Contributors and Sources

My thanks to the following writers and publishers for permission to use their material in this anthology. Every effort has been made to contact those whose material is included, but in some cases this has not been possible. The publishers and I would be pleased to hear from copyright holders who could not be traced.

The material in this collection that was originally published in the NZEF Times and Convoice is reproduced by kind permission of the New Zealand Defence Force. Many NZEF Times contributors signed their material with either their initials or service number, hence their identity is unknown and biographical notes are not possible.

E.S. Allison 1918–2013

Errol – known as Bill or during the war, ‘Fox’ – Allison was a student teacher in Dunedin when he volunteered in 1939. He saw action with 20 Battalion in Greece, Crete and in the desert with ‘Kip’ as ‘my young intelligence sergeant’. Taken prisoner at Belhamid, Allison succeeded in his third escape attempt and ended the war with Russian troops on the Eastern Front. After the war he taught in South Canterbury and then travelled to reconnect with his wartime experiences. During the Vietnam War Bill Allison was the Saigon-based commissioner for the New Zealand Red Cross refugee and disaster relief effort.

‘Names I Know’, ‘Belhamid – Sidi Rezegh’, ‘The Fallen’, Kiwi at Large, Robert Hale, 1961.

Mark Batistich 1914–2003

From Kaihu in Northland, Batistich served in the Middle East and Italy with 6th Field Ambulance, from January 1942 to August 1945. Mark Batistich’s book was prepared with the help of his daughter, M.R. Shearsby.

‘Maadi – Our New Zealand Camp’, The Story of Lulu, Batistich Family, 2005.

Nelson Bray 1915–2007

A North Canterbury farmer, ‘Lofty’ Bray served as a driver with 4th Field Ambulance – the only field ambulance unit not captured at Sidi Rezegh. Bray later transferred to the New Zealand Motor Ambulance Convoy (NZMAC).

‘Join Up’, ‘The Burker’, ‘Going West’, ‘A Real Shower’, ‘El Alamein – The Battle’, ‘War Wastage’, A 39er’s Story: Remembering the Mediterranean War, 1939-1943, N.T. Bray, 1996.

Frank St Bruno 1909–67

The 1930 New Zealand flyweight boxing champion, Frank St Bruno moved to Sydney to fight as a professional. He served with 27 (Machine Gun) Battalion and became a regular contributor to the NZEF Times as a cartoonist and writer. After the war he wrote three books of satire about life in the Division and the Middle East, plus other satires on New Zealand life, and four novels.

‘The Tale of the Christmas Duff’, NZEF Times, 22 December 1941.

J.T. Burrows 1904–91

A schoolteacher, former All Black and representative cricketer, Burrows was a Territorial captain when war was declared and immediately volunteered. He gained the distinction of commanding all three of the Division’s original infantry brigades in action and was awarded a DSO and Bar. On his return to New Zealand, Jim Burrows was appointed rector of Waitaki Boys’ High School. Five years later he rejoined the army and commanded Kayforce in Korea and Japan. He retired as a brigadier in 1960 and became a regional commissioner of Civil Defence.

‘The Recruit’, ‘Tea’, ‘Cairo’, ‘Company Commander’, ‘Minqar Qaim’, ‘A Ridge called Ruweisat’, ‘Brennan’, ‘To Florence’, Pathway among Men, Whitcombe & Tombs, 1974.

Les Cleveland 1921–2014

He served in Greece, Crete, Western Desert and Italy, where he was wounded. After the war, Les Cleveland edited a volume of New Zealand war poetry, The Iron Hand, and another of songs sung in the Division, The Songs We Sang. He lectured in political science at Victoria University, and gained a reputation as a singer and collector of folk songs.

‘Galatas’, ‘Spring’, The Iron Hand, Wai-te-ata Press, 1979.

Eddie Clews (dates unknown)

Clews served with 24 Battalion throughout the Desert Campaign, which he described in his attributed work, written at Maadi in 1943, after the trek back from Tunisia.

‘The North African Derby’, in Les Cleveland (ed.), The Songs We Sang: A Collection of N.Z. Army and Service Ballads, Editorial Services Ltd, 1959.

George Clifton 1898–1970

A regular soldier, he graduated from Duntroon Military College at the end of the First World War and subsequently served with the British Army in India for two years. George Clifton left with the Second Echelon as a captain and then came to the desert as the Division’s Commander of Royal Engineers, before assuming the same role for the British 15th Corps, North Africa. He then returned to the Division to command 5th Brigade. Taken prisoner in the desert, Clifton subsequently made nine attempts to escape, and finally broke to freedom in early 1945. He was awarded the DSO and two bars.

