The Life of Frank Harlow by Say Monkey Photography

The Life of Frank Harlow

This story covers 98 years and 355 days of Franks life.

5/157 Victoria Road,! 2011! West Pennant Hills,! NSW,! 2125! Australia.!

6 September

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Some time before her death, Ellie asked me to write something for the family history, to have as much detail as possible about me and my life. I never got around to it. Here it is. !

I was born in Woodside, Otago, New Zealand on 10th August 1913. Woodside is a farming district in West Taiere about 30 miles south of Dunedin, the third child and only son of William Bridgeman and Ada Sarah Ann Harlow and christened William Frank. My two sisters were Ellie Latimar, born 3 September 1910 – died 12 January 2000 and Ada Isabel/Isobel, born 12 May 1912 – died 13 May 1994. Dad owned the local store / post office and when I was about 6 months old we shifted to Owhanga, near Taumarunui in the North Island, then it was on to Waiuku on the Southern arm of the Manukau harbour for a short time and then Hamilton East. Dad was a commercial traveller. The first thing I can remember was being in the middle of the Hamilton Bridge over the Waikato River, bawling my eyes out because I was lost. A soldier who knew me gave me a penny to shut up, put me on his shoulder and took me home. Dad had a motor bike and if I went for a ride it was a case of hang on to Dad’s coat pockets or fall off, I never fell off. When we lived at Woodside I was s sickly kid and was in Karatane hospital for a while. Then someone started feeding me Glaxo baby food. Many years later I was to be assistant manager of Glaxo’s Bunnythorpe factory where we made the base for Glaxo baby food. !

Then it was to Taneatua, nine miles up the Whaketane river and 50 miles from Rotorua, a very tiring and dusty half days ride in a service car in those days. Taneatua is situated at the junction of the Waimana and Whakatane Rivers, and the Whakatane / Opouriou Vally roads. At that time the road to Opotiki was through the Waimana Gorge, a very winding narrow road with very little metal and for most of the year, axle deep mud. This posed a problem for the AARD drivers. They used big American Hudson cars which had large canvas bags along the side to carry luggage and freight. The road to Opotiki was the only road access to the eastern Bay of Plenty. !

As I remember Taneatua, there were two general stores Dad’s and Peebles. There was a butcher, baker, newsagent/bookshop, sweet and fruit shop, barber/tobacconist, chemist, saddler, blacksmith, tinman/ plumber, dentist, lawyer, hotel, boarding house, two banks (NZ & NSW). There were two churches, Presbyterian and Church of England (now Anglican). I remember the Presbyterian Church being on the Main road, the C of E around the corner. The Presbyterian Church (our church) had an empty section next door which was a park for gigs and other horse drawn vehicles. There were hitching rails for horses. The manse was on a back section. I do not remember the inside of the church, but do remember that church was at 11am and Sunday school at 2pm.!

The local hall was on Waimana Rd, next to the sale yards. On the other side was the Masonic Temple, then Sisam the general carrier, the bowling and croquet greens and tennis courts. Down below on the flat was the football field, all part of the domain. It also provided grazing for horses, including Dad’s two. The post office was next to us with living accommodation attached, as did most of the other businesses. The post office was on a big section and was also the linesmen’s depot. There were plenty of ladders and other gear to play with;. I remember playing with ladders one day with them flat on the ground. That was ok until Ellie slipped one day and cut her leg very badly and it had to be stitched up. !

Dad grazed his horses on the domain and it was my job before school to bring them home, stable then feed them. After school, if Dad had finished with them I took them back. The general carrier had the only commercial motor vehicle in the district; some of the more affluent farmers had cars. Sisam’s truck was a falt-top, a four wheeler mounted on solid rubber tyres and was very noisy. It caused many runaways. One afternoon I was taking the horses down to the domain, riding Rocket and leading Dolly, yes she was grey, when around the corner came this truck. The horses took off. They were a

well matched pair because when I managed to stop them I still held the reins in my left hand and Dolly’s lead rope in my right and I hadn’t been stretched. That was my introduction to runaway horses. I was to experience more in my late teens/early twenties. !

Aunt Lucy and her son Len came to stay one time. Mum had baked a cake on Saturday and iced it. Len and I woke up early on Sunday morning and were looking for something to eat before wandering off. Saw Mum’s cake and sampled it. We went about a mile down the Whaketane road, saw some men draughting cattle so sat on the rails and watched them. The result, we were late for breakfast and church plus the cake episode, we were in big trouble. It was while Len was there that I started smoking. Dad was a very heavy smoker, smoked Yellow Three Castles. Always had a tin of 50 in the bedroom, one on the mantelpiece in the kitchen and carried a silver case holding 20. I was only eight at the time and over the years smoked Dad’s cigarettes, dried dock leaves, pine needles, brown paper and also a pipe with dark Havelock tobacco. When I was 14 I gave it up overnight. Have had two part cigarettes since then and now can’t stand the smell. !

Our school was a one roomed two teacher school. When I was in standard three we got another teacher and used the library as a classroom. The total roll was 36 and included only four Maori kids. It wasn’t compulsory for Maori kids to attend school in those days. Like Rotorua, we had a very big Maori population. To give the kids some fresh air our teacher often took us out to the shelter shed. It was on one of those days that I got the stick for the first time. Our teacher probably had good reason to do it. She picked up a piece of dead pine and it broke first time. It was in that shelter shed that I kissed the prettiest girl in the school and she slapped my face. That was the only time that that ever happened, and I have kissed many girls since. Maybe I picked the good/bad girls. The headmaster while we were there was Con Rodgers who lived in the school-house next door. It was surrounded by a high hedge with only the roof visible. Behind the school and down on the flat was the horse paddock. We lived straight across the road from school so didn’t have far to walk. One family had nearly four miles each way to walk. Quite a few rode horses, sometimes three or four on the one horse. Two horsed families lived across the river so if there was a flood there was no school. One family, Lyons, lived across the Waimana and had the worst crossing in the district and always had to wait for the river to get back to normal before they were able to get to school. The other family, Skeltons, had the best crossing and if there was no more than two feet of flood water they would cross. Sometimes they would be swimming the horses across the deep parts. I had that experience once. I was riding double backed with my classmate Bill Skelton. I could feel the water creeping up my legs but when I was sitting in it I realised that the horse was swimming. Bill and I used to swap homes sometimes. Bill was the youngest boy in a family of seven, they had a sister Teen, the youngest. Mrs Skelton was a full blooded Maori and the father was white. She was a very good cook and kept the house and her family spotless. !

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There were no bicycles, motor bikes, school busses or mum’s cars. With better roads and more bridges conditions were better. We used slates and slate pencils. I never used a pen until I was in standard 4.! The school horse paddock went right to the river. There was quite a good pool which the locals used as a swimming pool. I was down there one day and all the other kids had swum across I couldn’t swim so tip-toed my way across with the water up to my chin. !

Imagine you can see three eight year olds, boys of course, in shorts and shirts and barefooted and a truss bridge. The main timbers were baulks of timber rough sawn 12 inches by 12 inches. The first rose from the first foundation at an angle of 45 degrees, the second rose from the second foundation back towards the first. They never met but were capped by another 12 x 12. Like this:!

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We climbed up the first, walked, yes walked along the top, scrambled down to road level then climbed up the second and so across the bridge. There were seven spans to that bridge.! Three years later we were living in Fitzroy, New Plymouth. We had a similar bridge, but this time it was a railway bridge. A friend and I decided to walk across stepping from one sleeper to the next when a train came around the bend. The only safe place was out to the side so we scrambled out there and wrapped our arms around the stay and hung on tight. The bridge shook and swayed as the train

rumbled across, we thought it was going to collapse or that we would be thrown into the water. That cured me of messing with bridges. The road bridge was only 50 yards downstream. !

For lighting the house and shop at Taneatua we had an acetylene (carbide and water) plant set up in a shed out in the garden. One day someone was working on the generator and I was supposed to be digging potatoes but was paying more attention to this man and poked a prong of the fork into my foot. Another lesson learned the hard way. !

Dad’s store was a general store. It stocked groceries, footwear, clothing, hardware, produce, anything and everything even mutton birds. They must have been pickled because I remember lifting the lid and tasted them. !

Every Monday Dad would go up the, Opouriao valley, calling on his customers for their orders to be delivered next day. Some days he rode up, others he used the gig. He had a spring cart for the delivery. !

