking cuspidor constructed out of a half differential housing from a wrecked Ford truck, as well as an all-metal welded surgical table made from bits and pieces. The laboratory equipment of this same section included a bunsen burner adapted from a petrol lamp, and a petrol blow-pipe made on the premises from very assorted parts. This latter piece of equipment proved more efficient than the standard type of gas blow-pipe used in civilian dental practice, and it was of great service in the casting and soldering of metal splints for the fixation of fractured jaws, which was part of the specialist function of this section. It has always been the aim of the NZDC to instruct and encourage soldiers in oral hygiene. However, the oral hygiene units erected near the entrance to dental sections, with a notice imploring all ranks to clean their teeth thoroughly before reporting for dental treatment, have failed to attract the attention that they should. It was to solve this problem that Major Hamilton's section applied its inventive skill to the production of the Hamilton Mark IV model oral hygiene unit—a beautifully streamlined structure which was sure to attract attention. It did attract attention, but mostly in the moonlight, when the notice indicating its correct use was not easily read! The Hamilton Mark IV model never came into production.

Both medical and dental sections performed urgent treatment for the French and native population of New Caledonia. The teeth of these people were badly neglected, and they were all most appreciative of what was done for them—with the exception perhaps of one unfortunate native. This fellow who appeared on the doorstep of a medical section one morning was asked by the medical officer the stock question Ou avez vous mal? The patient opened his mouth and pointed therein with his fingers. Without more ado he was led to the nearby dental section. After some time had elapsed the scared face with bloodstained mouth reappeared in the doorway of the medical section and said 'The teeth are out, but the throat he is sore still!'

At all times, but more especially in the first six months of our stay, off duty periods presented a distinct problem to all, as facilities for occupying such time were considerably limited. Reading, writing and sleeping are all pleasant occupations but are inclined to pall a little if they cannot be varied with some other form of relaxation. In this respect the many rivers which provided good swimming facilities were a godsend, as also was the presence in one or two places of excellent surf beaches. As time progressed many types of sport were organised and everyone indulged in at least one in an endeavour to keep fit and pass the time. The most universally popular evening 'time user' was the open-air movie, and one went along regardless of the show or who was featuring in it. Quite a number made friends with the French farmers and their families. These people, the majority of whom seemed to be poorly off, were on the whole most friendly and despite the language barrier gave some of us a little of that home life which we all missed so much.

We all received a sad blow on 24 February 1943 when Captain B. S. Wilkie lost his life as a result of a jeep accident in New Caledonia. Captain Wilkie was a most popular officer and his death came as a severe shock to all who knew him.

In August 1943 the long-anticipated move of the division to the forward area, to take up an operational role, became an actual fact. The entire mobile dental section, and the No. 2 Maxillo-facial injury section tinder Major S. N. Jolly, moved forward with the division. The mobile section established its headquarters at Point Cruz on Guadalcanal, and Major Jolly's section was with the casualty clearing station nearby. The headquarters of the mobile dental section occupied one of the best sites for a camp on this island. Some of the jungle was cleared away, the ground was levelled by bulldozers, and the tents were set in the cleared areas. Some of the larger trees were left for shade purposes, and these also gave the place a more pleasant appearance. This camp, being on the neck of a small isthmus, was close to the sea, where there was a good bathing beach. Initially, the surgeries were in tents, with coral sand floors, but later a building with a wooden floor was constructed. This was a great advantage as the rainfall was high, and violent thunderstorms were almost a nightly occurrence, causing flooding of the lower lying areas. Water for washing and drinking purposes was at. a premium and the rivers, unlike those in New Caledonia, were useless for bathing or for laundry purposes. However, all ranks showed great ingenuity in overcoming these difficulties, and some of the improvised shower baths were masterpieces in their construction.

As units of the division moved forward from Guadalcanal to other islands, sub-sections of the mobile dental section moved with them and were eventually established on Vella Lavella, Treasury Island and Nissan Island In these forward areas the country was a great contrast to that in New Caledonia. The comparatively open spaces of that island were here replaced by dense jungle, coral sand and rock. Clearing tent sites was a difficult proposition, and each section had to set up its own site, which involved much pick and shovel work in the hard coral rock. Considering the small number of personnel of a section, the space required was comparatively large, and usually three tent sites had to be prepared for surgery, laboratory and sleeping quarters. Tightly packed coral sand floors were usual and these could be kept clean and tidy without much labour. Sawn timber was scarce and benches for the workroom had to be constructed of any timber available, this frequently being mahogany, teak or rose-wood.

Climatic conditions in these advanced areas were hard and shorter working hours were necessary, allowing some time during the day for rest and recreation. Hobbies were encouraged, and the amount of scrap metal obtainable allowed plenty of scope in this direction. On Guadalcanal canoeing and baseball were the main sporting activities, and the mobile section had a very good baseball team. Further forward, sporting activities were very restricted and tennikoits was the most popular game, being played in the late afternoon.. Swimming was popular with all ranks, and several men learned to swim while in the forward areas. On most of the islands the American forces had established cinema shows which were held almost nightly in the open air. Rain and thunderstorm did not interfere with these entertainments, and only during air raid alerts were the shows abandoned, and then somewhat hastily. Although it cannot be said that the men enjoyed their stay in these forward areas, it should be recorded that all did their duty to the best of their ability, and the troops appreciated the attention they received from the dental sections at all times.

April 1944 saw the return of the first of the divisional troops from the forward area. These troops were returning to New Zealand for essential industry and as the aim was to ensure that they were all made dentally fit before embarkation for home, subsections of the mobile dental section returned with them to assist in this work at the camp dental hospital in New Caledonia. Within the next two months approximately 9,000 troops were examined and all necessary treatment completed. Early in July the mobile dental section was disbanded. The majority of its personnel were returned to New Zealand, and the remainder were incorporated into sections which became part of the camp dental hospital.

It soon became evident that the Third Division's role in the Pacific had almost reached its end, and the packing of the equipment and stores of all dental units became a very pleasant occupation. October saw the return of the rear party of the division, including the last of the NZDC personnel under Captain B. Judge. And so the history of the dental services with the Third Division drew to a close. On completion of their overseas leave all personnel were soon absorbed into dental sections in New Zealand. Many have since been posted to further overseas service, some to the United Kingdom, some to the CMF, while others have been reposted to the Pacific on duty with RNZAF dental sections. It was a great satisfaction to all ranks of the NZDC who had served with the Third Division to hear that the corps had been honoured by the award of the OBE to Major A. I. McCowan, officer commanding the mobile dental section, and a Mention in Despatches to Staff-Sergeant C. A. Frater, NCO in charge of the prosthetic laboratory of the camp dental hospital.

Despite the hardships of Pacific service, especially in its soul-destroying monotony, there is no doubt that all members of the NZDC who served with the division retain pleasant memories of their service. With the general good fellowship that existed among all, it could not be otherwise.

Chapter FifteenArmy Education and Welfare Service

In company with the majority of Third Division units, AEWS IP went through its embryonic stages in Fiji with Neal Buchanan as librarian to the force. It was he who had the job of collecting together and packing 6,000 books, gathering together cases of magazines and reading material of all types and finally, travelling across to New Caledonia on the Westpoint, December 1942. There he was to select and establish the first overseas branch of the New Zealand Army Education and Welfare Services by operating as soon as possible a unit library service on divisional scale.

The choice of headquarters fell upon an old vacant French building in the heart of Bourail, complete with rotting floorboards, mud-concrete floors cracked and crumbling; with a roof that looked none too secure but which actually served our purpose well and dust, dirt, rain-streaked walls and myriads of purposeful insects, large and small, beautiful and hideous. This building had seen better days and had no doubt witnessed much colourful' convict-day history.

A base YMCA was first established in this building which was poked away up a street beside the Bourail church. Dirty, dusty and sunburned drivers speaking a variety of languages stopped for refreshment at the friendly triangle sign. For these early travellers the building, which we shared for a short period, was an oasis and a place to be remembered with pleasure. It was a good omen. Soon the equipment arrived. And what equipment! Surely few transports leaving New Zealand had carried such unusual material of war. Certainly no trucks had transported whole printing plants, crates of cinema projectors, cameras and photo-graphicphotographic supplies, or so many, cases of literature over those murderous Necal roads. Almost a week was to pass before the heaviest item, the three-ton cylinder press, was finally manoeuvred into position. Another week was occupied while Div Ordnance Workshops made repairs to broken machinery and remade missing parts. Then the machines were bedded down in concrete which took a third week to dry.

Back in New Zealand personnel were being selected and briefed to go to Necal to pioneer the AEWS overseas. Major A. H. Thorn left to take up the appointment of assistant director AEWS IP, arriving in Bourail on 28 February 1943. Other personnel selected were Bob Lowry as printing manager, Leo Fowler as editor of the division's newspaper Kiwi, Alan Purdie as subeditor and general reporter, Leo Kenny and Dick Murrell. These latter two had served in Fiji and whilst there had organised all the movie entertainment and were a natural choice for personnel to man the new RSA-sponsored 35mm mobile cinema unit which was to be employed in New Caledonia.

Major Thorn's principal worry upon arrival was the considerable amount of work to be done and virtually no staff to do it. This staff shortage was to be a permanent problem, for our unit at no time, let it be remembered, was at full working strength. The New Zealand-selected staff would not arrive before late February, therefore suitable men had to be obtained from the field units already on the island-First of these was Tommy Tom-kinson for the photographic section. Next came Alister Appleton, who offered his printing trade experience to the newly-formed AEWS, and he was closely followed by Lin Buick-Constable from 15th Brigade Headquarters. There was much work to be done. 'App' was soon busy unpacking printing equipment. Lin Buick-Constable became assistant librarian under 'Buck' and the two of them set to, stripped to the waist in the cramped quarters which served as the storeroom. Thousands of library book cards had to be typed, magazines had to be sorted and distributed; more than 6.000 books had to be sorted, numbered, carded and repacked into portable book cases and sent out to units all over the island from north of Koumac to Nouméa, on a one-book-per-three-men basis.

Slowly more staff arrived. Wilfred Hilford settled in to handle the distribution of Kiwi and assist the editorial staff, and to the joy of the original pioneers, Lowry, Fowler, Purdie, Kenny and Murrell reinforced us at this stage. On their heels came Jack Shaw, punter-journalist-typist extraordinary, the last man to join the unit whilst medically grade one. Thereafter all new personnel from the field had to be graded lower than one. It was about this time, too, that the very first AEWS-sponsored film showing took place, the site being Bourail camp. The operator was Tommy Tomkinson, with everybody on the staff, including the ADAEWS, helping to crank reluctant motors, carrying cables and winding film spools. Within a few days, however, Leo Kenny and Dick Murrell were to offer something much better in movie entertainment. These two had got down to work quickly and after thoroughly overhauling the mobile plant, they were able to present a test programme, including a full-length feature film, in the Bourail square by throwing the projection on to the whitewashed wall of a building which conveniently helped to form one side of the square.

The printing unit was now showing signs of order but the unpacking soon revealed that a large amount of type had been sadly mixed up in transit. The trade term for this sort of disaster is 'pied type.' The terms used by the staff to describe the job of sorting it all out into correct founts, etc., are quite unprintable! Anyway it was a finicky, eye-wearying, finger-smarting job that took all hands from the ADAEWS down a whole week to complete. All available personnel—clerks, projectionists, librarians— now set to work to assist the small printing staff. The first issue of Kiwi was on the way! One by one experienced printing hands arrived from field units to swell our ranks. Men like Johnny Overend, Ken Hardwick and Fred Robinson proved real assets to the organisation and, although not always in the best of health, gave of their best at all times. A printer's job can be very trying at any time but under our conditions it was a miracle that so much work was done by so few in so short a time. Night and day the work went on and although a little cooler night work was the worst. No proper lighting facilities were available for some time and the first few issues were set partly at night, at first solely by candle-light. A compositor would be seen with as many as six guttering candles stuck along the edge of his type case, smoking, flickering and oozing grease into the type compartments. Then a few inferior grade hurricane lamps appeared; a French priest across the road lent a coleman-type lamp; another French citizen produced an acetylene burner that had seen more prosperous times. A portable generator was eventually obtained but even this gave much trouble from time to time. Night work, too, was always complicated by the rich and varied insect life, moths and mosquitoes being particularly harassing. One memorable night, 4 March 1943, the editorial staff laid down their pens while the press rolled continuously for hours. Lowry and Overend and the library staff worked on through the evening, printing, counting, sweating, stacking as soon as dry, wrapping the unit bundles for morning distribution while high officials from nearby base headquarters and an anxious ADAEWS hovered about watching the birth of Kiwi, Less than one month after the arrival of its staff the Third Division's own newspaper was out!

The division was to have its own Kiwi concert party and Rex Sayers from Div Signals was appointed to be its organisor and producer. He had the difficult job of selecting from former unit concert party associates and the force's talent only the most useful and versatile performers. Days of auditions went by. Doug Morrison, female impersonator, Alan Matthews ('Alamat' the conjuror), Harry Davidson and 'Where's that Tiger' Henry Burns were immediately selected and the remaining six vacancies were to be filled by men from all units in the division. Eventually, singer Maurice Tansley, female impersonator Ralph Dyer, musical director Ossie Cheesman, pianist' Jock 'MacKenzie, trumpeter Harold Toomer, drummer Burns DePhoff and bass fiddle player 'Count' Ofsoski were selected. Soon they were all hard at it rehearsing, arranging items and making costumes for their first touring presentation, 'The Road Show.'

From the beginning the editorial section of Kiwi ran into trouble. Few people can realise how tough military censorship can be; how many hands the work of the Kiwi staff had to go through before it could be published. Not only had each issue to be approved by the base censor but also by the powers-that-be at Div HQ and finally—especially if it was one of those rare editions to be sent home—by the American censorship authorities at island command, Nouméa. There were times when this meant the complete re-printing of large sections of an issue and on one blue-pencil occasion the whole staff of AEWS was made to hand-obliterate a certain word from nearly 16,000 copies over a Sunday afternoon and evening! Another major difficulty was the obtaining of up-to-date news. The very nearness of the force to New-Zealand was perhaps the chief cause of this. Most units had their own radios and therefore heard the New Zealand headlines as early as the Kiwi journalists. Again, through private mails, some men received copies of the New Zealand dailies as early as the Kiwi staff. A special daily signal service from Wellington functioned fairly well for a time but this had to be abandoned when operational needs became too pressing for the army signal corps. Ultimately, however, the daily signal was resumed and toward the end of our stay in New Caledonia private arrangements with allied air force personnel frequently produced same-day copies of the principal New Zealand newspapers.

The French proprietors of La France Anstrale and Le Bulletin du Commerce were both very impressed by the technical quality of Kiwi and made visits from Nouméa to inspect the plant. Owing to very bad transport conditions at one stage, Kiwi would have run out of newsprint if it had not been for the loan of over a month's supply which La France Australe put at our disposal.

AEWS, in conjunction with the Public Relations Group, operated the divisional darkroom. Long hours were worked by the staff and a prodigious amount of work was put through. The main job was to develop and print copies of official photographs and to supply the archives section of PRG with any photos required. That in itself was a big job—over 3,000 negatives from which something like 30,000 prints were made. In addition to this, all unit photographer's film rolls were developed and a free print of each negative made.

The familiar mobile cinema plant travelled up and down the island showing full-length movies wherever it went to thousands of New Zealand and American troops. Portable screens were erected between tall tree-trunks; films were shown in torrential downpours; entertainment was given to bored troops in the 6eld who sometimes had walked or had been driven several miles over terrible roads to see their favourite film stars or just to get away from talking niaouli trees and fast-approaching hills. Large units got together working parties and cleared hillsides suitable for outdoor ampitheatres, and improvised stages with fixed screens were erected in several camps. Leo and Dick were everywhere welcome and soon tired of hearing: 'What'ya showing to-night?'

Yet another man to come in from the field was Maurice Kennedy of the 37th Battalion. His first job was to open up cases of study courses and university text books, and set up office as NCO in charge of the study course department. Upon formal application these excellently produced pocket-sized study course booklets were available free to any member of the force and could become personal property upon the earnest completion of each course. Some of the courses ran to three volumes and it was possible for an enthusiastic soldier-student to reach a high standard in such subjects as animal production, pig farming, wool-classing, crops and cropping, farm bookkeeping, New Zealand grasslands, trade calculations, mechanics, applied electricity, radio communication, petrol engines, instrumental drawing, carpentry, English, commercial bookkeeping, logarithms and practical trigonometry or biology, provided he worked progressively and sent in regularly the incorporated test papers for marking.

Other new arrivals at this stage were 'Andy' Cassin for the library, and Les Matthews for the printing department-Additions to the staff were also arriving from New Zealand. Alan Oliver and Dorian Saker for the study course department and a team of 16mm cinema projectionists, 'Mac' MacDougall, 'Marty' Martiningo and Bill Tennant. Eventually, when Buchanan gained his commission as base education officer, Kennedy took over the library and Oliver assumed command of the study course depart-ment. By this time Tom Coutie was well established as our orderly room wallah—the man who ran our 'paper war.' His work increased with the staff. Records were to be broken by the 16mm cinema men—they worked long hours, six or seven days a week, starting at 0830 hours and not ceasing until they returned home at night, often as late as 2300 hours if the showing had been more than 30 miles away. 'Mac' was actually to complete over 100 continuous performances without a break down! Further reinforcements from New Zealand included Graham Brown (library), Norman lake (concert party electrician), 'Bud' Taylor (study courses) and Owen Fletcher, who immediately went on tour with the Kiwi concert party. Fletcher was later to become our botanist, doing much useful work in that direction.

The kitchen of the Bourail Cluh, where New Zealand WAACs prepared delicacies for the men, was spacious and airy. The servery, where preparations for morning tea are in hand, is shown below

Laundering was an open-air job for the WAACs in New Caledonia, water being obtained from a neighbouring stream. But the result was worth it. The girls in the group below are dressed for a day's outing

Now, however, the seasonable dengue fever was upon us, and our unit, like all base units, suffered heavy casualties. This was a disaster from the staffing point of view, as many as nine men being in hospital at one time! Whilst the bulk of the staff was absent over a period of nearly two months, a heavy strain was thrown on those who remained. Some outstanding work was performed in getting the Kiwi out on time and in keeping up the flow of educational matter and film schedules. Toward the end of the fever season the New Zealand-selected brigade education officers arrived: Lieutenant Congalton for the 14th Brigade; Lieutenant Hewland for the 8th Brigade and Lieutenant Veitch for the 15th Brigade and when the latter was disbanded, for divisional headquarters area. Another officer, Captain Carswell, our second-in-command, had previously arrived and in time to allow Major Thorn to return to New Zealand for a short tour of duty.

The BEOs were soon set up in the field and, with a small staff of one clerk, one projectionist, as well as a scattered team of unit education officers (these being part-time representatives chosen by their COs on educational rather than ranking merit) a complete personal coverage of all units in the division was accomplished. Magazines received from American sources were of high quality and much appreciated by everybody. It was the work of-the BEOs to distribute the copies around their units through the UEOs when they received them from the base library. The BEOs were our close contacts with the men in the field and were responsible for the advancement of all educational and welfare activities. Their work covered study courses, rehabilitation, sports, cinema, concerts, quiz sessions, and the formation and conduct of classes and discussion groups over a wide range of subjects. Their work was exacting and untiring.

Apart from the production of the Kiwi, general printing was done which, at a rough estimate, would have cost upwards of £2,500 if it had been handled through civilian channels. Over 600 separate jobs were completed during the 18 months the unit operated in New Caledonia This work fell into several categories. First came the great bulk of official and semi-official work —administrative orders, special orders of the day, packing lists, movement control forms, waybills, signal registers, message forms, wireless diary forms, stock and job record cards, unit pay ledger cards, running instruction blanks and receipt forms. Booklets on malaria control, motor transport landing instruction for amphibious operations, a motor transport maintenance booklet, a battalion standing orders and two editions of a 52-page officers' gradation list were also produced. Another group of work included such unusual items as an election returns sheet, voting papers on the no-license issue, community song sheets, telephone directories, a street map of Nouméa, temperature and other hospital charts, wedding invitations, marriage certificates, a Jewish New Year card and invitations and posters in French in connection with the weekly dances organised in Bourail by the base social committee. Thousands of concert programmes, music score sheets, race meeting cards, film posters and a weekly schedule of entertainment provided by the AEWS completed the work in the entertainment field.