‘First Round in Libya’, The Happy Hunted, Cassell, 1952.

Neville Colvin 1917–91

The Otago University capping mag was the first to publish Colvin’s cartoons. He became an art teacher, then went overseas with the 7th Reinforcements. As a draughtsman at a brigade HQ he became a regular contributor to the NZEF Times and finally joined the paper’s staff. After 1945 Neville Colvin was the Evening Post cartoonist for 10 years. He then moved to Britain to work on several major dailies, including several years drawing the ‘Modesty Blaise’ strip.

‘V.I.P.’, ‘The Bloke’, Johny Enzed in Italy, Rotorua and Bay of Plenty Publishing, 1946. The Grim Digs’, ‘Clueless’, NZEF Times.

Geoffrey Cox 1910–2008

After education at Southland Boys’ High, Otago University and Oriel College, Oxford, Geoffrey Cox spent nine pre-war years in Europe as a Rhodes Scholar, journalist and author. This included covering the Spanish Civil War and the politics that led to the Second World War. He joined 5th Brigade in Britain and served in Crete and the Western Desert, latterly as a divisional intelligence officer. Cox then served in Washington with Walter Nash as First Secretary of the New Zealand Legation. He returned to the Division for the latter part of the Italian Campaign and was twice m.i.d. His career in journalism continued after the war, culminating in 12 years as editor and chief executive of ITN News. He was appointed CBE in 1959, won a Bafta in 1962, knighted in 1966 and was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2000.

‘Convoy’, ‘Invasion from the Air’, ‘Duck Shooting’, ‘Retreat’, ‘Belhamid – Sidi Rezegh’, ‘Alamein – The Battle’, ‘The Barracker’, ‘Freyberg’, A Tale of Two Battles, William Kimber, 1987. ‘The Spring Offensive’, ‘Trieste’, ‘The Div.’, The Road to Trieste, William Heinemann, 1947.

Allen Curnow 1911–2001

One of New Zealand’s most respected and best-known poets, Allen Curnow was a theology student, journalist, sub-editor and poet, then taught in Auckland University’s English Department. His cousin, Second Lieutenant T.C.F. Ronalds, was killed on 26 April 1943 in the battle to break the Enfidaville Line and lies in the Enfidaville War Cemetery in Tunisia.

‘In Memoriam’, A Book of New Zealand Verse 1923–1950 (revised edition), Caxton Press, 1951.

Dan Davin 1913–90

A Southlander and a Rhodes Scholar, Dan Davin enlisted in England with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. After attending OCTU at Aldershot he was commissioned and joined 5th Brigade in Britain. Davin was a 23 Battalion platoon commander in Greece, and intelligence officer in Crete, where he was badly wounded. He then served in intelligence in Cairo GHQ and later returned to the Division as intelligence officer to General Freyberg in North Africa and Italy. A major, Davin was awarded a military MBE. He wrote several novels, many short stories and the Crete volume of the Official War History. He was academic publisher for the Oxford University Press for over 30 years, and awarded CBE for services to New Zealand writing.

‘The General and the Nightingale’, The Salamander and the Fire, 1986. ‘Cairo Cleopatra’, Poems of the Second World War, Dent/Salamander Oasis Trust. ‘Grave near Sirte’, ‘Elegy’, in Guy Walters and James Owen (eds), The Voice of War: The Second World War Told by Those Who Fought It, Penguin, 2005. ‘How much, George?’, ‘Wounded’, ‘The Last Train’, ‘Belhamid – Sidi Rezegh’, ‘Minqar Qaim’, ‘Alamein-The Battle’, For the Rest of Our Lives, Nicholson & Watson, 1947.

Sam (G.L.A.) Donald 1914–?

Sam Donald left the family farm in the East Coast’s Mangaheia Valley to serve in the 19th Armoured Regiment. After the war he farmed in Central Hawke’s Bay and retired to Tolaga Bay in 1981, where he wrote two books of memoirs.

‘Battling for Cassino’, Mangaheia to Monfalcone: A Tolaga Bay Soldier’s Memoir 1941–1946, Rakopu Press, 2004.