Once a moth he would go up to McKenzies on Stanleys Track, an un-metalled road off the Gorge Rd. Mr McKenzie managed a sheep station, rolling country covered with burnt out logs and stumps. An ideal place for three small boys to play. Rod and Phil were about my age, their mother was their teacher. The last I heard of them one was a high ranking officer in the police force and the other managing a sheep station in the Opotiki area. I remember one trip I went up with Dad in the gig, there had been a big storm and the road was mud. We came to a small slip which partly covered the road and Dad told me to hang on tight but being me I didn’t, so, when we hit a hidden rock I shot past Dad and finished up face down in the mud. Mrs McKenzie cleaned me up and fitted me out from the boys wardrobe. Dad would take the order back the following week. The order was usually too big for one horse in a spring cart so Dad used to borrow Charley Old’s wagon and he took his milk to the factory in Dad’s spring cart. Mr Mc. always had a load of firewood ready for Dad to take back. !

Old’s farm was another good place to visit. Jack, Don and Dick and I were school-mates. They had a little sister Biddy, but she was too young and small to keep up with us. Half their farm was river flats so every time there was a flood they were under water. As the flood subsided fish were left in pools of water. The old kids used a shortcut to and from school through Moody’s farm, a good way to go when the fruit was ripe because the shortcut was through Old’s orchard. They seemed to have hundreds of chooks all breeds and colours. It was not unusual to find a nest with a dozen or more eggs in it. Miss Ethel Purdie was Mrs Old’s sister and worked for Dad. Later they were all living in Fitzroy within two hundred yards of another sister Mrs Boyle and a brother Alex Purdie, a nurseryman. I boarded with Miss Purdie for two years before the war. Mrs Old had a clothes line, a long length of no. 8 wire with manuka sticks for props, same as everybody else. One day we were playing around and someone accidentally hit one of the props and the line came down and yours truly caught it – under the chin. !

Along the Whakatane side boundry was a long building, the front part was the bakehouse and the back was a storeroom. I was in the bakehouse one day and saw the baker rolling a barrel half full of potatoes and water. In answer to my question he told me it was part of the process of making yeast for making bread. Mum was a good cook and she often put a cake in the baker’s oven to cook.!

Along the back boundary were some sheds: for the spring cart, the gig, two stables, the tack room (harness), and a two story part for storing straw on the ground part and chaff above. The sacks of chaff were hauled up with a rope running through a pulley. !

Dad wasn’t the only businessman to get out on the road, the butcher and baker also did. The butcher had his tailboard made of very thick timber so he could use the chopper. The bakers cart was louvered on the sides for ventilation as the bread was probably still warm. The shelves were only deep enough to take bread one high. To get the bread out of those narrow spaces he used a small version of a bakers peel. !

On the Waimana road was the Masonic Temple. Dad was a Freemason from his single days in Invercargill and in 1919 a move was made to form a lodge in Taneatua. I can remember the Temple being built. For a week before the opening night a goat was tethered outside. Some people referred to going to the lodge as going to ride the goat. Sometimes in the school holidays I would go with Dad on his trips up the valley on Mondays and Tuesdays. I would drive while Dad had his little Blue Book out leaning his ritual. !

Back to the hall and the pictures. There was a showing every Saturday afternoon and evening. There was always a good house on Saturday afternoons. Of course they were silent movies with someone playing the piano. The favourites of course were Tom Mix and Charley Chaplin. These were run as serials before the main picture. Of course they always cut off with the hero or heroin in a bit of trouble, see what happens next week?!

Near the Taneatua end of the Gorge McCready’s had a farm and one time when I was there some young steers got out of their paddock and of course I had to help get them back into their paddock. Yes I got in the way and got bowled. The ones I remember most were Nita who worked for Dad and Locka (Havelock Victor) who later came to New Plymouth while we were living there. He was mad crazy about motorbikes, especially Harley Davidson’s and made quite a name for himself racing on grass. Horse racecourses were used. !

The last school holidays we had before we left Taneatua were spent at Ohope Beach. There was another family but I don’t remember the name. It was an all day trip. Dad had borrowed Charlie Old’s wagon and we piled up on top of everything else. A few miles out of Whakatane we turned right on a road leading to Ohiwa Harbour and then along the beach to where the pohutukawas are, now a reserve for day use only. We had one very wild night, a real Bay of Plenty storm. Thunder, lightning and buckets of rain. !

There was only one building, probably a hunters or fisherman’s hut. There was a track over the hills to Whakatane and we walked it one day. The present road is practically on the same line. Behind our house was a hill – seemed like a mountain to us kids. It was an ideal place to play get dirty and wear out the seat of your pants. There was a fair bit of scrubby manuka but there were also some clear spots. These were especially popular if wet. They were great slides and we were often in trouble after sliding down them. !

Around the corner on the Whakatane side were the Livery Stables where you could stable your horse and/or park your gig or whatever you were driving. It was also possible to hire a horse or gig. This business was run by people named Garlick. I can only remember Bessie who was in Ellie’s class and Joe who was in mine. !

We left Taneatua on my ninth birthday, 10 August 1922. A few days before we left we were given a District farewell. Our parents were strict Presbyterians and had been taught from an early age that there were many people out there in the world much less fortunate than they were and to give help whenever, wherever and however they could. That their efforts were appreciated was shown that evening when a lot of nice things were said by a lot of nice people. But for me the highlight of the evening was when Ben Biddle, New Zealand Cross,then in his eightiesthe senior elder in the district walked across the stage to Mum and placed a KORAWAI (Maori cloak) around her shoulders. Then a Kuia, an old Maori lady hung a KAPEU round her neck. This was Ponamu (greenstone), a pendant about six or seven inches long and shaped like a hockey stick. The polish on that stone had to be seen to be believed. Hundreds of children had cut their teeth on it. Other gifts were POI, the ball on a string which the Maori ladies used in their action songs. The Maori warriors used them to strengthen their wrists and increase their flexibility for fighting with hand held weapons. PIUPIU Maori skirt and two KETE, spelt the way the Maori pronounced it not Kit as the Europeans (pakeha) did. The Maori used the KETE for carrying anything and everything. Some were open weave, some very close, some plain & others decorated. Mum was given first a small one about twelve inches long made with a very pale coloured flax and with dark decoration. This size was used as a handbag for carrying treasured or sacred articles. The second KETE was covered with thousands of Brown Kiwi feathers. A kiwi feather is only about three quarters of an inch long and these were individually knotted on to the KETE. That was in 1922 and for many years before and after that time they were thought to be extinct. I have seen KETE four feet long and two feet deep. Some of these gifts were family heirlooms and over a hundred years old then. !

A presentation of this magnitude was rare among the Maori people but for it to be to a Pakeha, a white person, was almost unbelievable. It was a very high honour indeed and gave mum considerable MANA (prestige) among the Maori people. Such was the love and respect the Maori People of the Opouriau Valley and Taneatua had for our Mother.!

With the exception of the Pio which is made from Raupo, a swamp reed, the Greenstone and the kiwi feathers, everything came from New Zealand flax, Phorium Tenax. The only tools they had were broken shell to cut and scrape the flax and some small wooden pegs to help with the weaving. !

We were headed for Dunedin where dad was to manage his sister Bessie’s business while she took a world tour. “Miss Cloughs” was as. far from a country general store as you could get with a ladies underwear, beauty salon/hairdresser and haberdashery. Mum, dad and I stayed with Grandma Mills at 863 Cumberland St, not far from the botanical gardens. Ellie and Ada had stayed with another of dad’s sisters Mary Little in Taihape and went to school there for the rest of the year. Also staying with Grandma Mills were mums sister Lucy and Len, Uncle Bill who worked in the telegraph office in Dunedin and Uncle Arthur who seemed to be the housekeeper. Mum had two sisters and five brothers. Her sisters were Lucy and Tot (Anni) who died in 1921 and her brothers were Gus, James, Arthur, John and William (Bill). Dad had two brothers, George and John (killed in France 1918) and five sisters, Nellie, Willimena (Minny), Isobella (Bella) , Elizabeth (Bessie) and Mary. !

I went to Normal School, Dad’s old school (Union St. School when he went there. I only had two blocks to walk. In between was the museum where I saw my first live Turatara. Going to school one morning we had snow, the first I had seen. It melted when it hit the ground. Ellie and Ada arrived just before Christmas and we all moved into 56 Cargill St, and overlooked the city, as soon as Auntie Bessie, Uncle George and Auntie Nellie left. They only had two blocks to walk to Arthur St. school and I had nearly a mile. 56 Cargill St had been a mance at one time and the bedroom down the back passage is where the maid used to sleep – my room. It was next to the bathroom. I remember it had a gas califont for heating the bath water. We were only one and a half blocks from George St, the main street. The mail was usually sorted by about 7:30pm and I often went down for it. I knew the shortcuts – lanes and alleys. !