One special difficulty arose through the currency arrangements in Necal. The men were paid in dollar bills throughout the island, and for small purchases there was always a chronic shortage of small change. For several units special change currency was printed and in other cases the difficulty was solved by the printing of coupons for the liquor ration, barbers' services, canteen purposes and so on.

The major problem of the darkroom staff was the storage of water to enable them to carry on developing and washing at all times. Bourail possessed a water supply which unfortunately worked but fitfully and seemingly to no set scheme. One day it would flow all morning; the next day only during the afternoon; then for days sometimes it wouldn't flow at all. Old Monsieur Grippo, one of our French neighbours, was its caretaker and even he didn't appear to understand the system. The problem was finally solved by the erection of large storage tanks and keeping them full at all times, either from the town supply or by collected rain water.

There were times when a new film had to be pre-viewed on the 16mm projectors. Brand new full-length features from the USA and special army films were usually tested by 'Mac' and his cohorts indoors and it was impossible to expect the staff— any staff—to work while in a nearby room generators throbbed and a white beam of projected light threw Betty Grable's incomparable legs on to the silver screen! There were other happy times, too, such as those when members of the staff went on organised week-end picnics and launch trips and gorged themselves at a staff dinner and had very occasional leave in Nouméa. But those occasions are better left to gather brightness in the individual's memory.

As time went on the AEWS activities spread in all directions. A large native-style bure was erected in which to house the ever growing library and study course departments. This expansion was completed only just in time. Within a few days of the move, the long-awaited linotype machine arrived from New Zealand. The printers, weary of hand-setting every word of Khvi, heaved a sigh of relief. Bill Ellison, sent from New Zealand in advance as linotype mechanic, and Les Matthews, the machine's operator, soon had the plant in working order and although written simply like that, it certainly was no easy task to set up, check for damage and experiment with an intricate mechanism such as this in a tropical climate.

Rumours were right for once. The division was to go forward into action. Hustle and bustle. Books, magazines, sample courses, cinema machines, general equipment; representatives were to go forward with them. Hurried conferences with brigade sections; much more sorting and packing; AEWS was going into action too. Only minimum requirements must be taken forward. Units were not allowed to take their libraries with them. All available space was reserved for actual materials of warfare. Books and other reading matter would follow.

During the time the division was in the Solomons, over 9,000 items of reading matter were sent forward from Necal. These comprised penguin-type books (another 6,000 items were also sent direct to Guadalcanal from New Zealand), magazines and second-grade books-In addition, each of the four BEOs to operate north of Necal were supplied with special field reference libraries of 100 selected books. As the units moved out from Necal so the storage space in the Bourail base library grew less. As soon as they were checked and the damaged books rejected, all books surplus to the thousands required on the base exchanging shelves were sent back into the field. New unit libraries were formed and existing ones increased to a one-book-a-man basis. A New Zealand Waac-staffed library of well over 1,000 books was set up in the new Bourail Club and this functioned as the central library for BTD and all other units stationed in the Téné River valley area. The base education officer organised special evening classes for all base unit personnel who could conveniently attend. French language classes were commenced for beginners and advanced students and these were well patronised for several months. Music classes were also conducted for a lengthy period under the direction of Geoff Dodson, sometimes relieved by Ossie Cheesman, and much theory work was taught to a small group of enthusiasts. Classes in popular photography were also instructed for a term by our staff photographer and well-attended art classes covering all branches of fine and commercial art including a life class with French and Kanaka native models, were run for nine months by Buick-Constable. Classes in playing-read ing, musical appreciation, English literature, wool-classing, radio technology also ran for short periods. An interesting art exhibition showing the work of 'NZ Artists IP' was also arranged by art class members and toured the outlying base units. Mention must also be made of the excellent talks on current affairs and travel given for many months over the loud-speaker system of the mobile cinema plant by the base EO. This loud-speaker system was also much in demand for track commentation at unit sports and race meetings.

The Kiwi concert party were flown north to the New Hebrides on its first tour of the forward areas. After performances at Santos to allied servicemen the party was flown on to Guadalcanal and was soon busy entertaining at the large camps on this island. At Guadalcanal the concert people were often called upon to do work other than their specified duties—emergencies arise in for ward areas and tasks like unloading transports and LSTs on the beaches fall the way of everybody available. The concert party certainly worked hard with performances every night for weeks on end as it toured upward through the other islands of the group. Picketing and escorting in addition to their daily rehearsals, late night work, and strenuous travelling from island to island in that climate taxed their physical resources to the utmost. The first tour, which was to have been for a few weeks only, actually stretched into five months away from New Caledonia. Upon their return, yellow with atabrin and very weary, members of the party were granted two weeks' rest around Bourail before commencing rehearsals for a new show. Some members dropped out on account of ill-health and the roll now showed singer Arthur Hanna, comedian Henry Howlett and Dave Reid, of the Tui concert party, as new members. Before returning to the forward areas they completed a brief tour of New Caledonia which included the opening of the Kiwi Club at Bourail beach, the Bourail Club in Téné River valley and a return week at the Hickson Theatre, Nouméa.

Born of necessity while the Kiwi concert party was away on tour for months at a time, but born also out of enthusiasm and spare-time hard work, base repertory provided entertainment for the units remaining in Necal. Base repertory players were drawn from units in and around Bourail and after enduring weeks of rehearsals in a broken-down shed behind the cheese factory and among the pig-pens, they presented their first production of three well-known one-acters, plus an original play by Owen Fletcher, the organiser and producer. Props were kindly lent by local residents and costumes were pieced together from unwanted con cert party stores; a lavish four-colour programme was printed by the Kiwi press and a splendid stage was erected for the opening performance in the Bourail YMCA, by Nat Pat and YMCA workers. This production and a second effort later which included an amusing presentation of Macbeth, went on brief nightly tours of the base units.

The base unit 'purge' of all grade one men who could be spared or replaced was on. Reluctantly we said good-bye to Norman Parnell, of the printing unit, Saker, Brown and Fletcher. The last two men were to rejoin the unit as field section clerks in the forward areas. Tn their places came Johnnie Watt, Bill Blair and Jim Benny for the library and study courses bure. Other recent arrivals from New Zealand were Cecil Grubb, Roger Roser and 'Sonny' Summers for the printing section. Bert Simpson went into the orderly room and Johnny Hole from the field for the library. Maurice Kennedy was made education officer at 4th NZ General Hospital, Buick-Constable taking over the library with Cassin as first assistant. Kennedy and his counter part Lieutenant 'Teddy' Spraggin, at No. 2 NZ Convalescent Depot, organised all AEWS activity and inaugurated conside able occupational therapy work for the many patients there. Cap tain Carswell and 'Buck' Buchanan left for the Solomons to work as BEOs and Oliver became Base EO, with Stan Slocombe from New Zealand taking over the study course department. Leo Kenny had been boarded back to New Zealand, leaving Dick Murrell in charge of the mobile cinema unit with a new arrival, Moss Spiers, as his assistant. With the return to New Zealand and to civil life of Major Thorn, Temporary-Major J. E. Tier came in from the 15th Brigade to take up the appointment of ADAEWS.

Our representatives in the Solomons were finding plenty to do on their respective islands. After the initial battle actions there remained the months of relatively quiet garrison duty, and it was during this period that AEWS in the field really went to work. Books and magazines by the thousand were distributed; nightly film showings were maintained, equipment often being ferried from camp-site to camp-site by barge because the island jungle was impassable. At one time the 8th Brigade AEWS cinema unit on Stirling Island was responsible for all movie entertainment for American naval, air and land forces as well as our own. Classes in many subjects were started and study course enrol ments reached a new high. As the worth of the many study courses became known hundreds of soldiers made application and so great was the demand on occasions that local and even Necal stocks were exhausted, substitute courses being taken until new stocks could be flown from New Zealand. The BEOs and their small staffs also undertook to make study course test papers on the spot. This was a most commendable action which not only saved inter-island mailing time but also enabled the soldier to obtain swift personal assistance when in difficulties. Island com mands organised arts and crafts exhibitions in both brigades and foremost among these was the effort of the 14th Brigade. This remarkable hand-fashioned display was eventually returned to New Zealand and toured the Dominion with the 'Artists in Uniform' exhibition.

In Necal work continued in getting the Kitvi out and away to the forward areas by every means available. All departments were kept fully occupied and further long-awaited material was arriving from New Zealand. Started back in May 1943 was a Base HQ reference library which now comprised over 2,000 carefully ordered authoritative reference books on almost every subject under the sun. Div personnel could have the loan of any of the books on application through their UEO and in the period of some 15 months, more than 3,000 individual requests were made. It was not always possible to supply suitable literature to cover all requests—as for instance a book on worm-culture or goldfish breeding—but the reference library was actually able to satisfy approximately 90 per cent of all requests.

When manpower withdrawals commenced, arrangements were pushed ahead to cope with the entertainment of large numbers of men who were expected to stay for a short while in Necal on their way back to New Zealand. During the period they remained in Téné River valley thousands of troops were kept occupied and entertained with continuous lectures by a team of well-known, lecturers, civilian musicians and the popular NBS concert party —all brought especially over from New Zealand for the purpose. The lectures were strictly informal and very often amplified by special movie films and slides. Subjects covered were rehabilitation, population and housing problems, history of cultural arts, land development, grasslands and pastures, the Maori, international affairs, finance and banking, economics, literature of Eng land, America and New Zealand, wool-classing, sheep and dairy farming, general agriculture and veterinary science. Apart from Third Div personnel, the lecturer group comprised Captain Nichol, Professor Belshaw, Professor Gordon, Doctor Hopkirk, Mr. Duncan, Mr. Lawn, Second-Lieutenant Lee, Mr. Walker, and Lieutenant Teviotdale. In the first week alone, 1,780 men attended the lectures.

The NBS concert party was a great success. The happy inclusion in the cast of several 'real live' women in evening dress proved a big draw. Under the direction of Mr. B. Beeby, with Henry Rudolf in charge of the actual concert party, the two groups, concert and repertory, put on excellent performances for almost every night over several weeks. Mr. Henri Penn, well-known concert pianist with the party, also gave one or two much-appreciated recitals. Wherever possible considerable use was made of divisional musical and dramatic talent to augment the casts.

The Third Division returned to New Zealand. Our packing up for the return journey was no less hectic than that of any other unit. A small rear party under Captain Carswell remained in Necal to furnish movies and other entertainment to the unit rear parties. But our work was not yet finished. Back in New Zealand, late in 1944, in Mangere Crossing Camp, Auckland, the AF. WS IP finally breathed its last, completing accounting and giving to the camp until the very end full educational, entertain ment and library facilities. And so we say farwell £o this enter prising band of AEWS pioneers who were the first to supply New Zealand's Expeditionary Forces on active service overseas with study courses, university, professional and trade examination assistance, text book loans, a full circulation and reference library service, 35mm and 16mm movie entertainment, the Kiwi, divi sional and unit job-printing, a photographic darkroom service, lectures, discussion groups and pamphlets, rehabilitation advice, educational classes in art, music, radio, wool-classing, languages, photography, a general information service, quiz sessions, art and craftwork exhibitions and the official touring concert parties.

Chapter SixteenPublic Relations

The Public Relations Office was one of the tail-enders amongst base units. When those of its members who were recruited in New Zealand arrived in New Caledonia in April 1943 they found that 2 NZEF IP was already a going concern. As the publicity link between the soldiers and the reading public the office auto matically came in for a measure of criticism. No soldier yet born considers that he has had a fair or adequate deal from his own public, and this attitude extends also to the publicity organs of his country. The Public Relations Office came in for even more criticism from those soldiers who had been chasing the war for some years either in Fiji or in New Zealand and were as a consequence gradually storing up arrears of frustration. The publicity boys no less than other rather more familiar whipping-boys in the army felt the lash of their tongues. This is perhaps as it should be. It is the soldier's practice to question and, if he must, curse, such extra-regimental services—this possibly serves as a corrective to a too academic or easy appreciation of publicity work and it reminds one of the difficulties in balancing the aspirations (or grouches) of the ordinary soldier against the publicity requirements of a country at war. The attitude of some of the Pacific soldiers towards the Public Relations Office was in part a reflection of these current feelings.

It was against this background that the units of the office began their different activities, and what with war correspondents, war artists, photographers, the mobile recording unit, and that problem child, archives, these activities were quite varied. The war correspondent would write his despatches and, unless it were operational in scope, mail it immediately to the Director of Publicity, Wellington. During those long months in New Cale-doniaCaledonia while we watched the war slipping by, press news of our activities was overshadowed by reports from the other side of the world. Newspapers were limited in space and the public seemed to demand news of the bayonet and flame thrower and shrank from reports of fatigues and 'stand-tos' in some little known island. So if someone took calipers and measured column space—this may be a standard for phrenologists but not neces sarily for other equally estimable citizens—he may learn that we have not received the attention that is usually recorded to an 'Aunt Daisy,' Editor Hogan, or a rabbit board rumpus. So, the war correspondent is perhaps unjustly blamed. Add to this a direction from a distant place to the effect that such despatches should not 'overcolottr' such experiences as mud, mosquitoes, and monotony, and we begin to understand some of the limitations within which the correspondent must operate. But as soon as the division moved north, and the niaoulis echoed the whisper that we could soon expect to justify our raison d'etre the corres pondent's difficulties increased. He had first of all to establish liaison with the US authorities who, by virtue of their command in the South Pacific, exercised censorship over all correspondents. This was the least of his problems, for censorship was both rapid and sympathetic. At times there would be a small flood of US and Australian newspaper men (all of whom represented indi vidual papers or syndicates, and did not enjoy the mixed blessing, as we did, of writing through a Government agency for every paper in the country). It was then necessary to see that reports from these people did not break before our despatches reached New Zealand. This could only be achieved by streamlining' cen sorship and communications, and the correspondent had no staff for this purpose. He had to do all this work himself. On one occasion at Guadalcanal he had to travel several miles to file a despatch with the press relations officer. On the road back from this US navy camp he ran into a typically heavy and sudden downpour. Rivers rose and bridges were swept away. After being marooned for some considerable time, and debating the virtues of an 'alligator' over a jeep, he managed to get himself off his rapidly disappearing island, and finally retreated to his starting point. The next day a landing barge returned him, minus his jeep, to FMC. This competition with other correspondents necessitated a speedy return from any trip, especially when one considers the facilities placed at the disposal of US newspaper men. We just had to edge them when the news broke.

Further, it sometimes requires a nice sense of judgment to determine whether a certain story should be published or not. Particularly on Vella Lavella and Mono Islands many brave things were done, but concerning which there was at the time a conflict of evidence. Several times good stories were killed be cause one could not reconcile discrepancies. Split up as the force was on several islands, any correspondent would have required a more comprehensive intelligence system than a division allows itself, if he were expected to maintain a parity in the flow of news from each group. This parity is still worshipped by some people, soldier and civilian alike, and any deviation from it is denounced with the vehemence that one usually reserves for treachery.

When, on the eve of the landing on Nissan Island a second correspondent was appointed, a shuttle service was maintained between Nissan and Guadalcanal. One could remain with the forward troops while the other would nurse the messages through the censorship, expedite their despatch to New Zealand, and attend press conferences for news they had not gleaned themselves. These despatches were also printed in Kiwi. Thus they amounted to a news service for the force paper, and also enabled the more sensitive warriors to see for themselves how they were being described in the press of their home town.

Perhaps the photographic side of the office had a more dramatic value for the majority of the men. An attempt was made by using the good offices of the AEWS to circulate contact prints of all official photographs among the units most concerned. This was designed to allow the men an opportunity of ordering similar prints from the Government film studios in Wellington. The nature of this undertaking can be appreciated when one considers the scattered nature of the force and the complete absence of any photographic facilities in New Caledonia. At first the photographer had to supply his own camera, though the graves registration unit rallied round by supplying an aged but still effective model, But the film available for this model was far from suitable for New Caledonian conditions. A darkroom had to be built in the disused school building occupied by the AEWS, but since this meant stealing space from a rapidly expanding unit, we had to confine ourselves to a humble 12 ft. by 6 ft. The New Cale donian summer made this a veritable hot-box. The water drawn from Bourail's famous town supply was cut off every afternoon. In addition to its scarcity value it had some curious properties which played all sorts of tricks with the negatives. Considerable boiling, though, modified these anti-social tendencies. The electric light was provided by an even more erratic generator; this chose the most embarrassing times in which to give trouble. Then the Americans, especially our friends at COMSOPAC, came to the rescue. They made a gift of cameras, paper, and all the materials necessary for a photographic service. We had no enlarging plant and they supplied even that, a few months before we left. The official photographers in just over a year had to work hard to expose, as they did, more than 3,200 negatives, but their work was paralleled in the dark room, where in spite of the heat and lack of space almost 30,000 contact prints were run off.

The war artists, too, were not the least estimable of this troupe. The first, who had sprung from some distant but distinguished Scottish ancestry and had refurnished his line's traditional martial ardours in a battalion of the Scottish Regiment, looked in vain for some glimpse of heather on Mount Boa's shoulders; most of us on the other hand sighed for a glimpse of either tussock or manuka. Still less did the Nouméa nickel docks area suggest Auld Reekie. But in spite of this affiliation with, and sympathy for, a dying phase in Scotland's tattered history page, the artist's work in oils, watercolours, chalk, pencil and combinations of line and wash constitutes an unfolding record of camp life in the newer world of New Caledonia, the embarkation from Nouméa, the Guadalcanal period, the mopping up on Vella Lavella, and the landing on Nissan. It remained for another official war artist, before he succumbed to the blandishments of the RNZAF, to reconstruct some of the experiences of the landing on the Treasury Islands. Some of the former's paintings were sketched within a very short distance of enemy positions in Timbala Bay, Vella Lavella. In the same area he acted as both stretcher bearer and ration fatigue. Yet the jungle does not lend itself to any dramatic or spectacular incidents, and in spite of the grim nature of such fighting much of the work portrays seemingly peaceful scenes. The artists' struggle was rather with humidity, heat and rain. Oils ran all too freely while the rain was a standing threat to watercolours. Painting with the 8th Brigade in New Caledonia, an area notorious for its mosquitoes, must have been a trial, while the humidity of the Solomons Islands would have brought tears of exasperation to any Goya's eyes.

The mobile recording unit was the Elusive Pimpernel of the group. These people were mobile in every sense of the word. They used jeeps, 15-cwt and six-by-four trucks (the latter usually meant plenty of dust and discomfort), the familiar DC 3s, troop transports, and landing barges to carry their equipment to the most outlying units. How all their apparatus weathered the twin furies of jungle and ocean is still a mystery known only to the director of broadcasting and the technician. Units would ballot among themselves for the opportunity to record personal messages, and would be given facilities for recording talks, interviews, concert parties, choirs and so on. The percentage of a unit recording was just over four per cent of its strength, though in the case of smaller units the percentage was usually stepped up. RNZAF and Fiji military forces were given similar opportunities in the Solomon Islands. Songs in Fijian, including the inevitable ESA LEI by members of the latter, and others by New Georgian natives made particularly fine records, similarly with singing by French school children. Sometimes, though, the commentator must have become tired of the same rather dull and stereotyped pattern of messages. Perhaps his discs were not the best medium for encouraging reasonable or even unselfconscious messages to those they had left behind in New Zealand. Even if the listening public has become inured to 'I'm fit and well, hoping you're the same,' 'My time is nearly up so cheerio till next time,' 'I'm in the pink so keep your chin up' and so on as they've come to accept other repetitive nonsense as an inevitable part of radio programmes, the mobile recording unit staff must sometimes have felt like protesting. Perhaps it is not safe even yet to ask them if they are 'fit and well.'

The small archives section completes this public relations de calogue. Possibly because this section had little in common with the publicity and propaganda media of the force its members did little to distinguish themselves. They stayed behind to read war diaries, catalogue photographs, file units newspapers, and wonder how things were going on in the north. Its work was still going on after the others had earned the right to play.