H.G. Dyer 1896–1977

The 1918 Sword of Honour winner at the Duntroon Military Academy, Humphrey Dyer resigned his commission, angered by not being allowed to serve in the First World War. He then travelled and studied, gained a BA and became a schoolteacher. Having re-enlisted at the outbreak of war, Dyer became a 28 (Maori) Battalion company commander, and then the battalion’s second commanding officer. He was m.i.d. for his Middle East service, but in late 1943 was returned to New Zealand after criticising General Freyberg. He went back to teaching.

‘Soldiers All’, Ma te Reinga/By Way of Reinga: The Way of the Maori Soldier, Arthur H. Stockwell, 1953.

Bernard Freyberg 1889–1963

As commander of 2 NZEF and 2 NZ Division, Lieutenant-General Freyberg was responsible to the New Zealand government as commander of the country’s largest fighting arm. His exploits in both world wars – Victoria Cross, DSO and three bars, wounded nine times and leadership under fire – became the stuff of legend. Freyberg was New Zealand’s governor general from 1945 to 1951, when he was elevated to the peerage. On returning to Britain Lord Freyberg became Lieutenant Governor of Windsor Castle.

‘Alamein – The Build up’, ‘Alamein – The Battle’, ‘Tebaga Gap’, NZEF Times.

Noel Gardiner 1910–91

A rural valuer and farm adviser before and after the war, Noel ‘Wig’ Gardiner was commissioned into 27 (Machine Gun) Battalion. After arriving in Egypt he was appointed division sports officer, but later rejoined 27 Battalion and led a platoon at Alamein. For this action he won a DSO, which is rarely awarded to a junior officer. After the war he was heavily involved in RSA affairs and the funding and installation of the bronze Freyberg statue in central Auckland.

‘Curtain Raiser’, ‘Some Individual Kiwis’, Freyberg’s Circus: Reminiscences of a Kiwi Soldier in the North African Campaign of World War II, Ray Richards, William Collins, 1981.

Wira Gardiner 1945–

Sir Wira Gardiner was a professional soldier for 20 years, serving in Vietnam and retiring as a lieutenant-colonel. His roles in the public service include founding chief executive of Te Puni Kokiri and national director of Civil Defence. He has chaired several boards and trusts, including that of Te Papa.

‘Call to Arms’, Te Mura o te Ahi – The Story of the Maori Battalion, Reed, 1993.

Andrew Geer 1905-1957

Captain Geer was an original member of the American Volunteer Field Ambulance Service (AFS), a Quaker unit formed before the United States entered the war. The AFS served with the Division from Minqar Qaim to the end of the Italian campaign. Andrew Geer had previously spent several years as a medic and theatre assistant on American passenger liners. After the war he became a professional writer and wrote at least seven books.

‘Minqar Qaim’, Mercy in Hell – an American ambulance driver with the 8th Army, McGraw-Hill, 1943.

James Hargest 1891–1944

Brigadier Hargest was commissioned at the beginning of the First World War. Badly wounded at Gallipoli he returned to New Zealand, but on recovering he joined 1 NZEF in France and finished the war commanding a battalion. Back home, he bought a farm near Invercargill and continued his military involvement in the Territorials. He commanded 5th Brigade in Britain and North Africa until his capture at Sidi Aziz. His days in a POW camp near Florence ended when he successfully escaped, along with Brigadier Miles, into Switzerland, before returning to Britain via Spain and France. James Hargest’s honours included CBE, DSO and two bars, MC. He was a Member of Parliament from 1931 until his death in Normandy as a D-Day observer.

‘Crusader – Sidi Aziz’, Farewell Campo 12, Mermaid Books, 1954.

James Henare 1911–89

The last commander of 28 (Maori) Battalion, Sir James was awarded the DSO in 1946 for his leadership of the Ngapuhi Company, particularly at Cassino, and of the full battalion near the end of the Italian campaign. He returned to work the family farm at Motatau and became involved in, and led, a wide range of Maori and community organisations. He was knighted in 1978.

‘My Father’s Wish’, ‘The Holding Pen’, ‘The Smell of Cordite’, The Battalion Remembers, April 1984.

Jim Henderson 1918–2005

A writer and broadcaster, throughout his long career Jim Henderson celebrated New Zealanders who served both in war and on the land. His Gunner Inglorious is a war classic, and one of the 25 books that he wrote or edited. A lance bombardier in 29 Battery, he was badly wounded and taken prisoner at Sidi Rezegh. As an amputee he was repatriated in 1943. The book, Soldier Country, which he edited and part wrote, was an important source of anecdote and observation for this collection.