I missed my Taneatua mates but remember coming home from school with some new mates pulling door bells as we went. We went to Knox church and I remember pulling the bell rope. Len used to go to Sunday school at I think it was St Mathews and was part of a team of bellringers. They had about eight bells and I often went up with him. Knox Sunday school was about two blocks from the church. Across the road was a shop with one of the early coin in the slot vending machines. Drop a penny in the slot and get a small tablet of chocolate, one cent in decimal currency. A lot of our collection pennies went into that machine. I remember a bad storm, the Leith River was in high flood and among the damage it did was to wash away part of the foundations of one of the buildings at the University. The eighteen months soon came around and we moved into a furnished house in Caversham while dad went off looking for another business. Imagine our confusion when mum got a telegram saying dad had bought a business in Fitzroy New Plymouth, we were living in Fitzroy Street. !

While in Dunedin dad had bought a model T ford car from his nephew John Wright in Auckland. Dad got notice from the shipping agents when the car would be unloaded so that he would be there to drive it off the wharf. He had never driven a car before, neither had any of the wharfies. Eventually they got it started and after a lot of toing and froing he got it home. Two or three years later I was in a similar situation and it took a while to work out what the three pedals were for. !

We had a lot of trips in the old car to Woodside where I was born and to Milton where dad had cousins whose farm went down to the coast. I remember fishing for crayfish, a stick about four of five feet long and a piece of string with a piece of red rag tied on as bait. Dangle the line in the water until a crayfish took the lure, swing it over your head, catch it and put it into the bucket of boiling water. Years later I was to use this same setup to catch eels but you had to be very quick with them. They were very quick at getting free and wriggling off back to the river. !

And so we shifted. Most of our belongings had been shipped to New Plymouth, we still had plenty packed into the car and on the outside. We had to be alongside the ship at 3pm so there was no sightseeing on the way up to Lyttelton. I remember wandering around and seeing the old jail being knocked down and the broken glass embedded in the top of the wall. The ferries in those days ran between Lyttleton and Wellington at night. I don’t remember the crossing or the trip up through the Wairarapa. Somewhere in Taranaki we stopped for afternoon tea and I got a boxthorn in my knee. Remember that it was pretty painful. That was the first time we had seen boxthorn hedges. They are used a lot in Taranaki and stand up well to the salt winds. That night we stayed in the Grosvenor hotel overlooking the railway yards. There had been an accident and some wagons had been derailed and an elephant was helping put them back on the rails. The elephant was part of the circus which had arrived overnight. It wasn’t the first circus we had seen – we had them all at Taneatua. Their circuit was to perform at Whakatane, walk to Taneatua and after showing there went onto Waimana. The horses and elephants performed at night and pulled everything next day to their next stop. !

Fitzroy is about two miles east of New Plymouth so we didn’t take long to get there. It was an old store with an even older house next door. The business had been started in the front room of the house. We were on the corner of Devon Line & Clemor road. Across the road on the Sackville street corner was another store but their accommodation upstairs. Behind it in Sackville Street was the wood and coal yard. Next to us on Devon Line was a butcher and baker. The baker had living quarters and the bake-house behind. Along Devon street were the chemist, boot shop, butcher, draper, barber, fruit and vegetable shop and the billiard saloon. Opposite the baker on the Darnell street corner were the tramway sheds. The local hall was further along Darnell street. The Fitzroy primary school Ada and I went to was in the next street so no distance to walk. Ellie went to the New Plymouth Girls high school less than a mile away on Mangorei road. !

Fitzroy school had five rooms in the main building and a new three room infant block. We had two classes standards 5 & 6 with on teacher, Oscar Johnson the headmaster the first year. The second year we were in the gymnasium an unlined galvanised iron clad building. It was a freezing chamber in winter and an oven in summer. The two classes were still together but divided by a curtain, and with separate teachers. We never got the out of school trips kids get today but standard 5 & 6 got one that year. No bus, we walked down to Smart road for the official opening of the Fertiliser works – a big event for the district. The old freezing works had been closed and the buildings set up for the Fertiliser works. !

Recently I read an article in the New Zealand Geographic ‘TANIWHA’ about the New Zealand long fin eel, the Taniwha of maori myth and legend. I was reminded of a holiday in the late 1920s on Mackies farm at Tarata east of Inglewood, back in the sticks. Two boys from the neighbours and I found a deserted goose’s nest with two rotten eggs in it. One went home to get some hay forks, a handle about four or five feet long, three fine prongs curved and with sharp points. We cracked one egg and let it dribble into the creek. Immediately eels appeared mainly about 18 inches long, then bigger ones, and then some monsters as thick as a mans upper arm and five feet plus long. One boy speared one but just wriggled its way out. During that holiday I learned to turn hay after an overnight shower. Also had the experience of forking the hay into pools about five feet high, putting a rope around it and hooking it to a horse. Then standing on the rope and riding it down to where men pitched it on to a wagon and then to the stack maker using long handled hayforks. Those were the days before grab and boom stackers were used and they in turn were succeeded by pickup balers. !

Mum was one of the parents behind the formation of the Fitzroy scout troop. I can remember seeing her making scarves. When we wanted to go camping for a weekend or longer we loaded all our gear on to our bicycles, tent poles and all. Our favourite and closest spot was at the old waterworks reserve on Mangorei road. The first time we went up there the track down to the river had not been used for some time and so we had to force our way through blackberry and fern stuff higher than our heads. Once down we had a little clearing in a clump of trees. It was close to a good swimming pool in the river. We were also able to go fishing for eels. Te Waiakaiho river was all boulders so the eels didn’t have that muddy taste. Chopped straight across in pieces about one inch wide and fried in butter was the best way to cook them. !

One labour day holiday weekend nine of us scouts biked out to Onaero, about 20 miles east of New Plymouth. It was nearly dark but there was a light in the house opposite the site we had picked so sought permission. The famer told us it was not his property but offered the use of his shed. We jumped at the offer and were soon installed in a dry shed with a layer of hay to sleep on. Next morning the farmer came out to milk his 7 or 8 cows. When asked what we intended doing we said play down on the beach and wander through the bush. When he suggested white-baiting we said we had no nets. You can use mine he said pointing to the rafters where there were three of four big set nets. Some of our boys were early risers and had already seen them. So we went white-baiting. For those who don’t know about white-bait, they are small about three or four inches long colourless almost transparent which makes the eyes stick out and look at you. They are usually eaten made up into fritters or just fried in butter. Whitebait are a national delicacy. They also occur in South Eastern Australia and in South America. I have tried them here in Australia but they are nowhere near as good as the New Zealand variety. We practically lived on them that weekend. These nets we were using were about three feet long and eighteen inches high and shaped like the bow of a boat. Very fine mesh netting covered the bottom and sides. In the 1920s there were no restrictions and we were able to build races of stones out into the river at about 45 degrees angle. We made about seven races and were all set to go when the tide turned. As a wave came in we spread across the river and quietly walked up and closed the gap and drove the fish into the net. That net was then lifted, the catch tipped into a bucket and the net placed into the first empty spot. We continued walking up towards the next net then the same

procedure until we ran out of races and then it was a case of starting at the bottom again. The rivers on the west coast of both islands produce the best catches. !

When it came to the Stratford Jamboree we had no mums with cars and four wheel drives so we borrowed a hand cart from the local timber yard. We tied two ropes to the axle, tied loops for each boy and just put the loop over your shoulder and lean on it. Going down hill we just dropped the ropes on the ground, let the cart go on then pick the rope up and with the ropes over our shoulders just lean back. This was a good braking system. Stratford is about 30 miles south of New Plymouth and because of a late start only got as far as Inglewood the first day. We went to another Jamboree near Hawera about 46 miles south. We arrived early on the third day, had an enjoyable week and started for home. When we got out the gate we were ready to turn right and go back the way we had come. The old Scouter in charge took us left to go home via the Coastal road. Going down was on sealed road and only a few light hills. Our first day from camp was easy – sealed and no hills. The second day was no seal just metal and some of that was pretty rough. The last day was in parts metal, parts clay and the hills got longer and higher. We arrived home late on the third day having completed the circuit of Mt Egmont, a distance of 146 miles. To my knowledge it has never been done again nor is it likely to be too much of a hazard with today’s traffic.!