Chapter SeventeenKiwi Company NZ WAAC

Paradoxically, the history of the Kiwi Company New Zealand WAAC goes back some six months before it was officially constituted a unit of NZEF IP. It commences with the posting of six WAAC personnel to Papakura Military Camp attached to 4th NZ General Hospital overseas. They duly proceeded overseas with the hospital, arriving in New Caledonia on 1 January 1943. Their story is one with all those units who pioneered NZEF IP and a very sincere tribute should be paid to their hard work and unfailing cheerfulness under all conditions. The main body of WAAC personnel were marched in to 4th NZ General Hospital on 16 July 1943. This draft consisted of two officers, Subaltern M. Hardcastle and Second-Subaltern A. Shannon, and 76 other ranks. From this date on reinforcements and replacements arrived at frequent intervals for the staffing of 4th General, Convalescent Depot, BTD detachment and, at a later date, the Kiwi Club. In September 1943, Junior-Commander G. V. M. McClure, Officer Commanding Kiwi Company NZ WAAC arrived to take command of all WAACs in New Caledonia. The duties carried out by the WAACs varied considerably. In the two medical units they were employed as nursing orderlies, clerks, batwomen, telephone exchange operators, in the hospital laundry and in the laboratories. The clubs found work for waitresses, cashiers, clerks and cooks, but wherever and whatever the work done, it had this in common—the adaptability of the WAACs to new types of work and their willingness to fit into a monotonous routine that was as changeless as the hills surrounding the camps. The novelty of the first week soon disappeared and adjustments had to be made to a new way of living that had only the necessities of war to justify it.

I4th NZ general hospital Detachment

In July 1943, when the main draft arrived for the 4th NZ General Hospital detachment, the hospital was situated in Boguen River valley some 11 miles from Bourail. The hospital was tented and the WAAC's and Sisters' lines were set in niaouli trees a little distance from the main hospital wards and adminis tration block. They had their own recreation hut and mess and their own swimming pool in the river. There were showers for their use (three only to start with) and an ablution block with benches and basins for laundry work, but most of the girls preferred the river; the water supply there was unending and it was not necessary to carry buckets which had an annoying habit of toppling over and spilling their precious contents the moment they were set down.

When the WAACs first arrived their quarters were bare—tents with gravelled floors—but when, after three months, the first half of the detachment left for the new site at Dumbea those bare tents were home indeed. Kerosene-box furniture had coped with the problem of space for clothes, while gaily coloured curtains and covers for these dressers, with the quickly flowering gardens the girls had cultivated, combined to make the WAAC lines a pleasant place. The crowding, which tent shortage in the early days had made necessary, had been overcome and alto gether they were as comfortable as circumstances and their own ingenuity could make them. Early in October the detachment was split up, half remaining at Boguen Valley to carry on the hospital there, and the other half proceeding some 100 miles down the island to Dumbea Valley, where the new hospital was being built. It was by no means finished at this date, but some wards were open and living accommodation, in the form of tropical huts, was available. After the pleasant greenery and comparative freedom of Boguen, the prefabricated huts set in a red clay hillside seemed bare indeed, the beauty of the view alone making up for the loss of peace and privacy.

Here, joined two months later by the balance of the detach ment, they remained for the next ten months. Gradually, the same transformation which had taken place at Boguen was re-peatedrepeated, but this time the girls had more scope and much assistance from patients and friends with a turn for carpentry. In due course their own mess and recreation huts were built and life became as pleasant as could reasonably be expected. The recreations and amusements available to the WAACs were largely of their own making—sing-songs, dances, debates, picnics, swimming and sunbathing. Debating, in particular, was very popular and the hospital team had the distinction of never having been beaten.

Early in January, the normally peaceful life of the camp was disturbed by a storm which struck New Caledonia without warning. Mess huts, cookhouses and tents were flattened and although, comparatively, the hospital did not suffer badly, it was complete evacuation as far as some units in the vicinity were concerned. Rain pelted down continuously, huts leaked, doors blew off their hinges, and rivers were formed round huts, some of which were in danger of losing their foundations. Dress that day was strictly informal—anything went, from bathing costumes to battledress—and indeed the girls were hard put to it to find any dry clothes at all. Towards the end of the afternoon a lull descended on the island and the storm calmed as suddenly as it commenced. Within 48 hours little evidence remained to remind them of their experience.

In time improvements were achieved in all branches of work. They are too many to mention in detail, but a few are typical of all. In the beginning at Boguen the laundry consisted of three coppers, three tables, three tubs and the river. Later two tents were erected, one for the wash-house and one for the ironing room. Three petrol-driven washing machines were used and petrol irons. With this equipment, the laundry staff handled over 400 garments a week. Dumbea brought the promise of steam—a dream that never came true. The washing machines, now numbering five, ran from 7.30 am to midday daily, after which there was the ironing to be done—no joke in that heat. Here the total work done increased, until 4,000 articles passed through the laundry weekly—a grand effort. In the hospital, too, the nursing orderlies worked under difficult conditions. At Boguen all water had to be carried, sterilising was done in half kerosene tins over primus stoves and the service blocks at the back of the wards consisted of a thatched roof shelter housing tubs made from oil drums cut in half. Steam sterilization was available throughout

When the first. WAACs arrived in New Caledonia they lived under canvas, as in the picture below, and endured some of the torments of the mosquito menace. Later they were housed in huts, as above

A guard of honour presents arms on the arrival in Bourail of Major-General Rush B. Lincoln, the American island commander

The control post at Moindu Pass, where men of the Provost Corps endured the continuous attack of mosquitoes night and day the hospital when it was completed at Dumbea and water running from a tap was never the commonplace that civilisation's amenities would make it.

In all, five weddings took place at the hospital among WAAC personnel—the only detachment where Cupid came to any finality in his dealings—and the following were married with all the pomp and ceremony active service would permit: —

Private G. M. Rolleston (WAAC) to Second-Lieutenant J. Keeling (LAD). Private Betty Findlay (WAAC) to Staff-Sergeant M. Iggulden (ATD). Private C. E. Yandle (WAAC) to Private J. K. Winter (BTD). Private J. C. Butson (WAAC) to Lieutenant R. W. W. Green (4th MT Coy). Private N. M. Gray (WAAC) to Private R. Clarke (BRD).

IIBtd Detachment

The first arrivals, consisting of Second-Subaltern Shannon and three other ranks, were marched in on 14 September 1943. They found a camp prepared for them on the opposite side of the river to the main camp and everything possible had been done for their well-being. These three girls were the beginning of the detachment at the Base Training Depot. They were employed at National Patriotic Fund Board Headquarters in Bourail and travelled to and fro daily, by jeep first and later, as the numbers grew, by truck. On 9 November, Subaltern Hardcastle replaced Second-Subaltern Shannon as officer commanding and shortly afterwards the first party of WAAC personnel arrived from New Zealand to staff the Bourail Club, which was officially opened by the Governor-General, Sir Cyril Newall, on 12 November.

Living conditions for the first few months were uncomfortable. Nearly all ablutions and washing of clothes were done in the river. Early in 1944 a shower-block and laundry were constructed and some months later a bathroom was added. By this time the WAACs had also acquired a hot-water system and woe betide anyone caught using hot water without first having put her portion of fuel in the firebox. Before the rainy season of floods and mosquitoes, tents were replaced with tropical huts, electrically lit, and the area became almost homelike. In the evenings the girls scattered—some to sit under the starlit sky and watch the movies, then to make a dash for the supper queue; others would dance in the club, clad in battledress, boots and gaiters! And the rest-—they just sat on the 'boat-deck.' Somebody said—' The WAACs are a race on their own—the good old Guavanese! 'But, no matter, all dashed over the bridge at 2130 hours, or 9.30 pm to the uninitiated. Later, the floods came and swept the bridge away, leaving the girls to spend a miserable night sleeping on chairs in the club, A temporary swing bridge served long and well after this, till it was replaced by the Nissan bridge.

However, the life of the WAACs at BTP was by no means all play and no work. Girls from this detachment staffed the offices of the YMCA in Bourail, as well as National Patriotic Fund Board Headquarters. The greatest number were employed at the Bourail Club and some idea of the work they did can be realised when it is known that an average of 200 cooked meals were served daily, as well as 642 morning and afternoon teas. In off duty periods the WAACs attended official functions, mostly dances, but also two race meetings, swimming sports, in which they sometimes participated, and they were always keen spectators at Saturday's football. However, their favourite outings were the days when they went for picnics to the rivers and sunbathing on Bourail beach.

When the time finally came for departure, Subaltern Hard-castle and 20 personnel remained to assist with the closing of the club. On the evening before the detachment split up, they held their first and only dance, which was a great success.

III2nd Nz Convalescent Depot and Kalavere Hospital

On 23 September, 1943. the first party of ten WAACs arrived at No. 2 Convalescent Depot. They had been quartered at BTP since their arrival on 14 September. The WAAC quarters were over a tortuous route to two native bures not far from a pretty winding stream. These bures had concrete floors and to their amazement the WAACs found that provision had been made for them prior to their departure from New Zealand, which explained such comforts as wardrobes, dressing tables, mattresses and sheets.

The camp was in course of construction. The girls daily threaded their way through the maze of uprooted niaouli trees, torn up concrete, wire and surveyor's pegs; they fell in the pitfalls in the dark; they were bogged in the mud where the roads were to be constructed—they saw the convalescent depot grow. The walls of the native bures were infested with bugs of all descriptions—even specimens of the much-feared 'black widow.' They shook and examined all garments before putting them on after one girl had found a black widow spider and young living in the sleeve of her great-coat. One night Marcel was found sitting outside the bure—she could not go to bed because there was 'something' sitting on her bed. The bolder spirits went forth to investigate and revealed the shining black top of a knitting needle! Washing of clothes was carried out in the river and the popular method was to get into the river in a state of undress, and work in comfort. Marion was so employed, clad in the minimum of underwear. A thin old Frenchman approached from the other side of the river and took the washer unawares. 'Mademoiselle! Mademoiselle!' He removed his high-crowned hat with a flourish and presented Marion with a bunch of bananas! What could a poor girl do but say 'Merci' and accept them with all the sang-froid she could muster.

Lieutenant-Colonel J. H. H. Wood was the commanding officer and his motto for the staff was 'Work hard and play hard' and 'The patient comes first.' Patients were graded according to the state of their disability. Evening entertainment was part of the 'get fit' campaign and all members of the staff were expected to take part in all activities. Entertainments took various forms —pictures, concerts, mock Parliaments, debating contests, community singing, dances, housie, AEWS classes, etc. And how those girls danced! They danced on concrete slabs with the niaoulis overhead lighted with coloured hurricane lamps; they danced on rough wooden floors, they danced on gravel; they danced thousands of miles with men who could dance, couldn't dance and who 'hadn't seen a white woman for 12 months.' The danced with the colonel, the convalescent (sometimes with an arm in plaster) and the cook. Monday was ice-cream day and hot-shower day. The mobile shower arrived and 'set-up' beside the river. A tarpaulin was placed round it and. 16 at a time, the WAACs enjoyed 'the benison of hot water.' 'Ready?' said the man at the pump. 'Here it comes!' One minute to get wet, one minute to soap and one minute to rinse!

The WAACs had more than their share of M and V, Vienna sausage and spam, rancid butter and dehydrated veges. Their thoughts and their dreams were of food—even their 'pin-ups' were of luscious meals, and the look of glory in a girl's eyes in the morning was explained by an ecstatic, 'I dreamed I had a baked potato—hot and fluffy with lots of butter!' Before Christmas two new drafts arrived, the first of five and the second of 24, and early in the New Year a WAAC officer was attached to the unit from 4th NZ General Hospital—Second-Subaltern Pat Mason, who gained her commission 'on the field'—a great distinction.

Early in January, 1944, Colonel Wood was suddenly taken ill and died within a few days. He was a man of great understanding and the feeling of goodwill and fellowship he created among all ranks made his death a personal loss to every member of his staff. Just a fortnight later, 30 January 1944, a fatal road accident occurred one mile north of Plaine des Gaiacs. Memories of Kalavere will always include a plain white cross, a cross whereon is written 'Marcel Hartnett—NZ WAAC,' for Marcel's bright red head and gay laughter are essentially a part of the sunshine and cool shadows that the 'Pioneer' 2nd New Zealand Con Depot knew and learned to love.

The WAACs will not forget Kalavere where they exercised their 'soldier's privilege' and grumbled about the mosquitoes, the ants, the heat, the road, the transport, the food, the rain, the mud and the monotony, but they will remember, without a doubt, all the silly happenings, the amusing incidents, the kindly thoughts, which brought the pattern of laughter into the daily routine.

IVKiwi Club Detachment

On 20 December 1943, Second-Subaltern Paltridge and 47 other ranks arrived from New Zealand to staff the Kiwi Club. At this stage the club was not finished and they were posted to BTD to assist at the Bourail Club. It was quite some time before the Kiwi Club was ready for business and it was not finally opened until 14 April 1944. Just prior to this opening, the detachment moved from BTD to its new quarters at Bourail Beach to make ready for the big day. It was a busy few days, making curtains, setting up the canteens, and preparing quarters for the first leave parties. The club was ideally situated on the beach, itself, with the Pacific surf just a few yards from its doors. The duties assigned to the WAACs here were similar to those performed at Bourail Club and they did not take long to settle down in their new quarters. These consisted of the prefabricated huts now common to all detachments.

The club being surrounded on three sides by a lagoon and on the fourth by the sea, the WAACs main recreation was of course surfing and swimming. In the evenings, when they were not dancing, bonfires on the beach were a great joy and many were the popular songs which were sung to the accompaniment of the surf. Pets were very popular with the detachment and they had quite a number—Bambi, a fawn, who arrived as a very small frightened creature, but soon responded to the kindness of the unit; also Kiwi—a fat impish scrap of puppyhood, and Agnes and Junior, two adorable white kittens.

The amenity which was most appreciated by all was the mobile hot shower brought once a week by 'Andy.' At the beginning, the girls had to shower in bathing costumes, but this was soon remedied by 'Andy' who erected a matting fence against which he backed the truck and they were able to shower in comfort and complete nudity. These bathing costumes were one of the girls' major worries. The difficulty was overcome by the enterprising, however, who fashioned suits from khaki towels, prints and anything else that came to hand. These were known to come to grief in the water, but a towel rushed to the scene of the disaster forestalled any serious developments.

Although this detachment was in existence for only a short time, it did a grand job and many battle-weary Kiwis, returning from the forward areas, remember gratefully the peace and quiet, good times and excellent service they found there. The following figures give some idea of the amount of work done by the staff; From 14 April to 5 August 1944:— 42,287 cooked meals served.39,378 morning and afternoon teas.These figures do not take into account the many thousands served by the club's icecream soda fountain, nor does it include the many thousands who, thronging the beach at week-ends, were provided with hot tea for lunch, morning and afternoon teas, provided and served on the beach by the club staff. Nearly 3,000 officers, nurses, WAACs, NCOs and men enjoyed a holiday at the club. The Kiwi Club finally closed its doors on 5 August 1944 and two days later the personnel departed for 4th NZ General Hospital at Dumbea, there to await embarkation to New Zealand. They said good-bye with regret for although the work had at times been very arduous, they had the satisfaction of having done a good job and took with them the memory of many happy hours spent there.

There were many aspects of life in New Caledonia which were common to all detachments. The climate itself was the same for all, despite the distances that separated some of them. The heat was trying to girls accustomed to New Zealand's temperate climate, but gradually they became seasoned to it. No one, however, became more than mildly impervious to that never-ending pest, the mosquito. The usual weapons available to all, such as mosquito nets and 'repellant, were used against it. Efficient as this repellant no doubt was, however, it had its disadvantages in that humans liked the odour no better than the ubiquitous insect, and as one girl remarked dolefully on returning from a moonlight picnic—' It kept everyone at a distance!' We've read advertisements along the same lines too! During the time the Kiwi Company was in New Caledonia, the girls took part in two ceremonial parades in Nouméa. The first was on Armistice Day 1943 when the Governor-General of New Zealand,, Sir Cyril Newall, took the salute, and the second on 22 February 1944 in honour of Free French volunteers returning from Africa, when the salute was taken by the Governor-General of New Caledonia and Dependencies. On both occasions personnel from each detachment took part and they were complimented on their steadiness on parade and the precision with which they carried out their drill.

When the time drew near for the return home, detachments from Kiwi Club, Convalescent Depot and BTD were collected at the 4th NZ General Hospital. Dumbea, awaiting embarkation. A rear party was left at BTD to assist in the closing of the Bourail Club. Although to everyone the news that they were going home was good news indeed, it was with a certain amount of regret that they proceeded down the Nouméa road for the last time. The past 13 months had brought good times and bad, but to all it had been a memorable experience which they would not easily forget. In actual fact, the Kiwi Company did not cease activity until a month later when, with the departure of the rear party in September 1944, the last of the New Zealand WAACs left New Caledonia.

Chapter EighteenNational Patriotic Fund Board

This is not a story of feats of arms—of forced marches, fire plans and battles of extermination. But it is a story of combat— combat against conditions as trying as any in the world and the part the National Patriotic Fund Board played in the unrelenting struggle to maintain morale. One of the welfare services with the Third Division was the National Patriotic Fund Board with its field force, the YMCA. Popularly known to the troops as NAT PAT, this is a voluntary organisation co-ordinating under Government regulations the work of those philanthropic organisations such as the YMCA, the Salvation Army, the Church Army, the Catholic War Services Fund Board, the Joint Council of St. John and New Zealand Red Cross Society, which did such yeoman service in the war of 1914-18. This co-ordination was essential to prevent overlapping, and it is to the everlasting credit of these institutions that they loyally supported the board in its efforts to bring greater and more efficient service to the fighting forces everywhere.

With the Third Division it was early decided that the field force of voluntary welfare workers would be provided by the YMCA. The NAT PAT organisation finally evolved in this area was in many respects unique. From what was originally a handful of YMCA secretaries there gradually grew a NAT PAT Fund Board unit organisation with a temporary war establishment concerned not merely with the manifold problems of supply of comforts and amenities, but actively undertaking the management of plants and establishments set up by the board. The greater problems which had to be overcome were those associated with supply. There was no local base from which supplies could be purchased so that the YMCA could not as in the Middle East be given 'imprests' from which to make its own purchases. This called for improvisation on a large scale. The early road houses were largely furnished with home-made furnishings manufactured from salvaged gift parcel cases. For a time every nail from packing cases had to be salvaged. Water-boilers were locally made. A hundred other similar instances of ingenious improvisation could be given.

This meant that everything had to be obtained and transported from New Zealand over long, difficult and often uncertain lines of communication. When the division moved forward to Guadalcanal three months elapsed before shipping space could be secured for cafeteria supplies and comforts for the forward area. In January and February 1944 the division was practically without tea, US sources of supply having failed. After urgent cabled requests to New Caledonia and New Zealand a small shipment of 1,000 lbs. reached Guadalcanal at the end of February. The night before unloading was to have commenced, however, the ship received sudden orders to proceed on an urgent mission. Unknown to the New Zealand forces the cargo was unloaded by the United States authorities on the beach during the hours of darkness, but unfortunately at low tide. When the New Zealanders were advised that the cargo had been unloaded and arrived at the beach another Boston tea party met their gaze, for alas, the desperately needed chests were afloat and almost completely ruined by the salt sea water. Again, the necessity for maintaining mobility in an island hopping campaign and the uncertainty of the duration of occupation of camps and islands made for increased difficulties. After awaiting shipping space in New Zealand for many weeks, the largest shipment of supplies for the forward area sent to Guadalcanal arrived too late to be of use there. The greater part of it was later shipped back to New Caledonia but once again delays in obtaining shipping space caused it to arrive there after a large part of the force had returned to New Zealand.

Finally the Pacific involved special problems in the types and nature of the comforts and amenities that should be provided. A gift parcel suitable for troops in the Middle East or in Italy did not necessarily fit the needs of a force engaged in tropical islands. And some of the things which were most wanted were simply not-available. Inevitably amid these difficulties mistakes were made, but he who makes no mistakes makes nothing. And this story of the building of the NAT PAT organisation in the Pacific from very small beginnings, tells something of what was achieved by the board for the troops of the Third Division.

