A sombre bunch. Durban, 24 December 1942, en route to Singapore. Len sits front on the left, next to Johnno. Behind, left to right, are Jack Kindred, Harry Swift and Tim Hill.
A sombre bunch. Durban, 24 December 1942, en route to Singapore. Len sits front on the left, next to Johnno. Behind, left to right, are Jack Kindred, Harry Swift and Tim Hill.
HILL WHĀNAU COLLECTION
January 1941. The winter of 1940/41 was spent in the North Sea, escorting convoys between Scapa Flow and the Firth of Forth, which meant leave was spent in Scotland.
HILL WHĀNAU COLLECTION
Te Waka O Tū – the war god’s canoe – was the Cunard liner, Her Majesty’s Troopship Aquitania. On the cover of the programme for a concert performed during the voyage are the names of the seventeen different elements being transported to battle in Europe. Inside the programme are eighty-eight signatures of, mostly, Auckland Reservists.
HILL WHĀNAU COLLECTION
In 1943 Len was engaged in preparing the 80th Fairmile Flotilla for service in the Solomon Islands. His brother had returned home from North Africa on furlough. Len is on the right in the picture with brother Bill (centre) and an unidentified friend.
HILL WHĀNAU COLLECTION
1939: two young Naval Reservists, Len and Lofty, snapped in passing by a Queen Street photographer.
HILL WHĀNAU COLLECTION
HILL WHĀNAU COLLECTION
Four mates in uniform, 1941. After Alynbank, before Singapore. Left to right: Len, Lofty, Alistair McArthur, Jackie Hayward.
HILL WHĀNAU COLLECTION
Thirty young New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reservists HMS St Vincent, Gosport, Hants, August 1940. Len sits cross-legged, front left; Tim stands on the left of the middle row; and Lofty stands at the rear, fourth from the left.
HILL WHĀNAU COLLECTION
HILL WHĀNAU COLLECTION
Lt. Cdr. Johnny Bull RNZNVR Devonport, New Zealand, 1944.