When I was twelve I was passing the local soap works one day. The office girl Toby Hicks the owner’s daughter was sitting out in the sun. When she knew I was going up to Boyles to get a basket of tomatoes she suggested I take her car. It was an almost brand new Model T Ford, a later model than dads. I said I couldn’t drive that thing. She said ‘yes you can, you make a pretty good job of driving your old mans truck and he doesn’t know yet does he’. Sounded a bit threatening to me so I took the car. It wasn’t until I got to the hill and decided I’d better get down into low gear that I met trouble. On a Model T there are three foot pedals, a hand brake and no accelerator only a hand throttle. I finally sorted it out, the pedal on the left put it in low gear and the one the right was a foot brake. It was the centre pedal that made it interesting, it could be used as an extra foot brake but as soon as the wheels stopped turning the car shot into reverse. I got the tomatoes and Toby got her car back without any scratches. I have never driven a Model T since. !

It was nearing my 15th birthday when dad decided I should learn to drive. Little did he know that I had been driving for three years. Working Saturday mornings and some of the holidays I helped Mick out with the deliveries. While he talked to the housewives I walked out to the truck and got into the drivers seat. I have driven a variety of motor vehicles from my own baby Austin, the Austin 7 to a Rolls Royce. That was in New Delhi. I had put my Hillman Huskey in for servicing and was talking to the service manager and knowing they were agents for Rolls Royce I mentioned that my desire as a boy was to drive a Rolls Royce. He immediately started to yell out instructions in Hindi and cars began moving around. There were six other Rolls in the workshop. A Rolls stopped near us and we got in. He drove out of that narrow alleyway and when we got out on to the main road we switched seats. What a pleasure to drive, and so quiet. !

From Scouts to Surf Life Saving. The only equipment we had was a heavy reel with a heavy line and a canvas belt packed with cork, a real drag through the surf. There were no lightweight floating lines, no floatation tubes, surf skis, rubber duckies, helicopters and utes. If there was an emergency 600/700 yards along the beach it was a case of pick up the reel and run. We pulled people out every summer but never lost one. We competed in all the surf and swimming carnivals. I was a poor swimmer and so made up the numbers. Had two goes at the Flannigan Cup and also swam. This was an open sea swim. We boarded the pilot launch at the wharf, were taken to a point off Kawaroa park and swam to a buoy at the end of the East End reef, turned right and swam in to East End beach. The last I heard was that it was not much more than a harbour swim. Start on the beach, swim out past the end of the breakwater and back to the beach for two laps. Old Paddy Flannigan must turn in his grave. This race was held on the last Saturday in January each year – wet or fine, rough or calm. The first time I swam there was a heavy swell. You were down in the trough and saw nothing but water then you would be on the crest and able to see people walking the streets. !

From Fitzroy school Ada and I went to New Plymouth Technical College to do a commercial course for one year and the Tech was amalgamated with the high schools. The high school kids had always considered themselves superior to the second rate kids at tech, amalgatmation didn’t help the situation. !

Mum died 9 February 1927. I was 14 and had lost my anchor and best friend. Dad got a housekeeper, Mrs Jessie Weston who had a 4 year old daughter. She was there two years and got my room. The veranda was enclosed and a bunk built for me. I spent the warmer months in my tent which was

pitched in the corner next to the butchers shop, the most sheltered spot from the prevailing westerly and cold southerly winds. !

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I used to like getting into the back of the butchers shop and learned how to make and tie sausages. Also how beef was corned and how the brine was pumped into it. ! Ada and I left school at the end of 1928. I was 15 and 3 months which was just clear of the legal age for leaving school at 15. I lived to regret leaving school when I did and that I had wasted so much time while at school. !

I asked dad to have me apprenticed to a cabinetmaker but dad said “no you are going into the shop. Then I asked about going the Massey Agriculture College – the same answer. Working in and around the shop after school, Saturday mornings and some holidays I was fed up with grocery. But I had no backup. Mum had died and so I was to spend four years as a grocer. !

I was going down Standish Hill on my way home at my usual speed flat out. At the bottom of the hill was a five street intersection. A man and a boy were walking across the road and I was heading to go behind them when the boy looked up ,saw me and started to push his bike back towards the footpath.! Too late, I hit his back wheel plumb centre and finished up in the gutter on the side of the intersection! with a broken collarbone and a night in hospital. When I wasn't attending out-patients I was travelling around with a friend who was a travelling salesman for one of the Grocery Wholesalers. I saw a lot of Taranaki with him. Including a trip to Tangarakau. The railway connecting Stratford and Taumaranui was being built and there was a big construction camp there.!

From Westown I escaped to the country to a small farm milking 29 cows and had 600 chooks to look after. The only good thing about chooks is that they lay eggs and are good in the pot. The pay was 5 shilling (50 cents in decimal currency) and board/lodging. A big new shed had been built and a room had been built on the end of it. A good bed, a cabinet with a few drawers, a curtained off wardrobe and a mirror – quite comfortable. Dave Peek used to supply Claud Sole with eggs. I never knew his name, just that he was the brother of one of our customers. I was told to contact a Dave Peek at Lepperton about a job so rode out, saw a group of men working on a new bowling green and asked where Peeks farm was. He said Dave was there and called him over - yes I got the job. They were very good – took me into town sometimes at night and occasionally on a Friday. The chooks were housed in large sheds, I helped build the second one. I got to know the locals at functions at the local hall and at the local swimming pool which was in our top paddock. Among them were the three Cloke boys from the farm next door. !

One Friday I met Gordon Bellringer in town and he asked me if I wanted another job on a bigger place. He was asking on behalf of his brother-in-law Charlie Honeyfield who had a farm at Onaero about two miles from where we scouts had spent our good weekend. I accepted the offer and gave notice that night. Chrissie, Charlies wife arrived the following Friday and picked me up. I was excepted sight unseen by Charlie, Chrissie and Charlie sister Berty and we all got along very well indeed. The farm was nearly 600 acres, part still in native bush. We milked 90 cows, had 2000 breeding ewes for the fat lamb export trade and about 200 dry cattle. The wages were seven shillings and six pence (750 decimal currency) which went up to twelve and six after two weeks and found. I shared a room with another boy, had a good bed and was treated as one of the family. If they had visitors I was included, if they went visiting so did I. I learned to fell trees and pull stumps with a monkey grubber which was an implement with a huge ratchet connected by a chain and wire rope to the base of the biggest stump in the area to be cleared and a similar setup to the top of the stump to be pulled out. Then it was to be ploughed and worked up for sowing. I remember one very steep and rough piece that Charlie wanted cleaned up. It was so steep and rough that at times the horse on the high side was standing higher than the lower horses back. It was a gwo man job one driving the other on the plough. When we disked it I drove and Charlie walked along the top holding a rope tied to the disks to stop them turning over. I could handle any implement, could shear, was midwife to cows as well as ewes and was the farm butcher. I liked working and riding horses. If I wanted one two or three horses I would catch what I needed in the house paddock but if I needed four I would catch the three first and hitch them to the shed and go and get Duke a lovely big black Clydsedale Stallion. As soon as he came around the shed he would get toey but as soon as he saw me get his collar he stood as quiet as a lamb. He was a lovely horse, a good worker and you could do anything with him. One of the others was not so good. He was well known in the district as a runaway. The year before I went there he had taken two other horses and a distributer over a fairly steep piece of the paddock and wrecked the distributer. The other horses were ok but Nugget finished up on his back in a deep V shaped creek bed. It took hours to get him out with the help of a length of No. 8 wire and a wirepuller. Next he took antoher horse with him and the

mower and finished up in a six wire fence. One new years eve I got home in time to start milking thinking that as it was a holiday I would be able to get a rest. At breakfast Charlie had other ideas and I was cutting hay. Having one eye on the horses and the other on the knife going backwards and forwards got too much and I went to sleep. The horses cut the next nine rounds and the corners were perfect. It must have been one of Nuggets good days because that was the paddock he had runaway in and finished up in the fence. !