IEarly days in Fiji, Tonga, and Norfolk Island

Many of the units ultimately welded into the Third Division originally served in Fiji, Tonga and Norfolk Island. And it was in-these islands that welfare services in the Pacific had their beginnings. With the first force of New Zealanders who sailed for Fiji went Mr. H. C. Ford as YMCA secretary, and he set up the first recreation centre at Samambula. He served in Fiji for approximately 12 months, his place being taken by Mr. C. Cassells who ultimately became the first senior YMCA secretary with the Third Division. Mr. F. L. Smith, manager of the Bank of New Zealand in Suva was on 18 June 1941 appointed honorary commissioner for the board in Fiji. Yeoman service was also rendered in Fiji by Mr. A. W. McMillan who assisted with the board's work in the colony. For administration purposes the island had been divided into two—the Eastern area and the Western area. Prior to the entry of Japan into the war, the units were in two main camps—Samambula in the east and Namaka in the west. The Board early provided a YMCA building for each camp and a small recreational hall for brigade (subsequently divisional) headquarters. In addition, on 4 June 1941, His Excellency the Governor of Fiji, Sir Harry Luke, KCMG, opened the New Zealand Club which had been erected by the board on a site in Suva made available by the Fiji Government. This club was designed by Captain Hitchcock and was controlled by a citizens' committee under the chairmanship of Bishop Kemp-thorne.

With the entry of Japan into the war the disposition of troops entirely changed and their numbers materially increased Accordingly, in January 1942, Mr. G. A. Hayden, the secretary of the board, visited Fiji and arranged for a considerable expansion of recreational facilities and amenities. These days of rapidly expanding establishments, shortage of supplies and equipment and infrequent communications were difficult ones for the board. The construction of some 40 native bures was authorised and early in 1942 the picture theatre which had been erected at Samambula was opened with a 35 mm projector. At Lautoka a small club was built and a grant of £200 was made towards an officers' club at Namaka. Mr. Colin Cassells, the senior YMCA secretary, had with him four assistant secretaries, later increased to six, and the work of furnishing recreation centres, and providing other facilities was pushed ahead until in the latter half of 1942 units being welded into the Third Division returned to New Zealand, and the move to New Caledonia was made.

Norfolk Island and Tonga also provided their quota of personnel for the new division. Norfolk Island was serviced originally by the YMCA, and later by the Church Army, while in Tonga a good recreation centre was controlled by the YMCA, and later the New Zealand Forces Club was provided and furnished. Captain N. J. Paltridge was appointed club manager and National Patriotic Fund Board commissioner in Tonga, but tragedy overtook him on his first trip back to New Zealand to arrange for the shipment of supplies, and an ice cream plant; the plane he was returning on being lost at sea with all hands. His place was taken by Captain J. R. Herbert who arrived in Tonga in the middle of July 1943.

IIThe YMCA in new Caledonia, November 1942 to May 1943

November 1942 saw the first units of the reorganised division sail for New Caledonia. They had been engaged in strenuous exercises in the Auckland district, and were looking forward eagerly to the great adventure. The first YMCA secretaries to reach New Caledonia were Messrs. R. Salmon, I. Milner, and T. Dick. Mr. Cassells, senior secretary, arrived early in December and was appointed the representative of the National Patriotic Fund Board. It was his task to organise the board's welfare service from scratch and for some months it was uphill going with no local facilities, everything in short supply, and everyone busily engaged in preparing camp sites and getting down to training. The interest taken in welfare work by the GOC, Major-General H. E. Barrowclough, CB, DSO, MC, the Officer in Charge of Administration, Colonel (later Brigadier) Dove, and senior officers of the division was a constant source of strength to him. At his first conference with these officers on 9 September 1942 decisions were made to construct road houses in each of the three brigade areas and at divisional headquarters and to erect recreational huts or tents in each battalion and regimental area. As timber was not obtainable, these were to be of native type construction. Mr. Salmon rented a house in Bourail as a store and office and the first shipment of supplies arrived early in December. After the arrival of the main force at the New Year the first conference of YMCA secretaries was held on 6 January 1943, this being attended by Messrs. C. Cassells (chairman), R. Salmon, P. Parker, A. Kelly, C. Rawlings, I. Jacobsen, T. L. Pycroft, J. T. Dick, I. Milner and S. Olds. Mr. L. S. Armstrong who was attached to RNZAF also attended. The disposition of the secretaries was decided on, and arrangements made for further secretaries to be added to the force.

Cafeteria supplies, free issue cigarettes and toffee, writing materials, books and magazines, sports equipment, furnishings and equipment, and comforts for hospital patients—all had to be provided for by shipments from New Zealand. The first issue of gift parcels to troops in the island was made in December 1942. A printing plant purchased by the board was brought to New Caledonia by the Army Educational and Welfare Service unit and was early set up to provide the division with its own paper. In the months that followed the Kiwi News became a popular organ for fostering the divisional spirit and disseminating news from home and abroad. The force also brought one of the board's 35 mm picture projectors with it and subsequently two further projectors were supplied and these after initial difficulties with spare parts and transport provided picture entertainment for thousands of troops over many months. The national secretary of the YMCA, Mr. R. M. Brasted, arrived in New Caledonia at the end of January 1943 and spent about ten days on the island, during which he obtained a thorough grasp of requirements and reported back to the board in Wellington. By the beginning of May two of the road houses had been completed and equipment supplied by the board including pianos, table tennis tables, card tables and furnishings, installed. The utmost difficulty was being experienced in obtaining supplies in New Zealand and the shipping position was also giving great concern. But the initial work of feeding supplies to the division was done.

During this period, the Kiwi concert party (Pacific) which had been formed to provide entertainment for the troops commenced its long tour which was to take it thousands of miles and to require over 100 performances. At first using for the most part its own properties and instruments, the party was later completely equipped by the board. In addition four bands were provided with instruments. These were the divisional band and the bands of the 29th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, the 28th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, and the 1st Ruahine Battalion. Some of the instruments of the pipe band of the 1st Scottish Battalion were also provided. In May, the YMCA team was strengthened by the arrival of Messrs. L. Piper, O. R. Trigg, R. C. Williams, C. W. Halliwell, and R. T. Wardlaw. The work involved in these early days was such that a strain was placed on the whole staff and it became apparent that the duties of senior secretary of the YMCA and the representative of the National Patriotic Fund Board were too much for one man.

IIINew Caledonia, May 1943 to August 1943

Early in 1943 the board decided that with the building of the Third Division to combat strength, and the expanding needs of our forces in the Pacific, it was essential that the Board should have its own representative with the division. The three brigades were training hard and futrther units and reinforcements were expected early from New Zealand. The man chosen for this task was Major C. W. O. Brain, a veteran of the 1914-18 war, who knew soldiering and to whom tropical conditions were not foreign. He arrived in New Caledonia on 8 May 1943 and set up his headquarters in Bourail and from this time until the disbanding of the division the story is one of continuous improve-mentimprovement and expansion in the welfare services provided by the board. From the nucleus of ten YMCA secretaries the organisation grew in the succeeding 12 months to a fully fledged unit responsible for the work of 185 all ranks in providing for comforts and amenities for the troops.

Major Brain's first task on arrival was to make a survey of the existing facilities and the needs of the division. To do this he travelled hundreds of miles and visited all units in New Caledonia. He placed Mr. Salmon in charge of the board's store in Bourail where he remained until his return to New Zealand the following month. He was replaced by Sergeant Heatherwick. Mr. A. J. Heffernan, as director of YMCA activities, who had succeeded Mr. Cassells On the latter's return to New Zealand, took complete charge of work in the field. This left the board's commissioner free to direct policy and to concentrate on getting supplies to the base in New Caledonia. His next step was to define the board's policy in meeting the ascertained needs of the division and to plan his organisation. In this he was assisted by 'the Third Division Welfare Committee,' which was formed on the orders of General Barrowclough, and which held its first meeting on 7 June 1943. The committee comprised the Officer in Charge of Administration, the Deputy Director of Medical Services (Brigadier J. M. Thwigg) the Assistant Director, Army Education and Welfare Service (Major A. H. Thorn), the Senior Chaplain of the Forces (Lieutenant-Colonel K. Liggett), the Commissioner YMCA (Mr A. J. Heffernan) and the Commissioner National Patriotic Fund Board (Major C. W. O. Brain). This committee at its first meeting accepted in full Major Brain's recommendations and laid down the policy to be followed regarding the erection and control of clubs and recreation centres, the provision of hospital comforts and special foods for patients through the deputy director of medical services, the issue of sports material through the base and divisional sports committees, the issue of books and magazines through the AFWS, the issue of stationery and indoor games and comforts through the YMCA secretaries and of gift parcels through the Army Service Corps. This clear-cut delegation of duties immediately speeded up the work of the board and laid the foundation of an organisation that operated smoothly and efficiently throughout.

At this time Major Brain had his headquarters in the Hotel de Ville, Bourail, the use of which had been given by the French community rent free for the troops of the division. This serviceable building was transformed by Mr. Salmon and his willing helpers into a comfortable recreation centre, and it formed a popular link in the chain of road houses established through New Caledonia. Right up to its evacuation 15 months later, it provided rest and recreation for thousands of troops and a welcome cup of tea to thirsty convoys on the dusty roads of the island. This centre was only one of many which were being constructed and opened at this time and about each of which a whole story could be told, a story not only of the happy hours of relaxation and reunion spent there by the troops but also of the struggle for materials with which to build them, of the efforts of units to find labour in the midst of the strenuous programme of training for the more serious tasks then in front of the division, and then of the problems involved in furnishing and servicing.

By August the road houses and recreation centres which had been opened for service to the troops were as follows:— MoindahDivisional road houseTaom River Valley14th Brigade road houseHouailou15th Brigade roail houseBourail Hotel de VilleBase recreation centreTéné ValleyBase Reception Depot recreation centreGomen Valley30th Battalion recreation centreNépoui35th Battalion, recreation centreTaom River37th Battalion recreation centreNétnéara ValleyIst Scots Battalion recreation centreHoiiailouIst "Ruahine Battalion recreation centrePlain des Gaiacs29th Light Anti-Aircraft RegimentBouloupari29th Battalion recreation CentreMoindahDivisional Headquarters recreation centreBouloupari34th Battalion recreation centre36th Battalion recreation centreTontouta28th Heavy Anti-Aircraft RegimentSoumSaTransit Camp recreation centreBougen4th NZ General Hospital patients' recreation centre; Nurses' and Waac's recreation centreMoindahDivisional Signals recreations centreSéméara14.1th Independent Battery recreation centre

With one or two exceptions, the materials required for all of these centres were paid for by the board and, except for the building at Nouméa transit camp, they were all built in the native bure type of construction.

Early in June, Major Brain made a large distribution of outdoor sports material and this stimulated interest in the sporting activities of the division. One of the most successful competitions held was the inter-unit rugby football contest for the Barrow-clough dtp The final of this competition was fought out on 7 August 1943 between teams representing the 37th Battalion and the 29th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment. The scene was a colourful one as the two teams under the hot sun of New Caledonia, one dressed in black and the other in white, lined up for the general's inspection. After the match in which the 37th Battalion proved the victors by 19 points to 6, the players were presented with the jerseys in which they had played, each having the Kiwi emblem, and were at night entertained at a dinner contributed to by the board. Several major projects for improving the lot of the troops in New Caledonia had been under consideration for some time. Among those approved by the board were the provision of a large prefabricated building for a soldiers' club in Nouméa, another similar club at the base training depot at Bou-rail, and an ice-cream manufacturing plant. For the Nouméa club, a site at Anse Vate had been leased close to the beach and commanding a wonderful view of Nouméa harbour.

In the course of a tour of Pacific stations, the Hon. W-Perry, deputy-chairman of the board and Mr. G. A, Hayden, its secretary, visited New Caledonia between the 28 July and 2 August to discuss these and other projects. The decision was then made that owing to the continued delays in having buildings prefabricated in New Zealand and shipped, the Boutrail Club should be of native type construction. This saved several months. The site allotted was at the base training depot in Téné Valley about four miles from Bourail. Lieutenant-Colonel Cornwall, the commanding officer of the depot, took up the project with enthusiasm and appointed the pioneer platoon under Lieutenant Hollier to undertake the construction of the club building which was the largest native type building in the South Pacific area. In a beautiful setting on the opposite bank of the Téné River and connected with the club grounds by a suspension bridge was erected by the men of the division the camp for WAAC personnel who were to run the club. Meantime other phases of welfare work were not being neglected. Special comforts and amenities for hospital patients were provided, the YMCA service extended, additional support given the division's printing plant, concert party, bands, and so on. A welcome arrival in July was a shipment of 30 radio sets but this did little more than provide for hospitals, field ambulances and the convalescent depot, and it is unfortunate that the supply position in New Zealand so limited this essential service

These two sketches of Bourail Camp are the work of the official artist. Personnel of headquarters staff were quartered there and conditions were made as comfortable as camp life allowed in New Caledonia. The sketch above shows a corner of the cookhouse; below is a general view with mess bures on crest of hill

Week ends in New Caledonia were invariably fine and if opportunity offered there was an exodus to Bourail beach where the sand and water were inviting and the Kiwi Club offered meals in comfort and a break from camp routine. throughout the division's life. For nothing could have been of more service to the men in isolated outposts in the lonely islands of the Pacific than radio sets.

The division was fortunate in its padres. One and all threw themselves whole-heartedly into welfare work and many of them established and controlled unit recreation centres. The board assisted with the building of chapels and St. George's Chapel at base headquarters was dedicated on 22 August 1943. Padre Castle tells how a few days afterwards while working in his study he heard someone moving in the chapel. Upon going to investigate he found a native woman changing the flowers in the vases on the altar. She was one of the native women who had worked as a labourer on the building of the chapel.

During this period, two announcements were made which were of great importance to the division. The first was the GOC's special order of 1 July 1943 announcing the re-organisation of the divison on a two brigade basis with the consequent disbandment of the 15th Brigade. The second was the advice received that the division would shortly be moving forward to the combat areas to take an active part in the Pacific fighting. Further large-scale alterations in plans were therefore called for. It was decided that Major Brain would go forward to Guadalcanal with divisional headquarters, and the two brigades to establish the board's work there and an assistant commissioner was appointed to control the base organisation and bring to finality the many facilities then in course of construction or planned. Captain A. E. Enright arrived from New Zealand towards the end of August to take up this work.

IVNat Pat with the division in the Combat Zone.

August and early September saw most of the combat troops move to their new base in Guadalcanal. Each YMCA secretary who accompanied the force was equipped for the task in front of him and the YMCA commissioner, Mr. Heffernan, went forward with his team. Shipments of Nat Pat supplies for the forward base were arranged both from New Zealand and from New Caledonia. The aims of the board here were firstly to ensure that a free cafeteria service was immediately and continuously available, secondly to provide free issues to combat troops of toilet and smoking requisites, candy and writing materials, thirdly to provide in addition special comforts for the sick and wounded, fourthly to support the AEWS in the entertainment of the troops, concert parties, cinema entertainment, handicraft competitions and reading material—books, magazines, and newspapers, fifthly to develop recreation centres as opportunity offered and to supply units with indoor games, playing cards, and radios, sixthly to render assistance to other New Zealand services in the area—the Royal New Zealand Navy, the Royal New Zealand Air Force and the Fijian Military Forces. The arrival in New Caledonia towards the end of August of Captain Enright enabled Major Brain to move forward to Guadalcanal to take charge of the board's work there. He arrived at the forward base on 21 September 1943. At that time divisional headquarters and the 14th Brigade had already left for Vella Lavella where the division was to have its first combat task. The YMCA secretaries who accompanied this force were Mr. A. Kelly (senior secretary and supply officer attached to the 16th Motor Transport Company, Army Service Corps), Mr. R. Wardlaw (30th Battalion), Mr. L. Pycroft (35th Battalion), Mr. I. Milner (37th Battalion), Mr. R. Le Couteur (17th Field Regiment).

Difficulties in obtaining supplies immediately became apparent. Shipments which had been arranged direct from New Zealand and which it was expected would have arrived in time for the action were not to hand and did not in fact reach Guadalcanal until early December. Similarly shipments from New Caledonia did not arrive until November. On a site bull-dozed out of the jungle an IPP tent was set up as a store and there were gathered together the first supplies. These had to be purchased for the most part from the canteens or PXs of the United States forces which had only opened in Guadalcanal on 22 September. In answer to an urgent signal Major Brain, on 25 September, received a reply from General Barrowclough at Vella Lavella detailing the comforts and supplies the troops in action there required. As the board's stocks had not arrived he endeavoured to purchase the necessary supplies from United States PXs. Notwithstanding shortages they themselves were experiencing the American authorities responded magnificently. This was but a foretaste of that generous co-operation and assistance which was to be received throughout the division's stay in the forward area from American PXs and the special service division of the United States forces. By 29 September, 20 tons of supplies (603 cases) had been packed, branded and loaded aboard a landing-craft bound for Vella Lavella and Major Brain arrived at Bara-koma with these supplies on 1 October. Only those who saw the work required can fully appreciate the magnitude of this task which was accomplished without staff. Some of these supplies were piloted right through to the combat teams in action in the northern jungles of Vella Lavella, reaching them seven days after their first contact with their enemies in the Pacific. They were meagre among 6,000 men but the trail through to the combat zone had been blazed and all that now remained was to ensure that bulk supplies reached the base in Guadalcanal and were fed forward-Major Brain returned to Guadalcanal on 7 October and from then on it became one long struggle of scraping together supplies, parcelling them up, caring for them, fighting for shipping space, and finally getting them shipped forward. Despite these difficulties not one convoy left for the forward area without some Nat Pat supplies aboard.

The second operation of the campaign—the invasion and occupation of the Treasury Islands by the 8th Brigade Group was now imminent, and he and Mr. Heffernan were now faced with the task of organising the welfare side of that operation. In Vella Lavella, the YMCA secretaries, after landing with their units in the south of the island were to their great disappointment not permitted to proceed with the combat teams to the scene of the fighting in the north: The experiences of such men as Padre Falloon who was a tower of strength to his battalion in providing comfort and cheer to the fit as well as the wounded, led to permission being granted the YMCA secretaries in the Treasury Islands to go ashore under fire in the first wave and the wonderful service they there rendered fully justified the responsibility placed on them. For the actual landing each secretary was equipped with two waterproof cases not exceeding 70 lbs. in weight, each containing a primus stove, a two-gallon tin of white petrol, 25 lbs. of tea, ten lbs. of sugar, five lbs. of milk and a kerosene tin. These cases were carried one with the secretary and one with the orderly and their orders were to get them ashore even at the risk of losing all other equipment. Some of the padres also took similar equipment and worked in close co-operation with the YMCA. Arrangements were made for bulk supplies of tea, sugar, milk, biscuits, writing paper, envelopes, comforts for the wounded and the sick, toilet requisites, and sweets to follow in the second and third echelons. When it is remembered that the expected supplies of these requirements from New Zealand and New Caledonia had not arrived and that the quantities available from the American PXs were limited, disappointments and shortages were inevitable. Without assistance from the Army Service Corps, the cafeteria service could not have been maintained.

The first flush of a tropical dawn on 27 October saw landing craft of all descriptions nosing in towards Falamai Beach on Mono Island, the principal island of the Treasury Group, under the guns of the enemy garrison to seize what was to become an important base for future operations in this area. The little band of YMCA secretaries landing with the first wave of fighting troops set to work assisting the unloading of stores and equipment and getting hot tea ready for thirsty patrols. One secretary had the unenviable experience of seeing his first brew of tea with primus stove and all blown to pieces by a Japanese mortar bomb. After the initial landing and the rapid extermination of all opposition in both Vella Lavella and the Treasury Islands there followed many months of garrison duty under conditions which offered a serious challenge to the welfare services. The tempo of events in the whole South Pacific area was quickening and shipping resources were being strained to the limit by essential munitions, equipment and rations. Steps were taken to establish recreation centres in all unit areas, this being undertaken where they were available by YMCA secretaries and padres. On Vella Lavella the home of a planter which had escaped demolition in the fighting was taken over as a road house and there Mr. R. Knapp, who had arrived to reinforce the YMCA team, took charge of what became for both New Zealand and United States forces the most popular meeting place on the island. In Guadalcanal, in addition to the recreation centre at the 2nd New Zealand Casualty Clearing Station cared for by Padre Halpin and Padre Aires, a good YMCA under the control of Mr. O. R. Triggs was built by the engineer services on a ridge between the field main-tenancemaintenance centre and transit camp. Mr. Russell Clearwater also established a centre on the main ridge midway between divisional headquarters and the 144-th Independent Battery while other camps had centres serviced by padres or unit personnel.