‘A White Fevver’, ‘Freyberg’, Soldier Country, Millwood Press, 1978. ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’, ‘Onward’, ‘Another Morning’, ‘Belhamid – Sidi Rezegh’, ‘Italy – We’ve had it!’ Gunner Inglorious, 1st published 1945, Whitcombe & Tombs, 1974.

Leslie Hobbs 1913–67

First a journalist with the NZEF Times, Hobbs became its editor during the Italian campaign. After the war he worked in the Parliamentary Press Gallery and wrote several works of non-fiction.

‘Democrats’, Kiwi down the Strada, illustrated by George F. Kaye and Neville Colvin, Whitcombe & Tombs, 1963.

Garfield (J.G.) Johnson 1919–1999

From Kaitaia, Garfield Johnson served in North Africa and Italy. After returning to New Zealand he became a schoolteacher and was the founding principal of Hillary College, Auckland. He also chaired the health and social education committee that produced the much discussed Johnson Report. The only copy of the poem ‘Minqar Qaim’ that survived the war was a carbon copy carried by his friend and fellow teacher, Johny Johnston, who often read it to his pupils at Anzac Services.

‘Minqar Qaim’, ‘Sangro Revisited – ’85’, Recollections and Reflections, J.G. Johnson, 1999.

John Johnston 1919–

Twenty-year-old John Johnston was working as a candid photographer in Whanganui and enlisted when war was declared. He made extensive use of his Leica while on active service, and after his discharge in 1946 established a photographic studio in Auckland’s Queen Street. He became a landscape artist in 1976 and returned to photography in the late 1990s.

‘Down to the Drill Hall’, ‘Quite a Different Morning’, We Didn’t Have a Choice, Reed, 2006.

Pat Kane 1913–97

A secondary schoolteacher before the war, Kane was an infantryman from January 1940 to December 1945, in the Middle East and Italy, where, as a sergeant platoon commander, he won the MM. He was then commissioned after attending OCTU at Sandhurst’s Infantry Wing. After 1945 Pat Kane returned to teaching, and was principal of Te Kuiti High School for 13 years.

‘Flies Sand and Boredom’, ‘Stand To’, ‘Early Days’, ‘Return to Battle’, ‘Castelfrentano’, ‘Living off the Land’, ‘VE Day’, A Soldier’s Story: A Mediterranean Odyssey, Quality Publications, 1995.

Bruce King (dates unknown)

‘The Burker’, I’m only an ordinary Kiwi: The life of Howard (Bob) Taylor, F.B. King, 1993.

Howard Kippenberger 1897–1957

Usually referred to as ‘Kip’, Howard Kippenberger raised his age in order to serve in the First World War and spent 23 days in the front line at the Third Battle of the Somme. After becoming a sniper he was seriously wounded in the arm and returned to New Zealand. Between the wars he studied law, established a legal practice in Rangiora, Canterbury and gained a Territorial commission. At the outbreak of war in 1939 Kippenberger immediately enlisted, was 20 Battalion’s first commander and went overseas with the First Echelon. On Crete he temporarily commanded 4th, then 10th (composite) Brigades. In North Africa he commanded 4th and 5th Brigades and as a major-general commanded the Division for a short time in Italy, until losing both feet after stepping on a mine near Cassino. After the war he became editor in chief of the New Zealand War History Branch. Awarded the DSO and Bar, CBE and CB, Sir Howard was knighted in 1948.

‘Taking Stock’, ‘Ten Brigade’, ‘Under fire’, ‘Stand...’, ‘Embarkation’, ‘The Build up’, ‘Alamein-The Battle’, ‘Mad Minute’, Infantry Brigadier, Oxford University Press, 1949. ‘Our Greatest Soldier’, in Jim Henderson (ed.), Soldier Country, Millwood Press, 1978.

Ted Lewis 1908–92

A graduate of the Royal College of Art, Ted Lewis was an art teacher before and after the war. His military service began as a medical orderly on the hospital ship Maunganui. He then served as a draughtsman with the Palestine Training Team, then at Div HQ, preparing battle maps and models for the desert and Italian campaigns. Ted Lewis contributed cartoons and sketches to the NZEF Times and many of his war paintings hang in Whanganui’s Sarjeant Gallery. He was awarded the British Empire Medal for his war service. After the war he taught at several secondary schools, and became an Anglican priest in 1963.

‘Grim Realities’, ‘The Scarf’, ‘Vino for All’, I Was No Soldier, Steele Roberts, 2001.