When Charlie needed replacement stock he would go with a stock agent to lower Hawkes Bay or to the Wairarapa and stock would be railed overnight to Lepperton about 14 miles away and I would go and get them. If it was sheep it was easy, Charlie and I would take me and my dogs over in the truck and I would walk back. If it was cattle I would have to leave earlier and ride over. One day the trucks had been badly shunted and there was no way I was going to push three loaded trucks up hill six inches so started unloading. Then one stupid cow (there usually is on in a mob) decided to enlarge the gap and escaped out into the railway yards. She ignored the dogs so I let her go knowing she would stop at the cattle stop about a mile up the line. I finished unloading and then went after her. Sure enough she was there. She turned quietly and started trotting back so I kept up with her. By the time she got back with the others she was a very subdued cow and never gave any more trouble. I no sooner had her back than the express thundered through. We had a swing bridge to cross and the animals were reluctant to move onto it but then they bolted across the bridge like a lot of drunks. I bought my own horse so I could be an active member of the Taranaki Hunt Club and was a whip for two years. The whips were assistants to the huntsman by keeping the hounds in a pack. This also enabled me to join Queen Alexandra’s own mounted rifles as a volunteer territorial. I went to three camps, one on Waverley Racecourse and two at the Waiwakihio show grounds at Fitzroy. !

My first experience of Nuggets bad behaviour was the day Charlie and I were going to remove some old yards. Charlie was driving, I was standing leaning on a spade when Nugget just took off. We were both thrown back off the cart and when the dust settled Nugget was standing between the shafts held only by one breeching hook looking back over the cart which was upside down. It took about two hours to patch up the damage with No. 8 wire. My next experience was when I was opening up the first furrow alongside a creek when the bit broke in Nuggets mouth and they were off. When I got to the top of the hill it was to see one horse at each end of the paddock and our brand new hillside plough badly bent in between. Some month later I had Nugget in a distributer topdressing a 20 acre paddock with a lot of trees scattered about and only about three or four acres of clear ground. The distributer had an ugly shaped lid and you couldn’t stand on it so a step had been built at the back low enough to enable the driver to easily reach the controls and could also brace his legs making it a very secure spot. I had just topped the box up and was trotting down to our start point when Nugget took off. I managed to steer him on to the clear area and stay with him. We went around and around till he began to slow. Encouragement from the end of the reins across his rump kept him going until he stopped and stood there refusing to move. I rested him for a while, had lunch, topped up the box and started again. Nugget just trotted off and trotted all afternoon as though nothing had happened. !

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Some years later I was having lunch with Chrissie and Charlie. The conversation turned to horses. Nugget died at 16 and had never even tried to run away again. ! Charlie had an old hunter, a cob with the official name of Civiliy, he never had a civil bone in his body. He was a good safe jumper, jump anything. The grass was always greener over the fence. Charlie tried to stop him by strapping a logging chain to his fetlock. A logging chain is about six feet long and made with heavy links about three inches long. Paddy used to walk up to a fence, give his foot a flick and gather the chain up in a heap and just pop over the fence. One day Bill the boy we had at the time was trying to catch Paddy but he wouldn’t stay and let Bill catch him so I just caught my horse and followed Paddy over a few fences, enough to make him see he had to be caught. He was lovely to ride until you got about 500 yards from home and then he would take off, not stopping at the home gate he just kept on for another half mile. !

When we were nearly finished milking we often opened the road gate and allowed the cows to wander off up to their paddock with the gate already opened. We had a bit Ayrshire Bull called Oscar and he didn’t want the cows to go up the side road to No. 2 paddock but would hold them back at No. 1. Charlie told me to shift him so I grabbed the first bridle and caught the nearest horse which happened to be Paddy. I sorted Oscar out and was cantering down, got around the side road and was only 50 yards from the home gate when Paddy decided he should get some exercise. So away we went with me changing hands trying to keep my gumboots on and Paddy under control. I managed to pull him in to the back on the hill nearly a mile down the road. He wanted to go again as we got nearer home. !

At Soles Hunt bell block, manning King, a tall me riding a small horse a cob hit a fence and fell with one foot caught in the stiffup. Immediately everybody headed for the fences to try and stop the horse in case he wanted to jump out. It was a terrible sight seeing the horse trying to kick Manning free as he bumped along the ground. With everybody crowding him the horse finally stopped. I saw Manning a few days later and he was ok except for a few bruises. His long legs and long stirrup leathers saved him. At the QAMR camp later that year I saw what could have been a repeat. A trooper fell off his horse with his foot caught. Fortunately his foot cleared and he was ok. The last hunt of the season was at Lepperton and I was riding Paddy because my horse had had a bad fall and we had turned him out. We were heading down the homestead paddock when Paddy took off. Fortunately I was able to steer him to one side and clear a set of harrows. Had he run over them he would have been crippled for life. !

At the end of the season the club held a point to point meeting - races over special jumps including the double brush. Racehorses to be eligible to run at the end of year hunt club meeting had to be certified by the master and his deputy. They had to attend a certain number of hunts and satisfactorily jump a number of hurdles plus participation in the point to point. I had seen how he performed at the hunts and knew he was a bad horse. Not having a horse, the trainer asked me to ride for him. At the point to point riders had to be gentlemen riders not professional jockeys. The starter sent us off, he jumped the first hurdle then the first of the couble brush and ran off at the second. The double brush had to be jumped consecutively so I had to go around again. He attempted to run off the second again bujt I was ready for him. Of course we came last. The trainer wanted me to ride him at the hunt cup meeting in a race for gentlement riders only but I told him I wouldn’t ride for £1000.!

We had a terrific storm one New Year’s day. Fortunately the trees closest to the house got blown away from it. In the house paddock behind the shed several trees came down. In the race from the cowshed to Dukes paddock so many came down that we had to cut a track through before we could get stock in and out. We had no chainsaw, they hadn't been invented then. We used a six foot, double handed M tooth and cut a track just wide enough for three cows through at a time.!

During the winter Charlie, Gordon and I would go pig hunting at the end of Uriti road. into some of the roughest country in Taranaki. We would leave before daylight so we could be there early. The farmer would tell us where he had sent the latest signs of rooting and direct us to the right ridge to start on. The country stood on end and was reverting to second growth with fern more than head high and the easiest way through was on hands and knees following the tracks made by the pigs. We usually took home at least on pig but this day had been one of the worst we encountered, the dogs had been quiet all day. It was getting near time to head for home when the dogs started barking. They chased it for a while and then everything went quiet for a few minutes. Then the barking and squeeling started again. I had followed the sound and came to a cliff, the pig had apparently gone straight over. The dogs had taken a safer way down and so did I. The dogs had him cornered. He was a half grown pig and there was no way I was going to put my knife hand anywhere near his head so waited for my chance to shoot him without endangering the dogs. Cut off his snout and tail to prove that I got him. For one man to carry that amount of pork out was impossible, I had a big enough job lifting the dogs up waterfalls. !

Charlie wanted some timber to build a small woolshed so we cut some good gum trees and Charlie Henwood the local carrier came to take them to the mill. We manhandled two smaller logs as a ramp to the side of the truck, ran a rope from the other truck around the linage to the side of the first truck and just rolled it up. I used some of the timber to make 12 gates then hang them replacing Taranaki gates made from battens and barb wire. Charlie got an old builder who was retired and didn’t sleep well but was a great reader. He would read half the night while we slept. We did up an old shed out in the orchard, gave him a good bed, a good lamp and a table and chair. Besides the woolshed he was able to get a lot of delayed maintenance done. !

Charlie bought an old dodge car intending to cut the back off and build a light truck body on it. That was in the summer so there was no time to do it. We used it as it was an often had as many as five sheep in it. Then one day we went over to a neighbours to see how they had done theirs. Charlie turned to me and said ‘your next job’. I eventually got it finished and we used it for everything even fitted sweep teeth to it for haymaking. !

After four years at Onaero being treated as one of the family I got itchy feet and took a job in the Waikato on a sheep farm. I liked the manager and we got along well but I couldn’t hit it off with the wife and three small kids under five. So I packed up and went back to Taranaki to a sheep farm near Eltham. Here again I got along with the boss but his wife wore the trousers. There was another chap there same age. We lived in a shack 50 yards from the house and didn’t go near it until someone beat the gong for meals. It was just wide enough for two beds and had some boxes stacked up as cupboard

and a few pegs as wardrobe. There was a leant to with an open fireplace and for a bath we heated water on the fire and put what we needed into a cut down 4 gallon tin barely big enough to stand in. Our toilet was over the fence and down the hill. If they were having visitors we had a very early tea so we were well out of the way before visitors arrived. That night we didn’t have to help do the dishes. I got sick and needed to go to the doctor and wanted a bath before I went so went over to the house and asked – you would think I had the plague. There was so much fuss about it I do not remember who won. She thought she was ‘lady muck’ and was a pillar of high society. I wonder what her friends would have thought if they had known how she treated their staff, perhaps they were the same. !