On 4 December 1943 Captain L. M. Graham who had been appointed by the board as assistant commissioner in the forward area arrived in Guadalcanal to take over from Major Brain who left some ten days later on a short visit to New Zealand to endeavour to improve arrangements for supplies and shipping. For the succeeding six months the management of the forward area was in the hands of Captain Graham, Major Brain returning from New Zealand to New Caledonia toward the end of January. Early in January Captain Graham visited both Vella Lavella and the Treasury Islands, organised sub-bases in both places and checked up on the service being provided for units. He also handled the organisation required for the servicing of the troops who were to take part in the next task allotted to the division, namely the occupation of Nissan Island. This involved the penetration of the enemy-held perimeter in the South Pacific to a greater depth than had hitherto been accomplished by any allied ground forces in this area. The whole of the troops on Vella Lavella together with certain divisional troops on Guadalcanal took part in the operation and the welfare service was organised on similar lines to that which was so successful in the Treasury Islands. Distributions of chocolate, toilet requisites, writing paper and envelopes were made to units for them to take forward in bulk to be immediately available on arrival. Bulk supplies followed at a few days interval with the third, fifth and seventh echelons. Preceded by 14 days by an armed reconnaissance by personnel from the 30th Battalion and other units D-day was 15 February. The YMCA secretaries who landed with the force were Messrs. A. Kelly (16th Motor Transport Company). R. Knapp (Divisional Headquarters), N. Handley (30th Battalion), R. Williams (35th Battalion), I. Milner (37th Battalion), G. Edwards (29th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment), and R. Clearwater (144th Independent Battery), Mr. R. Le Couteur of the 17th Field Regiment followed in the 2nd echelon. A welcome addition to the hard rations of the first few days after the landing was provided by 40 cases of NAT PAT gift parcels which had been surplus in the previous distribution on Vella Lavella. About 17 tons of supplies went forward with the third echelon and 35 tons, or 1,458 cases., with the fifth echelon. Captain Graham with Sergeant I. A. Morrison, who had been in charge of the Guadalcanal store since November, travelled to Nissan on the landing craft taking the latter consignment which included a full distribution of gift parcels. They remained on Nissan Island until 12 March to supervise unloading, storage and distribution and to plan future service. During their absence Corporal G. A. Kelly was in charge of the Guadalcanal store.

The stores position on Guadalcanal had been greatly improved by the completion towards the end of January of the new store erected of locally milled timber and malthoid under the supervision of Lieutenant C. A. S. Maynard the engineer at FMC. The store was quickly filled by a large shipment which arrived from New Zealand early in February. There was a constant flow of goods through this store. Captain Graham paid a short visit to New Caledonia from 8 to 21 April to complete arrangements involved in the return of the division to New Caledonia which had now been decided on. On his return he visited the Treasury Islands and Nissan again to put these arrangements into effect and finally left Guadalcanal at the end of May. The responsibility for the Fiji Military Forces, then located at Bougainville, was handed over to Flight-Lieutenant J. R. Herbert, the board's commissioner with the Royal New Zealand Air Force, who arrived in Guadalcanal on 29 January 1944. Up to this time air force and naval units in the islands had been cared for by the board's staff and base located with the third division. The Fijians had built up a wonderful reputation for themselves, first in New Georgia and Kolumbangara, and later in Bougainville, and their first YMCA secretary, Mr. E. Grounds, was fitted out by the board with equipment similar to that supplied to the division's" secretaries. Even when their patrols were in the heart of enemy-held jungle in Bougainville, NAT PAT comforts were sometimes dropped to them by parachute.

One of the most popular innovations in the forward area was the inauguration as from 1 January 1944 of a regular newspaper service. Copies of daily newspapers were sent by air from Auckland by the canteen board, paid for by NAT PAT and distributed to all units on Guadalcanal, Vella Lavella, the Treasury Islands and Nissan Island. Private Jim Hansen, who handled the bulk supplies when they reached Guadalcanal, conscientiously saw to it that the forward troops got their full quota of papers. At first papers arrived two or three times weekly and by March the service had so improved that almost daily deliveries were made, and on some occasions copies of Auckland papers reached Guadalcanal—2,000 miles away—within 18 hours of publication. The service from Guadalcanal forward was also by air. Naturally weather conditions and the availability of space on air transports made the service erratic at times, but right up until the withdrawal of the division from the forward area from 250 to 400 of each day's papers were delivered. Due to transport difficulties and despite all efforts, this popular service could not be provided for the troops of the division located at the base in New Caledonia, rigid priority being given the needs of forward area troops.

VActivities in New Caledonia, August 1943 to May 1944

The base units left in New Caledonia when the division moved forward were faced with a strenuous period of consolidation. It was apparent now that the base would be occupied for some time and camps took on a more permanent aspect and welfare services were planned accordingly. September saw a commencement made by Lieutenant Hollier and the pioneer platoon on the construction of the Bourail Club. The club building proper had a floor space of 10,400 square feet. In its construction 20 tons of native grass were used for thatching the roof, 11 miles of gaulettes were used as purlins for roofing, and there were 1,020 rafters each 18 feet long of naiouli boughs. The club was officially opened by His Excellency the Governor-General of New Zealand on 12 November 1943.

In addition to the main club building a large mess hut and recreation room was erected nearby for the WAAC personnel who staffed the club. Living accommodation was provided for a limited number of leave personnel and visitors and meals were tastefully served in the dining room at low cost. The club proved a very popular rendezvous for thousands of troops right up to the time the division left New Caledonia. During its period of operation 54,748 cooked meals and 177,851 morning and afternoon teas were served in the club's dining room. The club first opened under the management of Senior-Subaltern Hardcastle, who remained in charge of the WAAC personnel throughout. Later Lieutenant F. Sweeney was appointed manager and he remained in that position until May 1944, when illness caused his retirement. He was replaced by Captain W. N. Mackie. By this time also the prefabricated parts for the club at Anse Vata had arrived from New Zealand, but as the works construction company was engaged in priority work at the 4th New Zealand General Hospital at Dumbea and the hospital and convalescent depot at Kalavere, construction could not be proceeded with immediately.

Towards the end of 1943 the question of the site for this club (to be known as the Kiwi Club) was again raised, and early in 1944 it was decided that in view of the concentration of troops in the Bourail area which would result when the division returned to New Caledonia, it was advisable that the club should be erected at the Bourail Beach. This was easily the best beach in New Caledonia, and on a sandy spur picturesquely located between the beach and a large salt water lagoon a site was chosen on which the construction of the club commenced in February. The main Kiwi Club building had a frontage of 232 feet to the beach with an eight feet verandah running the whole length. The northern wing comprised spacious reading and writing rooms and offices the southern wing a dining room to seat 150 with kitchen, storerooms and a canteen. The central portion of the building comprised a large recreation room complete with stage and dressing rooms. This room was used for indoor games and had a seating capacity of approximately 700 for entertainments and motion pictures. In addition to the main club buildings residential accommodation was provided for 120 visitors to the club in addition to the army and WAAC staff of 53. The club was opened on 14 April 1944 by Mr. E. Brooking, supported by the Hon. Vincent Ward, both members of the National Patriotic Fund Board, who visited New Caledonia for the purpose. The club opened its residential quarters on 2 May, and from then until it was closed at the beginning of August some 3.000 troops enjoyed a few days leave at the beach. During this period 43,287 cooked meals and 39,378 morning and afternoon teas and suppers were served in the dining room. In May a complete soda fountain arrived from New Zealand and was installed in the canteen and from here ice-cream from the board's plant and soft drinks were served. In addition the club staff provided afternoon tea on the beach during week-ends when the beach was thronged with thousands of New Zealanders. Junior-Subaltern Paltridge was in charge of the WAAC staff and the first manager appointed was Lieutenant H. Lubransky. When he returned to New Zealand Captain J. R. Wink was appointed manager, and under his efficient management the club became the most popular resort for New Zealand troops in the island.

Three frost bite yachts which the board supplied for the club added greatly to the attractions there. One of the features on the beach was the work of the life-saving teams for which equipment had been sent over by the board from New Zealand. These teams were in the charge of Major Stowell, officer commanding the base reception depot, and were on duty at the beach constantly. In both clubs WAACs were employed as cooks. This in itself provided some variety from the usual army fare, but efforts were made to improve the menus by obtaining special supplies from New Zealand. One of the problems was to obtain fresh meat and this was largely overcome by obtaining a weekly supply of local beef.

The ice-cream plant which had been purchased by the board at a cost of approximately £5,000 was installed at the site of the field bakery some three miles north of Bourail. Complete with ageing room, hardening room, holding room, churn and pasteurizer, it was the most efficient plant on the island, and commenced manufacture in December 1943. All New Zealand troops on the island were served with ice-cream from this plant twice weekly, the ration being one-fifth of a pound. In addition free rations were issued daily to patients in hospitals and convalescent depots. The issues to units were paid for out of regimental funds, and during the period the plant was in operation in addition to 166,000 free rations, issued to sick and wounded and isolated units and on special occasions, half a million rations were distributed. The plant was most efficiently managed by Sergeant J. A. MacDonald.

While Captain Enright was engaged in planning and controlling these major activities of the board he also had on his hands the normal welfare activities of caring for the sick and wounded, fostering sporting activities, making free issues, servicing recreation centres, and attending to the erection of additional centres. His right hand man was Sergeant W. Young and three WAACs, Corporal R. Soloman, and Privates D. Britt and Buchanan had been posted to the office staff. During the period, in addition to the two clubs, large recreation centres were erected at Nemeara for the 29th Motor Transport Company at Le Clere's farm for the Works Construction Company, at Moindah for Divisional Ordnance Workshops and in Téné Valley for the Base Training Depot. In addition large improvements were made to the original recreation centre of the 1st Scottish Battalion which had been taken over by the Artillery Training Depot. In the hospitals and convalescent depot 11 recreation centres were in all built and furnished, these providing relaxation for patients, sisters, WAACs, and unit personnel. At the 4th General Hospital a beauty parlour complete with hair-waving machine was installed for sisters and WAACs.

VINew Caledonia, May 1944 to September 1944

The succeeding five months provided a period of some difficulty and very great uncertainty for the division, and plans had to be revised constantly to meet the changing conditions. The broad changes which occurred during this period were: Firstly, the return spread over approximately three months of the whole of the troops in the forward area (Guadalcanal, Treasury Islands, and Nissan Island) to the base in New Caledonia; secondly, the static period in New Caledonia when units settled into new locations; thirdly, the return of men to New Zealand for the needs of essential industry; and finally, the evacuation of the New Caledonia base and the return of the remnants of the division to New Zealand and its dissolution. These phases to some extent overlapped.

The requirements of security made it almost impossible for advanced information to be given as to where, when, or how quickly the various moves were to be made, whether the stay in New Caledonia was to be for the purpose of rest, refitting and training for some other operation in this or another theatre of war, whether if the division returned to New Zealand it would be disbanded and so on. The difficulties that this entailed in providing for supplies to be at the right place at the right time can well be imagined, but surmises drawn on the trend of events were on the whole accurate, and the division was fortunate in having adequate supplies of furnishings, outdoor and indoor sports equipment, cafeteria supplies and other amenities available for the static period spent in New Caledonia. From the beginning of May welfare work fell in the main under the following sections: Firstly the provision of furnishings and unit recreation centres for units setting up camps in New Caledonia. During this short period 17 of these centres were established, mostly staffed by YMCA secretaries, erected by the units themselves with assistance from the board and furnished and equipped by the board. In type the centres varied. Marquees, timber frame and tarpaulin roof, native bures, niaouli frame, bark roof and so on—all cheaply constructed, but providing comfortable meeting places and centres for the social life of the units. Secondly, the provision of outdoor sports equipment for the returning units. Thirdly, the maintenance of the cafeteria service in all recreation centres. Fourthly, the maintenance and improvement of the two clubs at the main base camp and at Bourail. Daily groups of troops relaxed in comfortable chairs on the extensive verandahs and in the reading and writing rooms of these clubs, and for those who had spent many months in the jungle cut off from the amenities of civilisation the gay and comfortable surroundings were more than welcome. Fifthly, adequate provision of comforts for hospital patients including toilet requisites, candy, cigarettes, writing materials and special lines for addition to the hospital menus. Sixthly, the continued supply of ice-cream from the board's icecream plant for which the raw materials were obtained from New Zealand. Shortly after the division arrived a bottling plant was installed and from 1 July approximately 10,000 bottles of coca cola and soda water were distributed from this plant. Seventhly, support to cinema and other entertainment. The greater part, of the material required for the erection of four outdoor picture theatres was supplied, in addition to which new instruments and other equipment were provided for the divisional band and the Kiwi concert party in the Pacific. As there was no club for officers in New Caledonia the board assisted in furnishing officers' and sergeants' ante rooms in the various unit areas.

In carrying on this and other work the board became involved in a highly technical and very considerable merchandising business. At this time two separate stores were in full use, one of these which was used for the supply of rations and foodstuffs for the clubs and recreation centres and raw materials for the ice cream plant was located in a school in Bourail, Corporal Wheeler being in charge of this store. The other store from which furnishings and general merchandise was distributed comprised five buildings erected by the board's own staff near the centre of the township of Bourail. Sergeant A. C. Martin was in charge of this store, and he had Corporal J. D. Bell as his head store man. Captain Enright returned to New Zealand shortly after Captain Graham arrived from the forward area at the end of May. At this stage the activities of the board had grown to such a degree that at a conference with the officer in charge of administration on 12 June, the board was granted a temporary war establishment. This put its activities on a proper unit footing and led to greatly improved control of the many activities and of the staff responsible for it.

In July it became clear that the whole division would shortly be moved back to New Zealand. Further shipments from New Zealand were stopped and on 8 July, the secretary of the board, Mr. Hayden, arrived in New Caledonia to go into the question of realisation of the board's assets there. Some of the surplus stores held were shipped back to New Zealand, but in the main stocks in New Caledonia and the board's investments there were sold to American authorities or to the French people. The Kiwi Club was taken over by the American Red Cross on 7 August and the Bourail Club on 15 September. The ice-cream plant was sold to the United States PX and they took over this plant on 14 August. The final winding-up of the board's affairs in New Caledonia was completed by Major Brain, assisted by Staff-Sergeant Kyle who had done a first-class job as quartermaster at the Kiwi Club. With the remnants of his staff, Staff-Sergeant Kyle and Gunner Fergusson, Major Brain sailed for New Zealand towards the end of September.

Mention has already been made of the fine co-operation received from the French community in New Caledonia. Throughout the division's stay there, the hospitality of the French people never failed and on the departure of our forces, an honours board was presented to the town of Bourail by the board. This was placed in the Town Hall at Bourail which had served as a recreation centre for so many thousands. In addition 500 surplus gift parcels were presented to the Governor of the colony for charity organisations, and the following acknowledgment was received from him:—

'The British Consul has been kind enough to inform me of the generous offer of the Patriotic Fund of New Zealand to hand over 500 parcels of victuals for the charity organisations in the colony.

'Permit me to say how much I have been moved by this offer, and to thank you very sincerely for your very fine gesture, which will bring even closer the bonds of friendship which have already been established between the New Zealand troops and the French population of New Caledonia.'

And so ended an effort in welfare where new trails were blazed. The total cost of the services given to the Third Division was approximately £250,000. Difficulties were met and overcome. Disappointments there were in plenty. But throughout, there prevailed the spirit of comradeship which the Britisher carries with him amid the privations of man in hardship and adversity. And behind all this effort was the knowledge that the service was only possible because of the work being done and the sacrifices being made at home. There a gallant band of workers was labouring night and day to provide these extras for the fighting services overseas. Not only in the board's head office in Wellington, but in every town and hamlet in the country willing helpers gave of their time and their money to ensure that those who were facing the enemies of freedom were not forgotten. They, too, without any compulsion made their sacrifices and for their efforts we of the Third Division say 'Thank you.'

Chapter Nineteen29th Mt Company

The 29th MT Company had the distinction of being one of the few units in the Third Division to be founded in New Caledonia. The original founders were the personnel of the supply section, plus a few others from the 16th MT (then 16th Composite) Company which disembarked at Nepoui on 1 December 1942. The new 29th MT Company was formed on 28 December 1942 and at the outset comprised 160 all ranks under command of Captain D. R. Hopkins of Auckland. In January 1943, shortly after the arrival of the 4th MT Company, it was supplemented by the complete supply section and others from the 4th MT and for the next six months the company operated with somewhere in the vicinity of 200 men.

The original purpose of the company was that as an integral part of the newly formed 15th Brigade it was to service this brigade with ASC supplies and also all other units in the area from Boguen valley in the south to Kalavere in the north. Had it been possible to maintain the division on a three-brigade basis the 29th MT Company would have normally moved with the division to the forward area. However, when it was decided to disband the 15th Brigade, the question arose as to which ASC company was to remain at base. As from its inception the company had been located in the Nemeara-Bourail district it was considered appropriate to transfer the company to base command and to allow the unit to remain in this location and carry out transportation and the many other duties appertaining to an ASC company at base in New Caledonia. On 12 July 1943 the company therefore changed from a divisional to a base unit and Captain (now Major) A. M. Lamont took over command.

Upon taking over base duties it was found necessary to expand the company and it gradually grew until at one stage it consisted of some 400 personnel and operated 90 GMC six-by-four vehicles as well as many smaller types of trucks and several jeeps. The company was unique in that it was the only ASC company brought up to the strength of three transport platoons. Each transport platoon consisted of approximately 62 personnel and had to operate and maintain 30 of the GMC trucks, while there was also a headquarters platoon with some 50 personnel to administer the company and care for all the smaller vehicles, a composite platoon of about 30 men to break out, distribute and account for rations and fresh meat to all units in the area and a workshops platoon, comprising some 55 men, with technical ability to cope with all vehicle repairs beyond the scope of the drivers. Smaller sections but all of great importance in so far as the efficient operation of the company was concerned were the petrol refilling section of 14 men who had a large POL (petrol, oil and lubricants) dump in the camp area for distribution to all other units, as well as a POL detachment on the main road to service vehicles, and last but not least was the personnel increment section which made up the balance of the company's personnel. The men forming this section were not in the main drivers but carried out the many ever necessary fatigues required in any military camp. The company was also unique in that it was a unit carrying out full transport duties at base and at the same time supplying ASC reinforcement troops for the forward areas. Until the time of the division's move north all reinforcement personnel were under training at the base training depot, but later all ASC reinforcement officers from this depot were called for and their men had no one left in charge. They were all therefore attached and later transferred to the 29th MT Company, and the company sent forward no fewer than four reinforcement drafts, composed not always entirely from composite (ASC) wing personnel but often enough also from old original company members. To equip and arrange for the despatch of a reinforcement draft called for much skill in its organisation, as times when a number of reinforcement first class drivers and other skilled personnel were called for. Such a request often necessitated drawing from the company some of its most highly experienced and skilled officers, NCOs and men and then great difficulty was experienced in replacing them and keeping the company up to its working strength. Even commanding officers were not exempt from a call. Major Lamont went forward to be replaced by Major T. P. Revell, who returned to New Caledonia after some months in the combat zone. He in turn was again called for to go to the Treasury Islands and Major J. F. B. Wilson returned from Nissan Island to take over the command in his stead.

Prior to taking over base duties men of the 29th MT had been very hard worked transporting equipment and divisional troops from all parts of New Caledonia to Nouméa in readiness to embark for the Solomon Islands where they were to meet their enemy, the Jap, for the first, time. It must be stressed here that many were reluctant to become 'Base Wallahs' knowing only too well what they would have to endure in the way of chaff and sarcasm from their comrades upon their return from the forward areas. At the same time they were sick of the monotony of New Caledonia's niaouli trees, red volcanic dust, mosquitoes and ants and many were glad to know that their associations with the division were temporarily severed and they considered that they could relax at long last. Relaxation, however, came only for about a week, for with one only remaining complete ASC company on the island work and requests for transport began to come afresh and in plenty. It was then that the company began in earnest again to live up to that name of undying fame which had been suggested in the early stages by one of the unit members—' The Tireless Twenty-Ninth '—a nom de plume of which the unit was justly proud.

