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Documents Relating to New Zealand's Participation in the Second World War 1939–45: Volume III

141 — The New Zealand Minister, Washington, to the Prime Minister

141
The New Zealand Minister, Washington, to the Prime Minister

9 February 1942

Your cable of 5 February [No. 134].

In the present perspective it is obvious that our views of the set-up necessary to efficiently carry on the war strategically, operationally and politically, particularly in the Pacific, will not prevail. Churchill and Roosevelt have decided, and our job in the meantime is to accept the decisions and make the machinery work. We should be well represented in London, but Washington is likely to become the place where the final Pacific action is determined.

We should increase our representation on the military, naval, or air side by appointing a competent senior officer capable of participating in discussions on strategy and planning operations with [group mutilated – a knowledge?] of the Pacific Islands and their relation to the defence of the Dominion. Mead1 and Parry are of the type required, but you could make the best selection.

1 Maj-Gen O. H. Mead, CBE, DSO; Commander, Southern Military District (Brigadier), Oct 1940 – Feb 1942; GOC Pacific Section, 2 NZEF, Feb – Jul 1942; lost at sea in aircraft accident, 25 Jul 1942, on a flight from Fiji to Tonga.