The doctor said ‘hospital’ and gave me the choice of Hawera, Stratford of New Plymouth. I chose New Plymouth so went home and told the boss, picked up what I needed and was away. I was lying in bed one day when Woof (Woofendin), manager of the stock and station department of farmer’s co-op in New Plymouth came in to visit one of his clients. As he turned to go he spotted me and asked if Charlie knew I was there. I told him I didn’t know. Next day Chrissie came in and asked “where do you think you are going when you get out of here”? Then in the same breath “you are coming home to Onaero”. What a difference. !

I worked there for another year when Jean told me it was either her or the farm. She had two sisters married to farmers and she wasn’t going to join them. So it was back to town to a job Woof got me in the produce and machinery department in farmer’s co-op New Plymouth branch. !

I needed somewhere to live so went up Queen’s road and saw Alex Purdie an old friend and Nursery man. He sent me down to Alberta road where his sister Miss. Ethel Purdie from Taneatua had just moved into a new house. I was to board with her for two years. Later the Olds retired from Taneatua and built opposite Miss Ethel. They had another sister Mrs Boyle who lived next door to Alex all within 200 yards.!

With an eye to the future I bought a section on Lismore Street Fitzroy on the highest residential area in New Plymouth. We had a 270 degree view from the sugar loaves as far as you could see up the west coast and out over the Waiwhakaiho River then to the south we had a perfect view of Mt. Egmont. We never built there until years after the war. The day they called for enlistments I was one of the first there. That was in September 1939. I was in Hopu Hopu camp at Ngaruawhia on 4 October 1939 as a trooper in Divisional Cavalry and not a horse in sight. We were to get horsepower in Bren Carriers and Light Tanks. I was one of the first to drive a Bren Carrier when it arrived. After training at Hopu Hopu we went to Waiouru for a short time and then back to Hopu Hopu and then final leave. Jean and I were married on final leave on 18 December 1939. !

Back to Dad. He started to fall to pieces after mum died and he began going to the Spiritualist church. He never found mum but a little pommie widow found him. Julie McCreath and her mother though they had found a gold mine. That was in the depression and Dad was carrying too many of its customers on his books and had to sell. But not before he had built a new home for Julie and her mother. The house mum had been promised. They married and moved in. A friend heard her say that she would soon get rid of the Harlow kids and she did. Ellie was the first to go, she went boarding and the Ada went to Dr. Blackleys as the first step to a very successful career in nursing in NZ and later in Australia. I stuck it out for a while and then packed up and took my tent down to the Fitzroy beach camping area. Arthur Alsop, always a loyal friend went with me. His father soon had an addition, a wooden frame with sacking tacked on and a corrugated iron roof. I had been given a small Dover stove, cooktop only and so were able to heat water and cook on it. We knocked up a table and used a couple of boxes as seats. No palace, but it was to be my home for three years. Dad did not get much out of the business only enough to be able to shift to Wanganui and go into partnership with an old friend who proved to be not very honest. So the gold mine Julie and her mother though they had was barren. Dad got a phone call from a neighbour to say that a truck was in the driveway being loaded with furniture. Dad arrived with a policeman, the truck was unloaded and dad supervised what she took. That marriage ended in divorce. Soon after, dad took a job as relieving manager for a firm which had branches in the Bay of Plenty and Northland. He retired to a small place in Hamilton East. Next thing I knew he was getting married again. He sold the batch and bought a place in Cambridge. He married Helen Morgan whom he knew from Taneatua days, her brother-in-law had been the manager of NSW bank. She was a spinster looking for security in her old ate. We were living in Manurewa and dad invited us down for a weekend. When we arrived Helen had gone to her nephews in Wellington, she wasn’t going to play nursemaid to dads grandkids. Another time I had been to Tauranga for the firm and coming back decided to call on dad. Helen answered the door and said dad was at a meeting at the church so went to meet him. I wasn’t invited in to have a cup of tea while I waited. We arrived home to find that the only light on was in Helen’s bedroom. She had gone to bed and closed the door.

A few weeks later she tried to do a Julie trick but dad was alerted and arrived home to loosely supervise what she took. She had already made a few trips to Wellington and there were a lot of things missing, things that had belonged to mum. She was a Roman Catholic and dad had never like pommies nor Roman Catholics. He married both and they were both duds. That was the beginning of their separation. !

Shortly after that dad called me down to Cambridge and to the solicitor’s office. He gave me power of attorney and instructed the solicitor to transfer the house to his children (Ellie, Ada and myself). He wanted to go into a home for the elderly. So while we looked around he stayed with us. We found one in Mt. Albert. The day before Jean was to take him over there dad had a bad turn so Jean called our doctor in to see him. He said he wanted dad to call into Green Lane hospital on the way and have an xray. They put him into bed. He had lunch cancer and the doctor gave his six months but he lasted six weeks. During all that time the solicitors had been sitting on dads instructions. I used to call in and see dad every day on my way home and a few days before he died he told me time was nearly up and that he was worried the Helen would get his body and have him buried as a Catholic. The day he died I got a call from the hospital at 5:30am so told the nurse his body was not to be moved without my authority. Then she told me that Helen and her nephew had visited Dad soon after I had left the precious day. He was cremated and I took his ashes to New Plymouth and with the help of the Sexton, whom I knew, they were planted in mums plot. !

Helen as the wife claimed the house and contents. Her nephew was a lawyer and took it to court. The day the case was to be heard the lawyers got together and decided an out-of-court settlement. I forget the figure but I got it down to £600 but Helen wanted more including bedding – I said no. The lawyers went into conference again with no change so I said put her into court. That settled it. We eventually sold the house for £1200 so Helen didn’t do so badly. Dad told me the marriage had never been consummated. !

After final leave we sailed out of Wellington harbour 6 January 1940, destination unknown. Out in the Tasman we could see Mt Egmont peeking up over the horizon. The last bit of New Zealand some would ever see. The lucky ones would have to wait a few years. As we neared the South East of Australia we were joined by four ships carrying Australian troops then in Bass straight we were joined by a ship from Melbourne. The trip across the Great Australia Bight was a bit rough and I was like most of the rest hit by a reaction to the vaccination. I managed to get ashore at Freemantle for four hours, liked what I saw and hoped I would some day be back to see more of it. It took 36 years. !

Then it was to Colombo where we were introduced to all the smells, sounds, dirt and beggars of the East. What impressed me most was the harbour. There seemed to be hundreds of ships moored in long rows nose to stern either loading or unloading into lights going backwards and forwards 24 hours of the day. !

We had part of the day ashore but not long enough to see much. Then it was on to grubby little Aden with its backdrop of barren hills. As in Colombo we were paid only seven shillings and six pence which was nothing for a hot steamy day in Aden. And so it was on the Port Tewfik at the southern end of Suez Canal, and a train trip to Maadi about ten miles south of Cairo. The camp had been named after a pretty little affluent village, Maadi. The camp was still being built so things were pretty rudimentary; the buildings completed were some mess rooms and cookhouses. Water had been laid on for ablution benches. !

I remember one day watching a gang of Gyppos mixing concrete. Along came Jonno he pulled a snake out of his pocket and wriggled it in front of the gang. They took off and stayed off the job for three days. The snake was one of Egypt's venomous snakes , but it was dead.!

I took every opportunity to go sightseeing. During my time in Egypt I was to see a lot of Cairo, Alexandria, The Canal area, the Delta and Palestine. I have stood on the top of Cheops pyramid, the biggest one 460 feet high and have swum in the Dead Sea 2000 odd feet below sea level. That was a great experience just to lie there and read a newspaper. I started going to St Andrews Church of Scotland in Cairo and it was there that I met Fred and Louie Purslow. He ran a men’s outfitters, Louie spent most of her time working for the welfare of servicemen and women. After the war she was given the MBE for her services. Their home in Cairo was open house on Saturday nights to all service men and women and I spent many happy nights there with people from the army and air force from U.K, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. People who had been posted to some odd places. !

We did do some work. I remember our first route march out in the desert. We had stopped for a break and immediately about a dozen Gyppos (Egyptians) appeared with oranges – they soon sold out. We trained on Light Tanks Mark 3 which according to their log books had been used by the British army in Egypt, sent to India, then back to Egypt and then to the Gyppos. We got them off the scrap heap; only parts not worn out were the engines, Rolls Royce. They were about five feet long and sitting in the driver’s seat alongside all you could hear if they were just idling was a soft purr. They had no armaments, just a hole in the turret and they couldn’t be turned until we cleaned them up. !