Boats came to the ports of Nepoui and Nouméa carrying cargoes of ordnance and engineering stores, Nat Pat, medical and hospital equipment, etc., which had to be transported from the ship's side to wherever it was required. Reinforcement troops arrived from New Zealand and had to be transported from their disembarkation port to base reception depot, whilst troops returning to New Zealand on courses and medical grounds had also to be transported from BHD to places of embarkation. Always 29th MT vehicles and personnel were in demand for such transportation duties. It is fitting to mention that such demands wore in the majority of cases fulfilled to the satisfaction of all concerned, though not always without difficulty. A 'phone call

Soldiers worshipped in this native-built chapel in Bourail. It stood beside the main thoroughfare, near the building which was used by the YMCA

The National Patriotic Fund Board's store on Guadalcanal with the staff ready for actin

A mechanic working at the power drill in a mobile machine shop

Robbie's Hall, the recreational bure built by the 29th MT Company from Base HQ to the effect that a self-contained detachment comprising cooks, clerks, mechanics and drivers to operate say 30 vehicles was required at either Nouméa or Nepoui at short notice for a week or a fortnight's duration unloading ships' cargoes often brought forth the reply, (But we have only 15 trucks that will roll!' Interrogation by Base HQ as to the whereabouts of the remaining vehicles produced the replies as to how many were despatched to Nouméa for rations, fresh meat and petrol; how many were engaged on local ration deliveries; how many were despatched with (or for) troops and for mail; and finally how many were in workshops undergoing repairs.

Every effort was always made, however, to fulfil the requirements in transport and personnel for such a task. These requests did not call only for work on the part of the drivers, who because of the many long hours they worked and the many miles they drove must never be forgotten, but also for work on the part of many of the sections of the company. The administrative staffs of both company headquarters and the platoon headquarters worked untiringly arranging and sometimes recalling from their other detachments on the island suitable personnel to undertake the duty of unloading the boat in question, while the composite platoon members, in conjunction with the unit quartermaster, arranged for the detachment's rationing, and the workshops platoon undertook to have repaired and in running order the balance of the vehicles required. Equally as important as the other sections In arranging for such a duty was that of the small section of which no previous mention has been made, that is the base supply officer and his small staff who were attached to company headquarters and whose duty it was to arrange for rationing in accordance with ration scales, not only for company members employed on the work but also for other units employed as working parties. To arrange all this necessitated on some occasions men of the various sections working as long as 24 hours a day. After arrangements for the detachment's despatch were finalised the men under command of a section officer took with them tents, bed-cots, blankets, mosquito nets and all other necessary gear and set to work. Duty was non-stop until the particular ship was finished and when the occasion warranted it the work was carried on for 24 hours. Each vehicle was allotted three drivers, each of whom usually' worked for eight hours.

The unloading of ships, which played a major part in the company's activities, was not always a simple task and did not always eventuate without incident. Probably one of the best remembered by many company members was when a detachment was all arranged and despatched to Nepoui after much difficulty because of an acute shortage of transport at the time. The men established themselves in their temporary camp and waited for a day and then word came through to the effect that the boat they were waiting on was drawing too much water to berth at Nepoui and would have to proceed down the coast to Nouméa. On receipt of this news the men returned to camp at Nemeara and after having a meal and refuelling their vehicles proceeded to Nouméa that same night to commence work there, not of course without complaining in no uncertain terms about this being just another typical army 'affair!'

The unloading of ships played a major part in the company's activities, but it should be understood that the 29th MT Company was not solely engaged in this type of work, for its trucks and drivers were always on New Caledonia's dangerous and dusty roads. Large convoys loaded with empty petrol drums, ordnance equipment and other goods for shipping from the island proceeded to Nouméa, 120 miles away almost every day to return with supplies of rations to Base Supply Depot No. 2 and petrol, diesel kerosene and oil to the camp POL dump. The company's indent for rations was in turn collected from the base supply depot and broken into unit lots and distributed to all units in the area every ten days. POL supplies were also always available for collection by units while perishable goods such as fresh meat, fresh butter, vegetables and fruit had to be collected from Nouméa upon its arrival, stored in the company's large refrigerator and distributed to all units the following day. A daily bread delivery was also in operation, the bread being first collected from the 1st Field Bakery every morning, whilst during several months of the year trucks and their drivers went to all parts of the island to collect oranges, mandarines and vegetables which were purchased from the French and were in turn distributed to all units. In addition to these transport duties the company also operated a daily transport service for the carriage of mail (both private and official), passengers and all priority goods, through the island. This run was known as the DP (despatch point) service and was so named because drivers had various stopping places along the road where they would call and deliver any goods and collect any awaiting for despatch. This service was taken over from the 10th MT Company just prior to its departure for the forward areas, and at the commencement a truck travelled from Nouméa in the south to Ouaco in the north, a distance of some 230 miles, while another one did a daily southern trip. After all troops had vacated the Ouaco area the distance of the DP run was decreased from Nepoui to Nouméa and later from Moindah only, to Nouméa.

Life in the 29th ASC was not just a life of driving vehicles practically all the time, as is popularly supposed. That is one of the misconceptions of the ASC's activities. Work of all natures had to be undertaken, and many unit members did not even drive a vehicle during the whole of their stay in New Caledonia. Much work on camp construction and camp maintenance had to be carried out. Cook-houses, mess rooms and ration stores had to be built and with so many vehicles and so much traffic constantly around the camp area metalling, especially during the rainy season from February to April, was an almost permanent duty. It is probable that while engaged in work of this nature that Driver Doug Brown was inspired to write one of his many popular unit songs which went to the tune of 'The Yellow "Rose of Texas' and of which the words of the chorus began:—

The Tireless Twenty-ninth, I like it not a bit, Instead of driving trucks all day I'm slaving down the pit.

Let it not be imagined that life was all work and no play, however, for the 29th MT Company. Far from it. Monotony had to be overcome and the OCs who realised this set out to institute many facilities for recreational purposes. With the assistance of hired native labour and Driver 'Robbie' Robertson's valuable architectural guidance a large recreation hut in the form of a native bure was built. This was most appropriately named 'Robbie's Hall.' Here many of the men spent long evenings playing games, writing to their loved ones, reading, having a sing song around the piano (always a popular pastime on the night of a beer issue), listening to a visiting American or New Zealand concert party or to a band recital, playing in a card tournament and at times trying to better their financial position by watching and investing on a miniature race meeting. A great night in the hall was when the 2YA concert party paid the company a visit. It was then that many unit members saw, heard and enjoyed something they had not seen nor heard for many months. Girls in person from their own native country acting and singing in a language they knew so well but which they had never heard in a female voice since leaving New Zealand shores! Truly a very welcome and a very much appreciated show. The company at one stage organised and staged a concert of its own titled 'Naughty Nemeara Nights' in Robbie's Hall. Several neighbouring units were invited to the concert and all acclaimed it a success, for it was then that much unknown talent was revealed. Of particular interest in the programme was a ballet dance performed by some of the company's 'would be' female personalities. With costumes and cosmetics borrowed from sisters and the local residents they made a very fine showing under the leading lady 'Miss' Fitchett.

Pictures though usually screened in the open among the niaouli trees two or three nights a week were on wet nights shown in the hall and many neighbouring camps allowed their personnel to attend and enjoy a good film in comfort. Seating accommodation was limited so many desirous of getting a good view improvised chairs, the designs of which would almost put a modern furnishing company to shame.

The hall though constructed only from rough bush timber and thatched with niaouli bark was attractively decorated in the interior by placards carved by Driver 'Lofty' Hume, one par-ticulary fine example being of 'The Tireless Twenty-ninth' inscribed in old English lettering under the 'NZ Onward' badge, and an ASC badge carved within the 'Onward' one. Drivers Len Whitworth and "Ray Fitchett also did much to add to the hall's attractiveness by making stage decorations and painting-several different back stage scenes.

As time progressed timber was procured and a floor put in the hall and the company held some three or four dances to which Sisters, WAACs and French girls were invited as partners. Though the females were usually outnumbered by about three to one good times were had by all. Kanakas and Javanese were not usually invited but many lined the outside of the hall and with smiles of white pearly teeth, often the only thing to indicate their presence on a very dark night, watched the dance over the four foot high bark walls. Robbie's Hail was a great company asset in so far as a morale builder went and much credit is due to all those who took part in its construction and decorating, not forgetting Sergeant Alf Jenkinson who worked untiringly arranging native labour to assist with the collecting of material and the building work. Alf had never learnt the French language but with what little he learnt of it in New Caledonia and his sign language he managed to produce the goods and ensure that the Kanakas engaged earned all of their few francs a day.

A large creek ran through the camp area and after many attempts a large dam was eventually built across it to form a deep freshwater swimming pool-Here all kinds of elaborate diving boards were erected and many an enjoyable moment was spent after working hours by company members. With New Caledonia's climate swimming both in summer and winter months was always a popular pastime. Many good swimmers improved on their style while many who could not swim at all became very proficient in the art during their stay with 'the 29th.' It was possible to have six lanes 33 1/3yards long in the pool and swimming sports and carnivals were not uncommon. The pool was sometimes floodlit at nights by the workshops personnel and in addition to inter-platoon sports the company's neighbouring camp, artillery training depot, which also had a first class swimming pool, was often challenged to a game of water polo or asked to compete in swimming sports. In return the 29th MT Company members also competed against artillery training depot swimmers at their aquatic sports meetings. It was a long time, however, before a dam of a permanent nature was constructed as several were built only to be swept away by a flood over night. Just prior to the unit concert Captain Lex Grieves and a gang of men had built what they considered the dam of dams—a miniature Mohne in fact. They completed it in every detail but on the night of its completion a flood came and swept the whole thing away. This was a fitting opportunity for one of the company wags to insert among the many other advertisements in the 'Naughty Nemeara Nights' programme the following advertisement:—

Grieves, Grieves & Grieves, Let us build you a dam, Guaranteed to hold water over night!

Adjacent to the swimming pool the company also installed a very ingenious system of hot showers so that the men could have a hot shower, always very much appreciated after return from convoy duties, a cooling swim or both if they felt so inclined.

The 29th MT Company was not essentially a training unit but was likened more to a large carrying concern. The commanding officers appreciated that the successful organisation and control of the company depended largely upon the men being fit and in excellent health. They therefore spared no efforts to insist that all men took part in some form of organised sport. Saturday afternoons were set aside for sport and provided demands for labour and transport were not too heavy a mid-week day was also made a sports afternoon. The company had some excellent sportsmen who participated in cricket, hockey, rugby, soccer and baseball matches; boxing and wrestling tournaments, athletic meetings and swimming championships. In the ASC rugby representative team for the Barrowclough Cup in July 1943 the company was represented by nine players. This whole ASC team played good rugby, winning the first two rounds for the cup, but the team was finally defeated by the 29th Battalion in a very close game ending 8 to 6. Many good inter-sectional games of soccer, cricket and rugby were also played, even if New Caledonia's climate was not always as favourable as it might have been for those indulging in sports of this nature, and the company usually entered one and sometimes two soccer, hockey, rugby, baseball and cricket teams in the base competitions, Two exhibition rugby games were played at Nouméa between a team of base representatives and the 8th Brigade team. Here again the base team was well represented by 29th MT players. These exhibition games proved most interesting to New Caledonia's crowds of cosmopolitan onlookers. New Zealanders had always been under the impression that American football was a pretty fast and furious type of game. One of the company's onlookers was therefore somewhat amazed when an allied spectator came up to him shortly after one of these exhibition games began and said in the true and typical American style, 'Gosh darn, how many men have to be killed in this rugby game of yours before a win is declared?' At one time South West Pacific swimming championships, in which several first rate American swimmers participated, were held in New Caledonia at Nouméa, and it was at these championships in which the com-panycompany also entered several contestants that Staff-Sergeant Jack McLean made fame as a New Zealand swimmer by winning' two of the events.

In April 1944 the base units organised a rifle contest. Although as has already been said the 29th MT Company was not to all intents and purposes a training unit, it decided to enter a team which-would have to compete against well-trained and first-class infantrymen and other good rifle shots. The company was indeed proud when it was learned that its team had won the contest. The following letter in relation to the contest received by the OC from the base commandant bears witness to the fact that as well as being a hard working and efficient unit the company also had many good sportsmen:—

Base Units Rifle Contest.

Would you congratulate the team from the 29th MT Coy on the very fine performance they put up, in winning the above competition-I am very sorry indeed that I could not be present at the finals. I have always been very proud to have the 29th MT Company under my command. They carry out the duties which pertain to their own special branch of the service in a highly satisfactory manner; they have a good team of swimmers, good wrestlers and boxers, and now they win the rifle contest. I am very pleased indeed to see it.

Upon seeing this letter one company member commented that there was only one thing the brigadier had omitted and that was that the company also had good marchers. At an athletic sports meeting at the base training depot, the 29th MT, in addition to participating and winning several of the events, entered a team for a marching display and won it, This was another very creditable performance, especially when it is remembered that marching for the ASC overseas is regarded more as a novelty than a routine duty as in an infantry battalion.

Leave for a week's duration in Nouméa was allowed company members but unlike most other units this did not appeal to 29th MT Company members, especially drivers, as Nouméa presented nothing new to the majority of them. Often the company's Nouméa leave allocation was not fulfilled. Later on, however, Major Lament obtained permission to establish a rest camp near the picturesque little township of Ponerihouen, which nestled among the hills and flamboyant trees on the eastern coast near the large Ponerihouen River. Parties of about 20 men were permitted to spend a week's leave there when they could be spared from the company and spent their time reading and resting, visiting French families and places of interest, fishing and swimming in the river or at the beach.

So life went on in the 29th. The company had a remarkable record for the many months it spent in New Caledonia. In six months under base command the vehicles' speedometers turned just on a million miles and during the whole of the unit's existence there was only one fatal accident. A great spirit of good comradeship and good fellowship that will always remain was built up among men who-had come from all walks of civilian life. These men worked well and spent many leisure hours together. Then in January 1944 came the great news that certain personnel who had spent 12 months or more overseas were to return to New Zealand on a six weeks' furlough. Needless to say great disappointment was expressed when it was learned that only some six men were returning from the 29th in this first draft. However, a further draft was returned later and then came word that many men from the Third Division were being recalled home for employment in essential industries. Men who had not volunteered for industry but preferred to carry on in the all-important job they were doing were granted furlough. Shortly after some two or three industry personnel drafts had left the company a force rear party was organised, to which a section of the 29th MT Company was attached and given the title of the supply and transport company. It was then that all realised that the whole division was being returned to New Zealand. Early in the month of October 1944, therefore, the remaining members of the company said with many memories, but without many regrets, au revoir to New Caledonia—land of the niaouli—and set sail for that land of which it has been said is without parallel and which all the 29th MT Company members realise only too well is correct.

Chapter TwentyField Bakery

The Field Bakery unit was formed toward the latter part of August 1942, personnel being selected from ASC men who were camped at Opaheke. At the end of September the unit, which consisted of 42 other ranks and one officer, proceeded to Trentham. After ten days' infantry training there., we set up our own experimental camp in a valley at the back of the Allen Range. During the month we were there we baked bread for Trentham Camp, collected as much equipment as we could from ordnance, and eight of the personnel were sent to the wheat research institute in Christchurch to do research work on dried yeast. There were only about five of the personnel who had had previous experience of baking, but the keenness shown by the few others who were being instructed in bread baking augured well for the future. On 3 November, just as we were expecting to go on final leave, we received instructions to embark for overseas immediately. It was a rash to strike camp, get the men outfitted with tropical clothing, pack all equipment, and embark on the USS Maui by 2130 hours the following day. We had a good trip across to New Caledonia, and disembarked at Nouméa on the afternoon of 11 November, and proceeded direct 1o the American bakery at the velodrome.

As arranged, some of the men had started work there next day when we received word that our destination was not New Caledonia. We had to re-embark immediately for 'Buttons,' which turned out to be the island of Espiritu Santos in the New Hebrides group. Another rush to collect what little equipment had come ashore, and we embarked aboard the Dutch ship Boschfontein at 2030 hours on 13 November. As we were travelling in waters which were not far removed from Japanese bases, a strict look-out had to be kept on this trip of 500 miles. Unfortunately the personnel were kept on board at Espiritu Santos for many days, and it was not until 28 November that the party came ashore with the unit equipment. We baked for the Americans on this island for five months, and it was the middle of March before we rejoined the division at New Caledonia. During this five months we lost about six men through sickness, and they were returned to New Zealand and New Caledonia. We experienced five bombing raids and had a few cases of malaria. Many cases of sickness occurred through personnel being unaccustomed to the excessive heat, but altogether the unit was quite a success in this, its first trial. By the time we had to return to the division, most of the personnel had received a good grounding in the art of baking, and a strong unit spirit had developed, which was to hold the unit together in all its later activities. It was a party of 25 that eventually arrived at Nouméa on 20 March 1943. The men were given one week's leave there before proceeding to take over the American bakery, which was situated at Nandai, about eight miles from Bourail. During the five months we were at this site the unit grew to approximately 90 personnel. An excellent camp was erected, and with the help of the works construction company the whole bakehouse area was concreted. An excellent swimming pool was made, the men were very comfortably quartered, and were given every opportunity to indulge in sporting activities. The football teams were very strong for so small a unit, and the cricket and other teams had a fair share of success. The unit was able to work here in shifts of six hours and right around the clock. This proved a most successful method of working. We were producing about 13,000 pounds of bread a day and about 500 prounds of block cake, which went to the National Patriotic Fund Board, for issue through the YMCA. We were supplying bread to all troops between Tontouta and the north of the island, a distance of about 250 miles and which contained about 22,000 troops.

On 20 August 1943, 68 members of the unit, under the officer commanding, Lieutenant F. H. Fenton, proceeded to the forward areas with the division, and approximately 40 men were left at the base under Lieutenant K, M. Harrow. A detachment was sent to Dumbea to bake for the 4th General Hospital and New Zealand troops in the Nouméa area. An ice-cream and soft-drinkssoftdrinks factory was erected on the Nandai site by the National Patriotic Fund Board, and the personnel of this came under Lieutenant Harrow for administration. Contact between the base and sections in the forward areas was difficult to establish, and therefore the two parts of the unit had to work independently of each other. After 11 months, in the middle of July 1944, the last of those in the forward area returned, but by this time a big percentage of the unit had returned to New Zealand. The 60 odd who went north baked on Guadalcanal for one month, when 32 proceeded to Vella Lavella to bake for divisional troops and the 14th Brigade. Twenty more proceeded to Treasury to bake for the 8th Brigade at the end of October. Ten men were left at Guadalcanal, and this section was.to remain there until the-beginning of June 1944, baking for the field maintenance centre. The usual daily production on Guadalcanal was about 800 pounds, at Vella lavella 3,200 pounds, and at Treasury 2,200 pounds. The section at Vella Lavella later transferred to Nissan Island when the brigade and divisional troops moved there.

There were no deaths in the unit, but many men were sent back with serious illness at various times. The unit seemed to suffer unduly in this respect, but probably the added heat of having to work in front of the ovens accounted for this. Despite the very unfavourable conditions which we had to work under, in excessive heat and tropical rain, the unit was able to carry on all the time, and was always able to rise to the occasion when any demands were made upon it.

Chapter Twenty-OneWorks Services Units

The Works Services engineering unit was formed for the specific purpose of constructing and servicing base installations in New Caledonia which, at that time, was the main allied base in the South Pacific drive against the Japanese. Field company engineers already in New Caledonia were compelled to spend most of their time making roads into camps, erecting accommodation for other units and generally doing work that would normally fall to an army troop company. The fact that New Caledonia was not prepared for the accommodation of so many troops, combined with the undeveloped nature of the country, made the construction of base installation a priority job number one. But the exigencies of the war situation made it essential for the field companies to devote full time to the specialised combat training in island warfare. Lieutenant-Colonel A. Murray, OBE, CRE Third Divisional Engineers, NZEF IP, recommended to the GOC that a special construction company be formed to relieve the divisional engineers of base installation work in New Caledonia. This was agreed upon.