Donald McDonald 1911–42

Donald McDonald was wounded at Sidi Rezegh and wrote his poem of the same name while in hospital. Taken prisoner at Alamein, he died when the Italian ship he was being transported in was torpedoed in the Mediterranean. After his death his poetry, mainly written before the war, was published by his old school, Feilding Agricultural High. Donald McDonald lies in Southern Greece.

‘Sidi Reszegh’, in A.E. Woodhouse (ed.), New Zealand Farm & Station Verse 1850–1950, 1st published 1950, Whitcombe & Tombs, 1967.

Watty McEwan 1919–

McEwan was the wireless operator in Freyberg’s command tank for most of the North African campaign. He also served in Italy and was demobbed as a lance-sergeant in 1945. Six years later he joined the regular army as a private, and retired as a major 20 years later. Watty McEwan then became a manager in the electronics industry. ‘Freyberg’s Brood’, The Salamander’s Brood, Fraser Books, 2007.

Peter McIntyre 1910–95

After studying at London’s Slade School of Art in the 1930s, Peter McIntyre was a freelance commercial artist in London. At the outbreak of war he joined New Zealand’s 34th Anti-tank Battery in London. In early 1941 General Freyberg commissioned and appointed McIntyre official war artist. He is believed to be the only war artist to cover a single division throughout a conflict. After 1945 he returned to New Zealand, became a full-time artist, was made an OBE in 1970 and wrote and illustrated eight books.

‘War’, ‘A Soldier’s City’, ‘The Burker’, ‘Tunisia’, ‘The Wilburs’, ‘Cassino’, ‘...a foot in the door’, Peter McIntyre: War Artist, A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1981. ‘Freyberg’, NZEF Times, 1943.

Terry McLean 1913–2004

A journalist from the age of 16, ‘T.P.’ McLean resigned his commission in New Zealand to go overseas. He served with 22 Battalion in Italy for two years, ending the war as a captain and the battalion’s adjutant. McLean was sports editor of the Auckland Herald for 16 years, and then became the paper’s special sports writer. He was knighted in 1996 for services to sports journalism.

‘End of a Famous Division’, The Best of McLean, (1st published The Times, 1945), Hodder & Stoughton, 1984.

John Male 1913–2003

Sergeant John Male was first a gunner, and then served with the Field Security Section in Italy. A journalist before the war, after 1945 he worked for the Council of Organisations for Relief Service Overseas (CORSO) and then the United Nations Human Rights Secretariat, where his first role was as Eleanor Roosevelt’s private secretary. After a variety of UN roles, Male returned to New Zealand in 1964. He was co-founder and president of the New Zealand Foundation for Peace Studies, and was appointed MNZM for his 50-year involvement in the peace movement.

‘Troop Ship’, ‘Derna’, ‘Three Poems – Tunisia, April 1943’, ‘Takrouna’, ‘Not All of Us’, ‘Captain X’, ‘Portrait of a Young Man Grown Old’, ‘Returned Soldier’, Poems from a War, Black Light Press, 1989.

Furneaux Martyn 1918–?

A ‘39er’ and gunner with 4th Field Regiment, Furneaux Martyn sailed with the First Echelon. He served in Greece and, ‘a bit worse for wear’, was evacuated from Crete by hospital ship before ‘the Germans blitzed the Island’. He served almost to the end of the North African Campaign as an ‘OP Ack’ – artillery officer’s assistant.

‘Tripoli’, ‘War Wastage’, ‘The Mareth Line’, Tripoli and Beyond, Collins, 1944.

Cyril Maude 1914–87

Maude attended Waitaki Boys’ High then joined the ANZ Bank in his hometown of Oamaru. He went overseas with the Second Echelon and served with 5th Brigade Intelligence in Greece, Crete and North Africa, which included 35 days as a POW in Libya. He contributed sketches and cartoons of his experiences to the NZEF Times. Back home, Cyril Maude returned to banking and became manager of ANZ’s Oamaru branch in the mid-1960s. He applied his artistic skills to preserving and recording Maori rock art in North Otago’s limestone hills.

‘Shorty & Slim’, ‘The Typical’, ‘Rumour Monger’s Calendar’, NZEF Times.

Erik de Mauny 1920–97

‘E.de M.’ was a regular contributor to the NZEF Times while serving with the Division’s Medical Corps. After a severe bout of jaundice at Tobruk he transferred to GHQ in Cairo, and later interrogated German POWs in Italy. After the war, Erik de Mauny became a BBC foreign correspondent and editor, and wrote several novels.

‘This Man’s Journey’, NZEF Times, 1 March 1943. ‘Christmas in Italy, 1944’, in Guy Walters and James Owen (eds), The Voice of War: The Second World War Told by Those Who Fought It, Penguin, 2005.