The Regiment had a couple of stints up in the western desert. The first was to Garawla, to dog our share of an anti-tank ditch the kiwi canal 20 feet wide and 6 feet deep. It ran from the coast to a point 15 miles into the desert. Italy had come into the war and the powers that be had decided to get us out of Maadi and away from trouble spots in Cairo or to toughen us up, perhaps both. It was never used because two sandstorms and it was full of sand. It was a Garawla that we were to experience our first air raid. An Italian plane came over to bomb the railway station. He was greeted by a hail of small arms fire from our Bren guns which may have caused him to veer off because all his bombs dropped into unoccupied areas. !

After Italy came into the war we shifted all the tents. They were scattered all over the place and were all dug in the depth of the walls. Before we went to Gerawla we were busy making dummy tanks, carriers and trucks – flimsey wooden frames with hessian stretched over them. They were all collapsible and from bombing height looked quite real.!

Our next stint was as line of communication troops at Daba, a rail centre with big marshalling yards. We did everything including digging graves. We had to keep at least six graves ready as there was a casualty clearing centre nearby. We manned a check point and escorted important cargo up the line. I was in charge of one trip. There were three of us to escort three trucks of ammunition. We put our gear onto the middle wagon and settled in. Next thing at 3pm an engine hooked on and proceeded to shunt us all around the yards until about 5am. We got an hours rest and were hooked up again, this time on to a train going west and so began our journey – 50 miles in seven hours. We handed over our three wagons and joined the western desert express. Our train was on the loop waiting for a train coming from Alexandria and there was another train just out of the station to the west. The train from Alexandria came down the incline with the brakes on the engine and the brake van at the back locked on and spitting sparks. This train was mainly water wagons but also had some flat-tops carrying tanks. It went straight through and head on into the train to the west, the flat tops buckled and the tanks came adrift. There were two Royal tank escorts killed. !

Our main job was to provide a standing patrol around the VIP place not people. This was on the highest point in the area, not much more than a bump on the horizon. About two acres were enclosed in a very stout security fence, inside that was another fence enclosing about a quarter of an acre, this was guarded by air force guards. There were a few large mobile vans sprouting some odd antenna and in the centre was a tall slender mast. We were to find out later that it was a radar station, the first outside Britain. !

It was from Daba that 12 of us were taken to Nabewa, 30 miles south of Sidi Barini (into the desert). It was the time of Wavell’s push. A British armoured unit had surrounded an Italian armoured unit and shot up the tanks and trucks. Those Italians not killed were taken prisoner. Our task was to retrieve as many Italian tanks as possible. We robbed Peter to pay Paul and at the end of the week had 47 tanks on the road ready to be driven away. All were probably repainted and used against the Italians. They all had full ammunition racks, water and fuel cans. !

Back to Helwan, a few miles south of Maadi. We began to get some new equipment, trucks, carriers and armoured cars. The cars were South African Marmonherrington Fords, weighed 13 tonnes, ugly high profile vehicles mounted on sand tyres which proved next to useless in some of the off road conditions we were to encounter in Greece. The armament was a Bren light machine gun and a point 5 Boyes anti-tank rifle which proved useless against tanks as the bullets just splashed off tanks. These were mounted in the turret and a Vickers heavy machine gun was mounted on the outside of the turret. The crew: a Sergeant Crew Commander, Wireless Operator, Co-driver Troop Mechanic and Driver. I was the driver, our co-driver didn’t like driving so he took my turn at cooking and I did maintenance. The cars were right hand drive, in Egypt left hand drive as was the same in Greece and they were also four wheel drive. !

I had to take an officer down to Divisional Head Quarters one day and while waiting for him was doing a little tidying up. I had my back to the door and heard a voice ask “how do you like your new

armoured car corporal”. As I turned I replied “ok, but I would sooner it was a light tank”. The voice answered “so would I”. I looked up to see I was talking to our Divisional Commander General “Tiny” Freeberg. He was easy to talk to. We discussed the car and then he told me that a shipment of light tanks had been sunk and that a replacement shipment had also been sunk and that "! you and I will have to do the best we can with what we have been given."We did some training with our new vehicles and were ready to go. We had not been given information about our destination but every kid on the streets of Cairo told us that the New Zealanders were going to Greece. !

We took our usual quick way to Alexandria up the desert road. A sand storm held us up for two hours. It was a typical storm where we couldn’t see more than a cars length ahead. When we drove off our vehicles had desert camouflage on one side and practically nothing on the other. !

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GREECE: We should never have been there.! Early in February 1940 a group of politicians in London including Churchill decided that they should have an alliance with the countries in the Balkans, Turkey, Yugoslavia and Greece. Turkey wouldn’t have a bar of it. Yugoslavia was luke warm. Greece wanted and needed aid, heaps of it. They were currently engaged in giving Mussolini a thrashing in Albania after he had invaded Greece through Albania. A modern David and Goliath show. Greece with outdated weaponry against Mussolini’s modern army. They may have been short on weaponry but courage, they had mountains of it. !

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Meeting were held in London, Cairo and Athens. ! Eventually Eden offered 2 Australian divisions, the New Zealand division, a Polish Brigade and a British Armoured Brigade. The whole force to be equipped with:! ! 240 Field Guns! ! 32 Medium Guns! ! 202 Anti-Tank Guns! ! 192 Anti-Aircraft Guns! ! 142 Tanks!

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The British Armoured Brigade was at that time in two sections, one in the desert the other in for a rest and refit. ! The only military personnel at any of these meetings were Generals Wavell and Wilson – and they were against it. When he knew of it Admiral Cunningham commander of the Mediterranean fleet was also against it. !

Churchill was eager to impress the Americans and made the decision to go to Greece after he had somehow worn Wavell down. Admiral Cunningham recorded how the decision was uneasily confirmed: At the final meeting in Cairo with Wavell I had grave uncertainty of its military expedience. Dill himself had doubts and said to me after the meeting “well we’ve taken the decision, Im not at all sure it’s the right one”.!

Among Hitler’s dreams was to take Gibralta, Malta, Crete and Cyprus to break to royal navy’s hold on the Mediterranean and protect Romania and its oil fields. Neither Blamey GOC Australian Forces nor Freyberg GOC New Zealand Division was at any of these meetings. They were ordered to go. !

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The Australians were in the desert and due for rest and re-equipment. ! The New Zealand Division was not yet fully trained nor equipped. ! My own regiment divisional cavalry was doing the best we could with a few Bren Carriers and some old Mark 3 Light Tanks as described earlier?! The best we were to get to go to Greece were a few new carriers to bring up the strength to three per troop. Two troops in each Squadron got South African Marmonherring – Ford Armoured cars, three per troop. They were ugly, high profile 13 tonne vehicles. The armament: a Bren Light Machine and a Boys point 5 Anti-Tank rifle which proved useless against the tanks as the bullets just splashed off. These were mounted in the turret and a Vickers machine gun was mounted on the outside. To make matters worse they were fitted with sand tyres which were practically useless in some of the off-road conditions we were to get into in Greece. They were even painted in desert camouflage. We received them in February and still had to fit the guns and wireless sets and ammunition. Because each vehicle had to be self-supporting we had to stow rations and cooking utensils and also bedding and other personal gear. !

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Halfway across the desert road to Alexandria we were stopped by a sandstorm, you couldn’t see a cars length ahead. Two hours later we had vehicles with desert camouflage on one side and practically nothing on the other .!

At Alexandria we were loaded on to the Anglo Canadian, a bulk carrier. Her last cargo was coal so she was a bit grubby. The armoured cars and some trucks were loaded on the bottom, the carriers on a sort of half deck and three trucks of ammunition as deck cargo. Only the drivers went with the vehicles and the rest of the regiment went on a larger and faster ship. !

We had the experience in the desert of air raids by Italians but they were like kids with toys compared with the Luftwafer who paid us a visit one day out from Piraeus the port for Athens. We were the biggest ship and the flagship of the convoy of mainly small ships of only 4 knots top speed. The planes came in one behind the other and flew into a wall of small arms fire. Every Bren we had was either mounted on its tripod or just rested on rails or anything useful. The pilots must have thought discretion was the better part of valour and left us alone and concentrated on the little ones. They only scored one direct hit and set fire to the tanker. The crew got the fire out and was only half and hour behind schedule getting to Pireas. The Luftwafer lost one plane; the navy gave us the credit for that. !

Our A Squadron’s sector was from the mouth up to and including the road and rail bridges. B Squadron was on our left then the Greeks extended into Yugoslavia. We were supported by a troop of 25 pounders and a troop of 2 pounder anti-tank guns. !