The war establishment of Works Services Engineers was drawn up by Lieutenant-Colonel C. J. W. Parsons, Assistant Director Fortifications and Works, Army HQ, Wellington. The New Zealand army was immediately combed for tradesmen and artisans. Carpenters like Jimmy Fleming were plucked from tank units, and plumbers such as Ollie Nairn were grabbed from mounted rifles. Great were the lamentations as men from all parts of New Zealand assembled at Waiouru in April 1943. The task of organising the unit was in the capable hands of Captain W. P. Boyd who acted as OC of the unit during the formative and training period in Waiouru. Rigorous combat training was carried out so that the unit could be changed over to a field company if required. The appointment of a social committee to organise unit dances and other entertainments, and the full use made of all the AEWS facilities very soon established cordial relations between officers, NCOs and men. The unit was organised in conformity with the special work before it and the specialised training of personnel. There was: HQ Works Service of which Lieutenant-Colonel H. A. Jones had been appointed CRE Works, with Major S. E. West as staff officer; Lieutenant D. Brooker, engineer stores officer; Lieutenant S. R. Mann, works officer; Lieutenant J. K. Scott, electrical and maintenance officer; administrative staff, cooks and general duties staff. The function of HQ Works was to be the organisation and direction of engineer tasks which came within the programme of Works Services Engineers, and the administration of engineer stores.

The construction company was to have been under the command of Major W. L. Mynott who had the misfortune to meet with an accident which prevented his taking over; his place was taken by Captain W. P. Boyd until the unit reached New Caledonia. The company was divided into three sections. HQ section was made up of administrative personnel, surveyors, chainmen, draughtsmen, cooks and general duty men. Captain F. J. Clark was adjutant. The building section was composed chiefly of carpenters and allied trades of the building industry. This section was under command of Lieutenants S. T. Tremain and W. F. Wise. The services section included such groups as mechanics, welders, bulldozer, grader and dragline operatives, road and drainage workers, under command of Lieutenants R. Gilmour and R. R. Torrie. Works service wharf operating unit, the first of its kind ever to leave New Zealand, had a total complement of 79 men and two officers. While in New Zealand the unit was under command of Captain E. Blacker and Lieutenant L. B. Wright. Personnel of this unit consisted of men who had had experience as tally clerks, winchmen and hatchmen. The unit was a self contained one with administrative staff, cooks and general duty men.

On the worthy ship Tryon on 22 May 1943, at the close of a New Caledonian winter afternoon, works services personnel anchored in the Nouméa harbour. The poetic charms of the tropics predisposed all aboard to look upon the island with sup-pressedsuppressed delight; such charms, like the first smile of a beautiful girl, were thought but the prelude to still further revelations. These musings were somewhat stifled as the ship lay overnight in the harbour, and were further dampened the following day as the convoy of trucks carried the party over a highway which indicated that New Caledonia possessed fewer road and river boards than New Zealand. The spot chosen for works services headquarters, Le Clere's Farm, lay some hundred odd miles north from Nouméa. The absence of cultivated farms, green fields, root crops, sheep and cattle such as one finds in New Zealand all served to emphasise the transfer to a country with a simpler way of living. Before the journey was completed observant members of the party concluded that the small tented areas that could be seen among the niaoulis were replicas of what they themselves would be occupying. As a camp area the site chosen on Le Clere's Farm was almost ideal. Relatively dry, free from floods and one of the least mosquito infested spots on the island, with a stream a few yards distant, this was to be the 'home' for works personnel for the next 17 months, and divisional engineer area on their return from the forward area. On the arrival of the party they found a skeleton camp erected by an advanced party which had arrived a month earlier under the command of Major S. E. West and Lieutenants R. R. Torrie, D. Brooker and W. F. Wise, and a party of NCOs and other ranks. Although this party had been on the island only a month, a road into the camp had been formed and other work undertaken for Base HO NZEF IP.

Very often the term 'homesick' covers a multitude of moods. Applied to soldiers who have just arrived in a strange, isolated and little developed country, it means the difficulty of readjusting themselves to a new way of living and thinking. Such was the position of works service personnel. Like other New Zealanders they had been transferred from a community in which local and national politics, set forms of amusements and entertainment, communications and transport were all part of their lives: but here they were cut off not only from their social background, but also from their wives, families and friends. Camped in the bush among the hills, these 280 men who had known each other only for a few weeks were to eat together, work together and sleep six to a tent until their return to New Zealand. It is not surprising that the first few weeks found them adjusting themselves to the new life with some difficulty. Had they been able to step into a programme of heavy work at once, time would have passed more pleasantly. This, unfortunately, they were not able to do: the tools and equipment which were supposed to have accompanied them did not arrive until some weeks later. By dint of borrowing and begging a few shovels, picks and other equipment, the services section was able to start work on the road formation in the Téné Valley. Another party erected a tank and water point on the road to base training depot. Under Lieutenant S. R. Mann, works officer, a party was transferred to a New Zealand transit camp, Nouméa, to effect repairs and installations. Sergeant 'Skip' Bark was appointed liaison NCO to work in co-operation with Lieutenant Mann, and he had the job of scrounging stores for Lieutenant D. Brooker's growing establishment. A party of Carpenters under Sergeant Fred Watt and Corporal George King began work at the temporary 4th NZ General Hospital, Boguen Valley. Back in base camp services and building sections combined to clear the site for the erection of the first of the 16 prefabricated warehouses, 108 feet by 48 feet. The erection of this warehouse was the first experience in prefabrication for most of the men. The tools available for the job were four hammers and one saw. A week after the arrival of works services, the wharf operating unit, which was in the course of formation at Waiouru when works services embarked for New Caledonia, arrived on the scene. A camp site a few yards from the construction company HQ had been prepared, and until the departure of the unit to Nepoui Wharf, wharf operating personnel messed with works personnel in the main bure. Before the main construction programme commenced Lieutenant-Colonel Jones was transferred to New Zealand, and Major S. E. West, his staff officer, became DCRE. With the exception of Lieutenant J. K. Scott, Lieutenant D. Brooker, his engineer stores staff, Sergeant George Aim and Sapper F. Harrison, of headquarters works personnel, were transferred to the construction company.

Within the first fortnight of their arrival in New Caledonia the works sports representative was sitting on the doorstep of the New Zealand National Patriotic Fund Board's office in Bourail, waiting for football jerseys, shorts and boots. Rugby and soccer teams had been formed, and were itching to sample the quality of the players in the rugby and soccer tournaments already in full swing under the eye of the NZEF IP base units sports committee. Though the rugby club was not able to field a team every Saturday some hard-fought games were played. When the construction company moved down to Dumbéa, Quartermaster Sutherland took charge of the football gear without a murmur. Of the few games played in the Dumbea Valley, an American spectator commented upon the game as a form of amusement that stopped just short of organised murder. The soccer team, by travelling 110 miles by truck on Friday night from Dumbéa Valley to base camp and then on to the playing area on Saturday, won the B grade soccer competition on the Saturday afternoon after playing two very hard games. Probably the most characteristically New Zealand feature of the base sports committee were the long drawn weekly meetings and the 'ride home' the delegates so greatly enjoyed!

A fortnight after their arrival wharf operating unit moved up to Nepoui, which became the unit headquarters. A small detachment under Corporal Tom Artnon remained with works services and became specialists in the concrete yard or, as it was better known, 'The Humorous Concrete Coy.' In less than 15 months this small group made all the concrete products for the 4th General Hospital, the Kiwi Club and the convalescent hospital. It also made the 'seats' of infamous memory. During the 17 months in New Caledonia this unit worked on the average two ships a month. Owing to the 'wharf' being little more than a jetty alongside which the ship berthed, only three holds could be unloaded at a time. There were no wharf appliances and even the heaviest cargo had to be unloaded into the waiting trucks below using only the ship's gear. Such awkward lifts as heavy guns, tanks and bulldozers were handled in this way and without accident. One of the fastest unloading jobs was that of a ship loaded with a cargo of 11,000 drums of fuel oil, 24 large piles 65 feet long, and a two-ton launch. The captain of the ship estimated that at least ten days would be required to unload the ship. When it was completed within three days, the captain found his spell in port much less than he had planned for.

Népoui was one of the most isolated spots on New Caledonian coastline. Koné, the closest village north of Nepoui, was 30 miles distant, and in the south Bourail was over 50 miles away. By working between shifts on the camp site, wharf personnel had

Some of the staff of the field bakery producing the daily bread on Nissan Island

His Excellency the Governor-General shakes hands with members of Base Ordnance Depot

The 4th New Zealand General Hospital at Dumhéa was a large and efficient prefabrication job. In the early stages of construction vast quantities of pieces were spread over the site. Below: The engineers at work on excavations for the hospital reservoir built themselves a comfortable home out of very little. Jim Hewitt and Eddie Heald got together on an improvised water heater that threatened to consume all the timber in the countryside. The nearest fresh water supply was six miles away and had to be carted in to camp every day in disused 44-gallon oil drums. All washing, from clothes to bathing, had to be confined to the small hand wash basins. The beach by reason of sea snakes, poisonous shell fish and sharks, was not popular. It was not until after 12 months that an improvised shower was erected, and a truck allocated for the purpose of taking the men to a nearby American airfield where pictures were shown every night and the amenities of a canteen were made available. Whenever there was a lull in shipping wharf personnel were transferred to one of the construction jobs as working parties, either to dig drains, foundation pile holes for hospital ward sites, or work on the roads. The work was hard, monotonous and, under the tropical summer of New Caledonia, reminiscent of forced labour in earlier days. The camaraderie which existed within the ranks of wharf personnel, their goodnatured toughness and the genuine zeal they brought to such uninspiring work was a credit to themselves and to their country. The concrete works was under the immediate control of Corporal T. Armon, an experienced concrete worker, and a small staff drawn from wharf operating unit. The group designed various styles of pipes for drains, culverts and other accessories; made their own moulds and produced all the concrete requirements for the hospitals and Kiwi Club.

Within the first month of landing the first issue of the unit newspaper, Dozerdust, was published. This was a three-paged mimeographed weekly that continued each week until a few weeks before the unit embarked for New Zealand. Camp gossip, articles, geographical information of Pacific Islands and, for several months, a series of caricatures of unit personnel by Sergeant Lyn Lipanovic, in civil life a commercial artist, maintained popular interest.

In the construction programme which lay ahead priority number one was the erection of the 4th NZ General Hospital, in the Dumbéa Valley, probably one of the most up-to-date hospitals in the South Pacific, Next came the construction of the Kiwi Club, at the Bourail Beach, and the last big job, the erection of a convalescent hospital at Kalavere. While each undertaking presented specific problems, that of the 4th General raised all the technical problems which were later to be met in the other two jobs. Work on; prefabrication was, apart from the slight experience on warehouses in the Bourail area, new to most of the men. Methods of constructing the hospital wards, from the marking out of ward sites for piles, to the most efficient type of hurricane, tie stay, had to be worked out on the spot. The choice of clumsy methods in assembling parts would mean endless delay; foresight and willingness to make alterations in plans to meet local requirements had to be used. The installation of a complete sewerage system that would meet all requirements in the tropical summer had to be transferred from paper to what had been a barren hillside; A further example of the need for executive ability plus engineering background was illustrated in the prob-lern presented by the erection of a septic tank. A tank of this kind, it need not be emphasised, was most essential in the hospital scheme, but it was found that the one provided for in the original plans was unsuitable for a number of reasons which could not have been known to the designers in New Zealand. Time could not be spared to signal for instruction or further plans. The obvious course of designing a suitable 30,000 gallon tank was taken. The designing staff knew what they had to supply; the problem of working out the solution was one they enjoyed, and this experimental attitude was carried through to the men who were doing the construction work on the spot.

In the early stages of the construction of the hospital the shortage of heayy equipment was obvious and was responsible for a certain amount of irritation. In New Zealand such a shortage would not have proved so irritating as it did in New Caledonia. The proximity of an American engineer regiment which was well equipped with heavy equipment such as a Barber Green ditching plant and a power earth auger, as well as other heavy-machinery, made the somewhat battered Perkins graders, road planers and stone crusher look even more disreputable than they were. One of the Berkins graders was in and out of the mechanic shop so frequently that it became known as the 'Mrs. Perkins who was always haying operations,' and operative 'Bog Ape' Macale was suspected of harbouring dishonourable intentions towards the 'old lady.' Despite the irritation and frayed tempers to which the inadequate equipment gave rise, every man on the job responded with a singleness of purpose that carried the work through a seven-day week that began with the 6.30 am whistle and did not end until the 5.30 pm signal.. The rigours of the summer heat, the food and the makeshift tent life were all born with a fortitude that earned the unit a name no member need be ashamed of.

Several pairs of boxing gloves were a National Patriotic Fund Board issue that were seldom out of use. This does not imply that works personnel were of a particularly pugnacious disposition. It is true that two cooks, Maurice Corrie and Maurie Campbell, once had an argument in which Maurie Corrie gave his companion a black eye. It was felt to be an uneven distribution so Maurie Corrie allowed Maurie Campbell to blacken his eye in return. They thereupon shook hands and pledged a slightly 'plonkish' friendship. And this is the only known instance of two members of the unit coming to blows. In the boxing ring Keith Morton, Ron Alderson, Len McGregor, Dave Holwell, Maurie Woods, Brian Tapper and 'Lofty' McCosh were among the most warlike. Two unit boxing tournaments were organised, but had to be postponed.

In common with other base units of NZEF IP, works services succeeded in turning out a very creditable surf team which took its share of patrolling the Bourail Beach. Probably the hardest afternoon, and the one which team members will remember for some time, was the exhibition on Anse Vata Beach on Christmas Day of 1943 which the team gave for the American base recrea-tion centre. The blazing hot afternoon, the sand and sea water put the team in a mood that worked wonders on the carton of beer Captain W. P. Boyd rescued from the 'fridge!' Another form in which incipient pugnacity displayed itself was a particularly ferocious debating club which always attracted a noisy audience. Ted Knowling and Percy Kenna could always be depended upon to rise to the defence of private enterprise, while Cliff Foster, Jim Paterson-Kane, Peter Wingfield and Brian Tapper were thorns in the flesh of the sturdy individualists. Teams from works met and defeated teams at the transit camp, Nouméa, the 4th General and a team from wharf operating. Less barbaric, but equally strenuous were the table tennis games in which 'Snow' McGovern, George Aim, Fred Broadley, Arthur Ward, Jack Mason, Fred Kronast, and Ted Knowling sometimes took a terrific thrashing and sometimes a win.

Costing a trifle above a quarter of a million pounds, the 4th NZ General Hospital was a self-contained unit in which the 96-bed wards, operating theatre, laboratory, dispensary, infectious diseases and dysentry block, administration block and staff quarters were all serviced with a network of tar-sealed roads, sanitation and drainage, electric light and recreation centre. A set of steam boilers was erected and the boilerhouse completed only a short time before the hospital was vacated by New Zealand personnel. During the construction of the hospital approximately 230 works construction personnel were engaged on construction work. Parties from the wharf operating company, the base supply depot No. 1 and infantry companies assisted with excavations, road formation and drains.

While work was proceeding at the 4th General, the detachment of 50 services personnel under Lieutenant R. Gilmour was carry-ing out a considerable programme of works in the NZEF IP base area. This included the construction of a bridge on the Téné Valley road; maintenance of all water points in the area; maintenance of all electrical plants; erection of prefabricated huts and bures at headquarters. Lieutenant J. K. Scott, of HQ works, supervised the installation of the ice-cream plant at the field bakery. The maintenance of 50 miles of road from Boguen Valley to Moindah kept Jim Blair and Nelson Waite busy on grader and planer; a party who had to work quarries and shingle pits found the going none too easy, while 'Deacon' Carswell, Archie Canavon and Laurie Thurston were keeping the draglines busy supplying shingle for the roads. At the base camp mechanics were kept busy on repairs; HQ works checking plans and investigating priority unit jobs that kept rolling in. Preliminary plans on the Kiwi Club and convalescent hospital were checked and finalised at headquarters. The tank squadron prior to moving 'north' occupied the site vacated by the construction company. Amicable relations were at once established between the two units. The celebration of a combined smoke concert, under the chairmanship of Sergeant Phil Henley of tanks, gave the personnel of the latter an opportunity of trying out their richly topical songs of their own composition.

The performance of heroic deeds and boldness of planning are the stuff of which war is made, but it is not given to all members of an army to play that dramatic role. Duty very often imposes deeds which by virtue of monotony, long hours of hard and uninspiring work never make the headlines. Such a duty was imposed on the staff of works service engineer stores. Lieutenant D. Brooker, Sergeants A. Burge, A. Chapman, G. Lindsay, Corporal J. Mason and Sapper G. Crisp worked the clock round on more than one occasion. The store was the receiving depot for all materials used in the Kiwi Club, the convalescent hospital and much of the 4th General Hospital. Over 100 tons of nails, 600 tons of cement, pumping sets, electric lighting plants, electricians', drainlayers' and labourers' tools and stores had to be issued from the store. On the tapering off of the works programme the checking in of tools and equipment involved a tremendous amount of work, and a degree of vouchering and ledger keeping, for instance, that is seldom associated with an army on active service. While attending to the requirements of works services, the store also had to issue engineer equipment to other units in the base area. It is estimated that well over a million pounds in value passed through the store in one form of equipment or another in the 17 months it was in operation.

The end of March 1944 found the works programme drawing to a close. There was still work to do on the Kiwi Club, on the convalescent hospital and on the roads, but the end was in sight— the end for works services and for the Third Division. At the end of April the manpower survey of personnel for essential industry was quickly followed by drafts of personnel to New Zealand as essential workers. Early in May, except for the bricking in of the boilerhouse, the construction company had completed the 4th General and returned to base camp, at Leclere's Farm. Until the end of August the unit was busy making crates for engineer and unit equipment, and also crates for other base units.

Almost 17 months had passed since that winter afternoon when the Tyron dropped anchor in Nouméa harbour and the curious group of Kiwis gazed for the first time on Nouméa. Now the time had come for them to look upon it for the last time. Some did so with relief; some with a twinge of regret; some with a determination to see it again, and all conscious that while there they, with other members of the division in the Pacific, had been working to defend their homes in New Zealand. That is the story of Works Services Engineers, NZEF IP.

Chapter Twenty-TwoBase Ordnance

I. Pacific Outpost

When a group of four Ordnance Corps men entered a Chinese cafe in Suva, late in November 1940, and sat at a table, it was partly to order crab omelettes and partly to discuss their recent sea' voyage from New Zealand. They also stole approbatory glances at an extraordinarily beautiful Chinese waitress, and agreed enthusiastically that China was a most desirable ally. These men had recently been part of the first two ordnance drafts to leave New Zealand for the Pacific. In bright sunshine on 11 November, immediately after the two minutes' silence at 11 am the armed cruiser Monowai had left Auckland, arriving at Suva at 2.30 pm on the 13th. When, nine days later, the Ranga-tira had also berthed, the two troopships had brought between them, with drafts of other units, the nucleus of the Base Ordnance Depot in Fiji. It is therefore interesting now to look back and recall a few of the earliest men in whom the depot had its origin; those 'on deck' then included the following:—-Lieutenant P. N. Erridge (OC), Warrant-Officer. H. C. Cooper, Staff-Sergeant G. C. Leighton, Sergeant M. W. Dobbs, Corporal J. Thomson, Privates. J. Roughan (who was mentioned in despatches four years later), R. Benge, R. Gibbs, C. G. Rowlatt, A. W.. Buckley, A. Allen, and J. Hartshorne. Privates J. Daley, W. H. W. Pullman, A. S. Daken, L. F. Stewart, F. Vale, and D. Lyons arrived a little later.