William E. Morris (dates unknown)

An NCO in 12th Railway Survey Company, Morris served in the Western Desert on railway line construction and then in Italy.

‘The Captured’, in Guy Walters and James Owen (eds), The Voice of War: The Second World War Told by Those Who Fought It, Penguin, 2005.

John Mulgan 1911–45

Following graduation from Auckland University, Mulgan studied at Oxford, then joined the Clarendon Press. Commissioned in the British Territorial Army, he enlisted at the outbreak of war and spent two years in Northern Ireland. He then went with the West Kents to the Western Desert as a battalion 2IC. John Mulgan then parachuted into Greece and successfully operated behind the lines, harassing the occupying Germans, for which he was awarded the MC. Back in Egypt, he was in the process of transferring to the New Zealand Division when he took his own life.

‘Alamein – The Build Up’, Report on Experience, Blackwood & Paul, 1967.

Peter Newton 1906–84

A high country musterer before the war, Peter Newton served in the infantry and in Italy was in charge of a mule transport team. On his return he managed two high country stations, became a rural valuer, then a runholder and wrote 13 books about high country farming.

‘George’, ‘Mule Skinners’, Ten Thousand Dogs, A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1971.

NZEF Times 1941–45 (NZ correspondents)

This was 2 NZEF’s official newspaper, published weekly from 30 June 1941 to 24 December 1945 – a total of 235 issues. It contained news and sports coverage from home, world news, war correspondents’ reports and weekly casualty lists for the Middle East, Britain and the Pacific. The editors were experienced New Zealand journalists: E.G. Webber, H.L. Heatley, J.S. Hepburn and L.R. Hobbs. An important source for this collection was ‘OFF PARADE’, featuring poems, articles, sketches and cartoons by the soldiery.

E.B. Paterson 1911–2006

A Scot, ‘Scotch’ Paterson came to New Zealand aged 10. Before the war he was a home missionary and a refrigeration salesman. As a Territorial, he was commissioned and first trained as a commando. He resigned his commission to go overseas with the 10th Reinforcements, joining 22 Battalion as a corporal before Cassino and finishing in Trieste as a captain. He won the MC for his actions on the Lamone River. Back in New Zealand he became an expert in refrigeration, wrote two textbooks on pneumatics and graduated with a BA in philosophy at the age of 84.

‘Piat-packing Peko,’ ‘A Heroic Padre,’ ‘The Spring Offensive’, Cassino to Trieste – A Soldier’s Story, Steele Roberts, 2006.

John E. Reed (dates unknown)

A broadcaster when war was declared, Reed went to Egypt in the infantry, but several months later joined the entertainment unit that became the Kiwi Concert Party. It entertained troops in Greece, Crete, Syria, from Egypt to Tunisia and Malta, and made a New Zealand tour in 1943, after which John Reed wrote about its exploits.

‘The Kiwi Concert Party’, Sing as We Go: The Story of the Kiwi Concert Party in the Middle East from 1941 to 1943, Raupo Books, A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1944.

H. Murray Reid 1904–64

Before enlisting, Reid was a civil engineer with the Waitaki County Council. He won the MC at Ruweisat Ridge, and bar at El Alamein, while commanding the 8th Field Engineers, gapping the minefields to let the armour through. Lieutenant-Colonel Reid was badly wounded in the advance beyond El Alamein and captured while in an ambulance. He was repatriated by the Eighth Army at Tripoli and later went to Britain to command the New Zealand Forestry Group.

‘Minqar Qaim’, ‘Alamein – The Build Up’, ‘Alamein – The Battle’, The Turning Point: With the New Zealand Engineers at El Alamein, Collins, 1944.

Kenneth Sandford 1914–2005

Sandford served as an infantry captain in the Second World War. A lawyer, cricket administrator and two-time novelist, he chaired the Accident Compensation Commission until it became a corporation in 1981.

‘Minqar Qaim’, Mark of the Lion: The Story of Charles Upham V.C. and Bar, Hutchinson, 1962.

Arch Scott 1916–2006

Lance-Corporal Scott served with 24 Battalion until his capture at Ruweisat Ridge. He survived the attack on the Italian prison ship that took 434 Commonwealth lives, including that of his friend, farmer/poet, Donald McDonald, who was sitting beside him. After Italy capitulated, Scott escaped. Fluent in Italian, he lived behind the German lines for two years, helping 47 escapees over the Italian border. After the war he was awarded the MM for this work. A schoolteacher before enlisting, on his return Arch Scott studied further and for many years lectured at Ardmore Teachers’ College. He also coached the Counties rugby team.

