New Zealand in the Pacific War

With America’s 1941 entry into World War II and the movement of Japanese forces into the southern Pacific, a number of U.S. troops were sent to protect New Zealand so that their troops might remain with commitments in the Middle East and other important, established locations. Many American military men found New Zealand to be a second home as they were welcomed and adopted into communities by the locals. Over the course of the next four years, almost 1400 New Zealand women married American servicemen. The individual interviews herein record the varied and interesting tapestry of New Zealand’s often overlooked war contribution and new relationship with America: New Zealand war veterans, New Zealanders on the home front, and American servicemen stationed on the island nation during the war. Four interviews with adults born as a result of American soldier—New Zealand women love affairs shed light on this sometimes uncomfortable aspect of all foreign wars. Photographs and short biographies of the interviewees round out this fascinating oral history.

Bruce M. Petty served for two years on the U.S.S. Yorktown during the Vietnam War. A California native, he has lived in Saipan. His writings have been published in The Pacific Daily News, The Marianas Variety, Umanidat: A Journal of the Humanities and Journal of the Pacific Society. Formerly a nuclear medicine technologist, he currently writes in New Plymouth, New Zealand.

Bruce M. Petty

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 243
Bibliographic Info: 27 photos, 3 maps, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2008
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3527-2
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii
Author’s Note      1
Introduction      3

PART I
Voices of New Zealand Veterans of the Pacific War
1. Thirty-six Battalion, Third New Zealand Division: Robert Gordon Dunlap      19
2. Medical Doctor with the Third New Zealand Division: Arthur N. Talbot      29
3. From Wellington Hospital to Fiji: Dr. Alan Hayton      34
4. Kiwi Sailor in the British Navy: Stanley B. Martin      40
5. From the Cavalry to Corsairs: Des H. Turnbull      48
6. Corsair Pilot, No. 16 Squadron: E.T. Lang      53
7. Kiwi Ace in the Pacific: Geoffrey Bryson Fisken      60
8. No. 1 Squadron, PV-1 Venturas: William John (Bill) Edhouse      69
9. The Dumbos at Tulagi, Six FB Squadron: Charles Lawrence ( Joe) Laird      79
10. A Stranger in Her Own Land: Tracy Tapuke Magon      87

PART II
Voices from the New Zealand Home Front
11. A Marine from Georgia: Joan Hay Cudby      95
12. Taking in the Sick and Wounded: Darcy and Dallas Knuckey      103
13. The Names in the Hat: Ngaire Baker Duncan      106
14. Maori Elder: Georgina Kiripuai Aomarere      113
15. The Nurse: Louise Heffer Carkeek      119
16. From Whangamomona to Wellington: Wyn Muirson Stockwell      125
17. Farming in Ohura, an Essential Industry During the War: Melvin Alfred “Ike” Watts      131
18. The Lady and the Batsman: Joan Masters      135

PART III
Voices of Americans in New Zealand
19. Sick and Hungry on Guadalcanal; Fat and Happy in New Zealand: Leonard E. Skinner      145
20. The Marine and the Farmer’s Daughter: Clifford Charles Carrigan and Sylvia P. Carrigan      151
21. Marine Corps Combat Photographer: Norman T. Hatch, USMCR (ret.)      160
22. The Marine and the Girl from Eltham: Joe Wetzel      171
23. Defending Samoa from Japanese Invasion: Carl W. Matthews      178

PART IV
Voices from the Next Generation
24. The Missing Bit: Alfred Vaughan Leach      193
25. Lost Opportunities: June Margaret Baudinet (née Taringa) and Tanya Savage      198
26. Looking for My Father: Shirley Anne Winistoerfer Fairest      208
27. My Father Was a Marine: Clint Libby      218

Bibliography      225
Index      227