If a soldier's best friend is his rifle, his sense of humour ranks almost as highly, and the 'rookie' soon came in for his share of good-natured banter. After the first drafts had become bronzed in tropical uniforms of shorts and open-necked shirts, later arrivals looked, somehow, conspicuously new and pink-kneed. They were therefore humorously referred to as 'white leghorns' as often as possible in their presence, and made to feel they were faintly disgusting in the eyes of all 'old hands,' until they acquired a respectable tan. The shorts then on issue to the earliest drafts were a preposterous looking garment scornfully known as 'long-short-longs,' and as they were quite incapable of letting the sun do its work, they very soon found their way to an Indian tailor's shop for shortening. In these early days before prices soared a sartorially-minded New Zealander could have a shirt and a pair of shorts superbly tailored to measure by Indian tailors for a total outlay of from 12/6 to 15/-.

At Nasese, about a mile from the heart of Suva, amidst the red and black mud churned up by recent camp construction, men of the depot settled in, while down at the palatial new Government buildings they opened up their stores in a basement measuring 40 by 60 feet. It was here that the unit made its first issues comprising equipment for the reserve battalion, later to become the 34th Battalion. Men standing wide-eyed at their tent doorways at Nasese, watching for the first time a tropical downpour, could now appreciate the remarks made in New Zealand by a fat and fatherly sergeant after issuing waterproof capes He had said, 'It rains every day of the rainy season in Fiji, and you're going into it.' A soldier learns much about the countries he visits, and his environment becomes an inseparable part of his regimental history. Thus it is not easily forgotten that from December to March is the wet season in Fiji, and that in the south belt, or Suva side of Viti Levu, the average annual rainfall is 118 inches. Everyone was therefore in high spirits when, in the middle of December the unit left Nasese's mud and mosquitoes and moved into tents in the grounds of the Boys' Grammar School, in the centre of Suva, near the city's swimming baths. Already space beneath the Government buildings' was proving inadequate for the increasing quantities of equipment arriving, and a move was soon made to the ground floor of the old Government buildings, where there was space for sorting and handling the army's needs. The top story of the new depot was occupied by the 1st Battalion of the Fiji Defence Force, who will be remembered for their admirable character and soldierly bearing.

They and the Fijians generally impressed New Zealanders immensely, and were frequently the subject of discussion. In addition to their obvious health and exceptional physique, they possessed marked qualities of loyalty and inherent honesty, and it was observed that they were self-disciplined, carefree, and quickly moved to laughter. Along the sides of every road they appeared in bright red sulus, walking often unashamedly hand in hand beneath the sunlit green palms, and singing as they went.

Stationed in Suva in these early weeks, men of the ordnance depot made the most of the opportunity, while on leave or on army duty, of seeing something of the town. For most of this slice of New Zealand's young men, with horizons hitherto bound by their small country's shores, the capital of 'Little India of the Pacific' had much that was of great interest. Sitting cross-legged in the native market place in 'All Nations Street' (Cumming Street) were Moslem Indians and Hindus, Fijians, Rotumans, Eurasians and turbanned Sikhs. Dogs of every breed walked about lazily in the heat, and to Kiwis on leave from the depot, the bazaar presented a strange kaleidoscope of brown-skinned people and unfamiliar native produce, As Christmas approached, Fiji's white population organised dances and entertainments for the troops. Some from the unit were fortunate enough to receive invitations to these, or to Christmas dinner parties. The majority celebrated, however, with the welcome help of Patriotic parcels, free beer, and perhaps a cake from home.

Living quarters were again changed in January, when the unit moved to Tamavua, which overlooks the harbour, about a mile and a half from Suva-It was while the unit was there, in the third week in February, that a large yellow flag was hoisted in Suva, indicating the approach of a hurricane. On 20 February it had been changed to a black one, a warning to take cover. That day, meteorologists recorded the most destructive hurricane in Fiji since 1910, and ordnance men accustomed to a 15-minute journey from depot to barracks, found it took them an hour and a half to get back to lunch through the wreckage.

Lieutenant S. A. Knight arrived from New Zealand in May 1941 and became ordnance officer when Lieutenant Erridge relinquished his command. Considerable numbers of reinforcements were then arriving. To take care of the increasing calls for ordnance equipment, and to replace several-men bound for the Middle East, the depot now received 12 additional men from New Zealand. Extensive new buildings were erected at Samambula, including a tailoring and textile workers' room, for altering clothing and repairing tents. A well-organised new depot was set up, complete with an armoury and living quarters. The whole of the wide range of arms, field equipment and clothing was then divided into efficiently organised groups and sections, using bins and racks which had been built into the new stores. For the next 12 months, as Japanese aspirations in the South Pacific became a potential threat to New Zealand, the work of ordnance in Fiji assumed an increasing responsibility to the troops stationed at strategic points throughout the island, In those difficult days of heavy shipping losses, and of supply shortages following Britain's lone stand, arms, ammunition and equipment were rushed out to troops as fast as supplies arrived from New Zealand. Men of the depot not only trained as part of the general defence, but toiled and sweated long hours in the sultry heat of the stores, packing, loading up trucks, and despatching thousands of tons of ordnance material to troops who, like themselves, had to be prepared to beat off a possible invasion at any moment. Realisation of the depot's vital role spread from the enthusiasm of its officers to a noticeable rivalry between the various stores sections. Warrant-Officer Leighton, looking comfortably cool beside his own personal electric fan—which was the envy of everyone— directed the accounting staff with Sergeant W. A. Pascoe as chief assistant. Sergeant Dobbs was foreman of stores, with Sergeant A. Daken in charge of A Group, Sergeant J. Roughan directing C Group, and Warrant-Officer G. Adamson controlled E Group, including the armoury local purchasing operations were conducted by Lance-Corporal Beal and Private L. D. Calder. Later, Staff-Sergeant Buckley represented the unit with a sub-depot at Namaka. In the new barracks, the men pooled their cash and bought irons and other amenities. An ice-chest was made, and soon regular deliveries of ice and of Puhman Singh's highly coloured soft drinks helped to combat the fatigue of manhandling the increasing tonnage of heavy equipment in and out of the stores in the tropical heat. To Lieutenant Knight, later to become lieutenant-colonel, and to Lieutenant Reid, subsequently promoted to the rank of major, fell the complex task, during the next three and a half years, of controlling a large depot which was to supply the many heterogeneous items of equipment used by a division in modern warfare.

In retrospect, 1941 presented a mixed scene. It had begun with the new excitement of sight-seeing, with the natural high spirits of new trainees, and with each new draft of arrivals telling the Indian vendors of tortoise-shell bracelets that 'we didn't come over here to be robbed,' (and then being 'robbed' just the same). The year had ended with a background of noises 'offstage '—the ominous crunch of Japanese bombs in Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai, and hints of enemy invasion fleets moving menacingly nearer to the South Pacific. By 1942 the work of ordnance had greatly increased, with all the preparations of an augmented force for imminent attack. Into tunnels, made by hard-worked engineers, poured quantities of every kind of ammunition, the handling of which later became the work of a separate ordnance section under Warrant-Officer K. F. T. Allen. In addition to the new sub-depot which distributed supplies at Namaka in the western area, ammunition for western defences was temporarily stored in the nearby pineapple cannery. The augmented B Force became a division in January 1942, and the arrival of Captain M. S. Myers early in the New Year, as deputy assistant director of ordnance services, added to the corps' activities his administrative experience.

The sports grounds of Albert Park, in Suva, and Suva's swimming baths, where the temperature of the water was often 90 degrees after a day in the hot sun, were relaxation centres for the unit's cricket, rugby and soccer players and swimmers. The more the tension of work increased, the greater was the need for recreation. In ordnance camps, as elsewhere in the division, men were thin; many suffered from skin complaints; some had been sent home sick. Heavy lifting work in the stores, long hours in sultry offices, and rush work to meet shipping needs could not be prolonged indefinitely in the constant humidity of Fiji. Suddenly, however, the cheering news was divined from various happenings that an American force was about to arrive and'relieve the division. As the jubilation subsided, the unit began in: July the prodigious job that faces an ordnance depot when a division moves, and working day and night it had taken several weeks when at last embarkation day arrived. As troop-laden trucks moved in convoy through the outskirts of Suva, native girls passed wearing vivid red and yellow flowers in their dark hair. We waved and shouted soti (you're not supposed to) and they greeted the remark with cries of mirth; and waved back with hands held aloft as the convoy passed. On the wharf was a group of tall, powerfully built, bushy-haired Fijians. They were singing in perfect harmony, a little sadly, 'Isa Lei'… It was September 1942, nearly two years after the depot had commenced operations in Fiji and now, on returning to New Zealand, men eagerly planned their leave and gazed from railway carriage windows at orchards in bloom and the lush green countryside in spring. To them it had never looked better.

II. Equipping the Division for Battle.

Two weeks' furlough had passed like two days, with the bitter-sweet sense of urgency heightened by recent events in the Pacific, As elements of the division re-assembled in camps south of Auckland, the work of equipping them began in earnest. In Wellington, Lieutenant Reid, Lieutenant Lonergan and others prepared shipments of stores and motor transport equipment for the division. Men of the staff of Base Ordnance Depot, working with Lieutenant McCarthy at Trentham, drafted hundreds of indents enumerating the requirements of every unit in the division, and soon whole trainloads of fields and fighting material, travelling mostly at night, were sent north from Wellington. With a separate ordnance accounting staff at Ngaruawahia was Captain Knight. With the knowledge that the force was sailing very soon for subsequent action overseas, this section engaged in base stock accounting chafed impatiently at the task of ledger balancing—they would rather have been sharpening bayonets, or packing for the 'big show'—but there are always the Treasury Department's auditors whose 'fiscal years' come and go even in wartime, and of course the jungle jingle:Stores! Stores! win our world wars,Stencilled—red-pencilled for tropical shores.'State the positionOf stocks—and condition '—Stores! Blokes, how are your stores?—and ledgers had to provide the answer.

Priority was given to supplies for two battalions and several attached units about to leave New Zealand, and in October 1942 they sailed, the 36th Battalion for Norfolk Island, and the 34th Battalion to Tonga. While remaining units of the division were still receiving equipment from Trentham, the United States Navy's Crescent City threaded its way through the maze of shipping gathered in Nouméa harbour, in New Caledonia, and from her gangways on 2 November, an advanced party of Base Ordnance Depot went ashore on one of the strangest islands jn the Pacific. On the waterfront the New Zealanders lined up beside their kit bags and waited for transport to Camp Stevens just outside the town. Before them, in the fierce heat of the sun, lay a city of 14,000, with an unbelievable history and one of the most varied populations in the world. Occasional palms and flamboyant trees threw round black shadows, like great ink-spots on the sun-drenched streets below. With sarongs swathed about their small waists, beautiful, petite Javanese women walked gracefully by, barefooted and silent. Wrinkled old popinées, with jet black teeth from chewing betel nut, and giggling young ones in square-necked Mother Hubbard dresses like nightgowns, also passed or stood about in groups, laughing loudly at any little mishap in the street.

On arrival at the transit camp, lunch was followed by a few hours' leave in Nouméa. The Place des Cocotiers, or central park, with its lawns defaced by slit trenches, was full of allied servicemen, the streets swarmed with military traffic, and it was soon evident that Nouméa was a vast base for allied Pacific operations. In contrast with the feverish military activity in the streets, the town, with its faded shutters and trellised verandahs, had an old world appearance, and looked dusty and dry, though some found later that it could also be 'wet,' at a price, and that it was perhaps best not to enquire too analytically into the contents of certain mysteriously labelled bottles, especially a particularly suicidal brandy which had interesting possibilities as a rat poison. Travelling in dusty convoys, some of the ordnance advanced party left almost immediately for Néméara, north of Bourail; others stayed a few days in the Bourail town hall, while lieutenant Reid and Lieutenant McCarthy opened a depot at St. Louis Road in Nouméa to receive stores from ships. By 12 November a further draft of base ordnance men had also landed, and stayed for about two weeks at Dumbea beside a river near the capital. Here, mosquitoes attacked the party in force, carrying out a vigorous pincers movement. A depot was then set up at a point known as DP I, near Nouméa, and the men were established there to receive shipments. The port of Nouméa could no longer cope with all the allied shipping arriving at that time, and shipments were diverted to a new wartime port in the north, at Nepoui. Taking about half of the unit's men with him, Lieutenant Reid and a large convoy carrying tentage and other gear, left for the Nepoui valley. The Route Coloniale was rough and rugged like the wilderness one saw on either side of it, and the occasional dusty, dilapidated French villages, about 30 miles apart, stood out like oases. Arriving late in the evening, the detachment pitched tents in the failing light, and at 11 o'clock that night they found a stream some distance away in which to remove the accumulation of dust.

Using the headlamps of trucks, and working for two months in shifts 24 hours a day, often in mud so thick that everything was bogged down and work had to stop, these men received and stacked, in the open, on a hillside and a flat, thousands of tons of army equipment. The main ordnance camp was to be at Bourail, and most of the men who had remained in Nouméa went north on 23 December to set up the camp there. On Christmas Day they joined the detachment at Nepoui for Christmas dinner. Hams were known to be in existence in a nearby ASC dump, and with a little well-planned strategy, the guard was engaged by aa ordnance representative in an absorbing game of 'two-up' while the necessary hams were quickly spirited away to the ordnance fleshpots. It seemed strange to be celebrating the occasion surrounded by miles and miles of wild, unfamiliar country so far from any vestige of civilisation, but a special tent was erected, tables were set up, and everyone tried to make it look like Christmas.

When the main body under Captain Knight and Lieutenant Lonergan arrived in Bourail early in January 1943 they were able to move straight into tents already erected for them by the advanced party, and the work was begun of clearing the rough hillsides and ridges ready for erecting stores. For the next few months, almost endless convoys of trucks arrived at all hours of the day and night, transferring the vast quantities of stores from Nepoui, some 50 miles away. The issuing of tents and camp supplies from the tarpaulin-covered stacks at the Nepoui dump to a, brigade that had recently arrived in that area, greatly complicated the task of moving. Kanakas were employed to erect native type buildings for use as stores at Bourail, and eventually, after the unit had been eating for a considerable period in the hot sun or rain, time was found to build a mess room. A new establishment of 220 men was authorised in March 1943, and gradually the various sections were built up to approximately this scale. With this number of men recreation could be organised, and when French lads were found playing soccer on a field in the village a team was produced and played several games against them. It was amusing to listen to the mixture of comments in French and English. Cricket matches included contests against an air force team, and 'officers and sergeants' versus The Rest, and two soccer teams and a rugby team also played in the competitions. In the camp a social committee organised evenings, including Calcutta Sweeps. For the first of these, 'acceptances' for a race to be run at Ellerslie were taken from a newspaper just received, tickets were bought, and on the night before the race after the sweep was drawn, an ex-auctioneer in the unit gave the proceedings the lively air of the sale ring as he auctioned the horses, collecting 200 dollars to be divided as prizes. A radio set provided the crowded mess room with the thrills of the running commentary from New Zealand on the event, and the entertainment closed with a short concert of items by the men. The depot operated in six main sections, and officers who directed them at various times, are shown below with the rank then held:— Headquarters: Major S. A. Knight and Major H. McK. Reid; Ammunition: Lieutenant A-W. Buckley and Second-Lieutenant S. J. Harvey; General Stores and Clothing: Captain H. McK. Reid, Lieutenant B. E. Woodhams; Mechanical Transport Section: Lieutenant J. L. Lonergan, Lieutenant K. V. Paul; Return Stores and Salvage: Lieutenant A. W. Buckley, Lieutenant W. A. Pascoe, Lieutenant H. Sarginson. Although enumeration of the above main sections gives some slight conception of the varied range, of supplies that the depot had to maintain for the division, these chapters deal with only the outline of the unit's activities, which, are recounted more fully in the unofficial history of the Ordnance Corps as a whole.

At about this time the Nepoui detachment completed the despatch of stores from that area, and joined the staff of the main depot at Bourail. The ammunition experts remained there, however, and as a side line to much heavy toil reared chickens that had never heard of dehydrated eggs. These unfortunately turned out to be mostly cockerels, found their way into the pot, and added to the reputation of the cook. In March and April 1943 a number of men in all sections became casualties from dengue fever, which is carried by mosquitoes. The depot's motor transport supply section, working in the Bourail gendarmerie building, was the group most affected, having 14 men in hospital, and the section had to carry on with only two men.

Celebrations in honour of Joan of Arc, to which New Zealand troops were invited, were held on 9 May, a gala day for the French people of the village. In the full pageantry of suits of armour and costumes of the period, a cortége of 'knights' mounted on horseback, and children in white, paid homage to the Maid and Saint of French history, represented by a French girl on a white horse, who rode into the square dressed in armour. As the crowds dispersed, some went to dine at the hotel as a change from camp, and there French wine and avis were usually obtainable.

To mark tlie occasion We went out to dine. Remember the laughter, French cooking and vine?

Others dined at the restaurant belonging to Albert, reputedly a Belgian. The troops had faithfully taught him most of the more obscene English expressions, and he used them on many embarrassing occasions, to the delight of his tutors who returned regularly to see how his Englais was progressing. On the other hand, some in the unit became sufficiently fluent in French to make friends among the families in the village. Others organised trips to Houailou on the opposite side of the island, which was by far the more interesting coast. Not only were tropical fruits plentiful there, but coffee plantations, immaculate native villages, cultivated fields of cassava (from which tapioca is obtained) and the beautiful palm-fringed shores of the north coast all surpassed anything to be seen in the way of scenery near Bourail.

The division was now preparing for action in the Solomons, and on 26 July the depot was advised that several officers and about half of its personnel were soon to leave for Guadalcanal, to set up an advanced ordnance depot. From there, many from the unit went on with the division during its attacks on Japanese held islands of Vella Lavella, the Treasury Group, and the Green Islands; their experiences do not, however, concern this story, which deals only with the Base Ordnance Depot. Expanding operations in the Pacific had caused a shortage of shipping to New Caledonia from New Zealand, and it was not long before the division was due to leave for the Solomons campaign that many urgently awaited items, budgeted for six months earlier, arrived. These were rushed out to units for packing before they sailed, and long hours were worked in all departments to complete the fitting out of the brigades about to leave. While the division fought and worked in the Solomons during the next ten months, casualty lists and visits to the 4th General Hospital in New Caledonia, to which many of the sick and wounded were evacuated, bore silent evidence of battle experiences and the loss of old comrades in many units. During those months a number of administrative personnel and men of servicing units remained in New Caledonia, and the job at base included maintaining these units, as well as forwarding requirements to the combat areas.

The principal 'high-spots' in the remainder of the depot's service in New Caledonia were a highly successful unit dance held at Bourail, the activities of a swimming and an athletic team, and several evening race meetings, run with cut-out wooden horses (complete with colours) and using dice for the moves along the course. For these meetings race cards were printed announcing horses with some astonishing pedigrees, such as, Hopeful by Homeward from Dengue, Masterpiece by Balance out of Conversion (a reference to a very useful voucher form which provided an 'Escape out of Sight from Catastrophe'), and Remote Control by RQ out of Camp. 'Advertisements' urged joining the AEWS art class: 'Reclining and declining nudes. Even if you can't draw you can look.' Thus the New Zealander's typical ingenuity had come to the rescue, even in entertainment. In. the early months of 1944, the first of the drafts returning for essential industry to New Zealand initiated a flow of small arms and personal equipment into the base ordnance stores, for sorting and reconditioning. Then followed the return of the division from its successful operations in the Solomons. To expedite the refitting

A concrete plant established at Le Clre's farm, was known as the 'squat-pot factory.' Many of the engineers and infantry men learned something about the native methods of thatching-in New Caledonia. A mess hut being covered in the Works Services area

Everyone passing through Nouméa came to know the transit camp which was established there close beside the town. Below are some of the mess bures in the camp. Above is a watcrcolour sketch of the camp looking from the opposite hill of the division for its return in the winter to New Zealand, Lieutenant B. E. Woodhams and a depot detachment set up a 'clearing house' at Nouméa, whence were despatched the winter clothing (battle-dress in lieu of tropical drill) to distribution centres. Warrant-Officer G. M. Williams also directed a large detachment at Népoui comprising some 70 men, who worked to segregate the heavy shipments of stores returned from the fighting areas into the categories of 'immediate requirements' and 'stores for re-forwarding to New Zealand.' In three months of excellent organisation and hard work, both teams saved the unit weeks of work and double handling, enabling the depot at base to pack the bulk of its stores