‘Beginnings’, ‘Action!’, ‘Captured!’, Dark of the Moon, Cresset Books, 1985.

Gordon Slatter 1922–2012

Conscripted from university, Gordon Slatter went overseas with the 12th Reinforcements and was with 26 Battalion from October 1944 through to Trieste. He returned to Canterbury University after the war, gained an MA in history and taught for 25 years at Christchurch Boys’ High School. His first book, a novel, A Gun in my Hand, was followed by seven volumes of non-fiction, mainly about rugby.

‘28 Years on’, ‘The Spring Offensive’, One More River: The Final Campaign of the Second New Zealand Division in Italy, David Ling Publishing, 1995.

Roger Smith 1919–2005

After working on the family Waikato dairy farm until he enlisted, Private Smith arrived in Egypt in 1941 and first served with 24 Battalion’s signals platoon. Initially a despatch rider, he then came through the ranks as an infantryman, becoming a sergeant platoon commander and then gaining a commission. Back home, he farmed at Athenree and was chairman of the Katikati RSA for 24 years. In 1955 Roger Smith completed Up the Blue, written ‘to make sense of my own part in the Second World War’.

‘The ‘Left Hook’’, ‘War Wastage’, ‘A Set Piece’, ‘ Mr Bruce’, ‘Orsogna’, ‘Cassino’, ‘Cardito – Terelle’, ‘Living off the Land’, Up the Blue: A Kiwi Private’s View of the Second World War, Ngaio Press, 2000.

Giorgio Spini 1916–2006

Florence born and educated, anti-fascist Giorgio Spini was the Italian Resistance liaison officer with the Eighth Army in Tuscany. After the war he was Professor of Political Science at the University of Florence, and taught at several American universities, including Harvard.

‘San Casciano’, in Stefano Fusi (ed.), To the Gateways of Florence: New Zealand Forces in Tuscany 1944, Libro International, 2011.

C.K. Stead 1932–

A former Professor of English at the University of Auckland, Stead is one of New Zealand’s most distinguished and published poets and authors. He visited and walked the battlefields of Crete in 1998.

‘Crete’ – ‘7. He Learned...’, ‘8. In the Clearing’, ‘9. ‘Headstones, Suda Bay’, ‘10. Veterans, 1998’, ‘16. The Bayonet’, The Listener, 15 August 1998. ‘1941 The Soldier’, ‘1943 The Soldier’, Voices, GP Books, 1990.

W.G. Stevens 1893–1975

The last GOC of 2 NZEF, Major-General Stevens was a career soldier and for most of the war was the chief administrative officer for 2 NZEF and the Division.

‘Freyberg’, Freyberg, V.C.: The Man, A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1965.

Douglas Stewart 1913–85

Born in Taranaki, Douglas Stewart began to study law at Victoria University but majored in writing and journalism. He moved to Australia in 1938. Rejected by the AIF on medical grounds, he was an air raid warden during the war. He became one of Australia’s major twentieth-century poets, and a short story writer and essayist.

Opening quote, Sonnets to The Unknown Soldier, Angus & Robertson, 1941.

Bill Thompson 1903–?

Known to the troops as ‘Padre Bill’, he was an engineer before he became a Salvation Army pastor. Bill Thompson served as an army chaplain for over five years, first in the Pacific, then with 7th Anti-tank Regiment, the Division’s largest unit, in North Africa and Italy, where he was m.i.d.

‘A Letter’, ‘Padre Harper’, ‘Living off the Land’, The God Botherer, Pumpkin Press, 1976.

R.H. Thomson (dates unknown)

Richard Thomson was a schoolteacher who joined the ASC as a private and served in Greece and Crete as a warrant officer where he was awarded the DCM and m.i.d. A prisoner of war for four years, Thomson was badly injured in the second of two escape attempts from moving trains. After the war he worked as a journalist and broadcaster.

‘Taking Stock’, ‘Retreat’, Captive Kiwi, Whitcombe & Tombs, 1964.

Martyn Uren (dates unknown)

After a year in a territorial artillery unit, Bombadier Uren, an Auckland law clerk, enlisted in 4th Field Regiment. He served in Greece and North Africa and returned to New Zealand on furlough in mid 1943. Martyn Uren was one of the 600 of that draft who went back to the war with the 11th Reinforcements in early 1944. He served in Italy as a gun sergeant, quartermaster and sergeant major. Uren wrote two books while serving and a third immediately after the war.

‘Into Khaki’, ‘Final Leave’, ‘A Balkan Spring’, ‘Prelude to Battle’, ‘Evacuation’, ‘Belhamid – Sidi Rezegh’, ‘Alamein – The Battle’, ‘After the Breakthrough’, ‘War Wastage’, Kiwi Saga: Memoirs of a New Zealand Artilleryman, Collins, 1943. ‘Going Again’, ‘The Bit in their Teeth’, Diamond Trails of Italy: Sequel to Kiwi Saga, Collins, 1945.

Terry Vaughan 1915–96

A music graduate of Canterbury College, and the Royal Academy of Music, Terry Vaughan was a freelance musician in London when he joined the 34th Anti-Tank Battery in 1939. After a year in the Middle East he was transferred, as pianist, to what became the Kiwi Concert Party. From October 1941 he was its leader, entertaining troops throughout the Desert and Italian campaigns. He was demobbed as a captain, MBE (Military) and m.i.d. Post-war, Terry Vaughan worked in broadcasting, theatre and arts administration, much of this in Australia, where he was awarded an OBE.

‘The Entertainment Unit’, ‘Alamein – The Build Up’, Whistle As You Go: The Story of the Kiwi Concert Party and Terry Vaughan, Random House, 1995.

Tony Vercoe 1919–

Tony Vercoe arrived in the Middle East with the 5th Reinforcements and joined 22 Battalion. He was twice a POW. On the first occasion he was captured at Sidi Azeiz and imprisoned at Bardia for six weeks, but he returned to the Div after the South Africans relieved the camp. He was recaptured after being isolated in the wake of 5th Brigade’s breakout from Minqar Qaim. He was initially held in very difficult circumstances at Benghazi and then in a POW camp in Italy, from which he escaped. Betrayed by an informer, he was recaptured on the Swiss border. After the war Tony Vercoe won a singing scholarship to Britain and sang in opera for some years before returning to New Zealand to work in broadcasting, then Kiwi-Pacific Records, which he later owned and managed for 30 years.

‘Crusader – Sidi Aziz’, ‘Postscript’, Yesterday’s Drums: Echoes from the Wasteland of War, Steele Roberts, 2001.

Travers Watt 1912–

Born in England, Travers Watt came to New Zealand with his war-widowed mother shortly after the First World War. An unhappy home life led to his running away at the age of 11 to work on farms in Poverty Bay. He enlisted with the First Echelon and served as a driver-mechanic with the ASC. After the war Travers Watt became a farm manager, then ran a trucking business and, on retiring, wrote two books.

‘From Civilian to Soldier’, ‘Greece’, ‘A One-way Airway’, ‘I’m no Coward But...’, ‘Evacuation’, No Butter on My Crust, Travers Watt, 1993.

E.G. Webber 1910-83

A Rotorua newsman, Ted Webber first served with an infantry battalion and then became founding editor of the NZEF Times. He held that position for two years, then became a correspondent in the field with the Division. Later, as a captain, he became public relations officer for 2 NZEF. Throughout that time he maintained his regular satirical column, ‘Johny NZED Says’. Following the war, Webber returned to his role as editor of the Rotorua Morning Post. He also wrote several satirical books, some of them illustrated by former NZEF Times contributor and staffer, Neville Colvin.

‘Johny NZed Says’, NZEF Times, 9 August 1943.

C.M. (Chas) Wheeler (dates unknown)

Chas Wheeler’s overseas service as an officer with the Divisional Engineers began in 1940 and ended in 1946. His book about the Greek and Crete campaigns was written ‘while Sappers were still storming the Sangro’.

‘Clifton’, ‘Wire-whisker’, ‘Alarums’, ‘Evacuation’, Kalimera Kiwi: To Olympus with the Kiwi Engineers, A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1946.

Guthrie Wilson 1914–84

A teacher at Marlborough College, Wilson joined the Territorials in 1941 and subsequently became a second lieutenant in 25 Battalion in Italy. At the Senio, for his actions and leadership beyond battalion lines, he was awarded an MC. After the war he returned to teaching in New Zealand and later became headmaster of The Scots College, Sydney. Guthrie Wilson wrote several novels, of which the critically acclaimed Brave Company was his first.

‘Picket Duty’, ‘Our Corporal’, ‘The Climb’, ‘The Summit’, Brave Company, Paul’s Book Arcade, 1962.