We reconnoitred the area across the river first then our side, the southern side looking for escape routes. We did some work on roads or rather tracks. Our troop also did patrols at least one sometimes two or three along the road back towards Athens. There were some high points which gave us a good view across the marshy country between the bridge and the mouth of the river. We called into farms and villages. We had our lighter moments though. We pulled into a deserted farm one day and someone saw a suckling pig run into a shed. Div Cav. Was 90% farmers or men with farming experience and we made a mistake when we gave a townie the honour of holding the sack tight on to the ground. He held it tight alright but about two inches high. What does a little pig do? Put his nose down on the ground and off into the scrub. !

Another day we drove in to a bigger place, a large barn and store on the ground floor and living quarters above. There was no glass on the windows just heavy steel bars. Inside standing about six feet away on what appeared to be sacks of grain was a lovely big turkey gobbler. I would have given a kings ransom for a length of NO. 8 wire. A hook bent on the end to hook his leg would be enough. !

Late in the afternoon and our last patrol for the day we took up a position on the riverbank on a bend so that we had a good view of the river between the two bridges. This was a dusk to dawn position. One day it had been pouring rain and the whole countryside was saturated. I was unable to see much because of the heavy rain and was being directed by our troop commander Pete Cullen who was standing in the turret directing me. We were moving very slowly when the weight of the car proved too much for the bank which gave way and the car settled then rolled over - it did a ¾ turn. As we went over the Bren and Boyes Anti-Tank riffle broke their mountings and smashed into Pete who had not managed to drop far enough from the turret. We took him out to the road where an ambulance picked him up. He got back to a hospital in Egypt and recovered but was later to be killed in action in the Western Desert. !

Holidays end. There was a British Tank Unit and some Greeks out on the plains towards Salonika, and when they were safely back the bridges were blown. The road bridge was light construction and flew to bits. The rail bridge was of heavy steel. Some of the spans cut at both ends and dropped straight into the river. The rest were cut at one end only; no great obstacle for engineers and infantry. !

A note from Freyberg’s diary: ! ! The situation is a grave one. We shall be fighting against heavy odds in a plan that has been ill conceived and one that violates every principle of military strategy. !

Hitler had told his commanders that he wanted Yugoslavia the first day, link up with the Italians the next and Greece in 30 days. He also told them that any commander held up for more than an hour would be replaced. !

On 4 April British Forces in Lybia, including the ilequipped Australian 6 Div. Were in full retr5eat from the Blitzcreig launched by the newly arrived Africa Corp led by Rommel. Within a few days 6the British Armoured Brigade was surrounded at Machili. IN an effort to build up his defence lin Wavell had changed his orders to 18 Brigade of 6 Aussie Div. And they went to Tobruk instead of Greece. !

The London mob must have got a knockback when the Germans attacked Yugoslavia on 6 April. They also attacked down and across the plains south of Salonika with troops from Bulgaria and Romania. !

When the Germans attacked Yugoslavia they met far more resistance than expected. A frustrated Hitler ordered the bombing of Belgrade, the capital. Next day hundreds of bombers began what was code named ‘Operation Punishment" three days and they left 17000 civilians dead.!

The first week of the invasion the Luftwaffer had sunk 20 ships of the Hellanic Navy. The rest were able to sail to Alexandria and became part of the Allied Navy. After, the Royal Navy Greece was to have the largest fleet 18%. Our RNZN Leander was there. !

The bombing of Belgrade was only a sideline for the Luftwaffer. A handful of bombers were lucky in their raid on Pireaus, the principle port being used by the allies. The port was full at the time and included the Clan Fraser which still had on board 250 tonnes of TNT. A barge alongside had just been loaded and was ready to be towed away when it was hit. Chain reaction and the Clan Fraser went up. It demolished the harbour and the other 10 ships including one full of ammunition. !

After the bombing of Belgrade the Yugoslavs gave way. This left the Greeks left flank open and they had to retire. Eventually B Squadron did too and the A Squadron. But not before we had a crack at the Germans. !

A Squadron Carriers were positioned around the bridge area, the armoured cars at the rail bridge. The first contact A Squadron had with the Germans was when three motorcycle side car units rode up to the end of the road and stopped too long looking around. The carrier crews were waiting and ready, the got the order to fire, only one got away and he was seen to be wounded. Next assault boats were being assembled and when loaded the boys got the order to fire. It must of have been slaughter. !

Meanwhile at the rail bridge the car crews were being kept busy with assult boats above and below the bridge and infantry attempting to cross. While all this was going on there was constant fire from artillery, mortars and heavy machine guns. Observers on the hills behind us could see a steady stream of tanks, trucks and artillery being assembled behind the stopbank. !

From the time we left the river we were shadowed by a Henchell Reconnaince plain which flew at treetop level all day. Disturb him and you invited Stukas to the party. Stukas, Ju 87 Firhgter Bombers. Special sirens were fitted to them to give that terrifying scream as they dived. The pilots special pleasure was attacking defence targets such as civilian refugees, hospitals and hospital ships, trains, schools and churches. The only time they were up against real opposition was early in the Battle of Britain and Goering withdrew them immediately. !

The Luftwaffer had also been busy elsewhere. The sank the heavy cruiser Southampton and so badly damaged the carrier Illustrous with direct hits with six 1000 pound bombs she was out of action for twelve months. They had mined the Suex Canal attached and sunk 25 ships in convoys bound for Greece, including the Northern Prince with a full load of explosives. !

As we worked our way south we got more attention from planes. We tried not to move in daylight. Sometimes it was unavoidable like the day we were on our way up to Servia Pass to cover the withdrawal of Aussie Infantry out of the mud and what was becoming a deathtrap. We had stopped outside a village and dispersed, the only vehicle on the road was the Quartermasters truck. In came a single plane. He dropped his first bomb 50 yards short, the rest demolished the village. We didn’t need much encouragement to get out of there. Sure enough in less than ten minutes three planes were looking for us. They flew around for over an hour but never found us. We had learned to hide. Twenty vehicles, trucks, Bren carriers and armoured cars had vanished. !

Another time the Squadron was travelling along an elevated road across a flood plain when we were attached from behind by some Messermidts. There was nowhere to go, the Squadron stopped and we scattered. I remember running down the embankment tangled with some blackberries and went down so stayed there. The ‘all clear’ was given. Yours truly was missing but the boys found me still in the blackberries sound asleep. !

Then there was the time many commanders made the same mistake. We were given a rendavous opposite a white two storied house that could be seen for miles and not a tree in sight to hide under. We were first there and before I could turn to be ready to move out again I was hemmed in by trucks and anti-tank gun crew. A perfect target and id didn’t take the stukas long to find us. Our cars had

been built so the windscreen could be dropped down onto the bonnet and a steel screen dropped down. This screen had two six by one inch slots for the driver and co-driver to see through. I had been driving with it down because of small arms fire. The crew commander was in the turret using the Vickers and the wireless operator had the back door half closed. We had two near misses front and rear and had a truckload of rubbish dumped into the car. A splinter came through the front and split. One piece hit my left shoulder and cut the stitches on the first of two pullovers I had on at the time. The other piece cut two inches of the collar of my battle dress tunic. One piece ricocheted and cut the wireless operator in the back of the neck, fortunately only skin deep. How lucky can some people be. Among the unlucky ones was one of our dispatch riders who was killed.!

We did three night drives over mountain passes, narrow winding roads and the only light to drive by was the little blue taillight on the vehicle in front. We lost only one car and one carrier over the side and no one was hurt. !

At one stage we had two hitch hikers; another car had the other two. They were the crew of a British Light Tank that had become separated from its unit and stopped when it came to a bridge too narrow to cross and the stream banks too steep. The engineers blew it with the bridge. All our ammunition was carried on the floor of the car where it was out of the way and giving the crew commander a good level base to stand on. Bert wanted a cup of tea so reached for the primus. When the pommies saw what he was going to do they were out. They didn’t want to be with mad kiwis who lit a primus on a box of ammunition. They didn’t refuse a mug of tea though. What else could we do when the wind was blowing or it was raining. We had an air-raid alert and again they were out and under the car. They were more likely to be hit by a splinter than we were, anyway a direct hit would have taken us all out. !

Earlier orders had been issued that we were not to trust the Greeks so we were not surprised when we saw a farmer ploughing crazy furrows. He was ploughing markers to machine gun and artillery gun sites. One of our farmers took over the Plow. What happened to the farmer? Your guess is as good as mine. !

Not only were the Luftwaffer having success, the Italian navy was almost non-existant after Cunningham had destroyed most of it at Cape Matapan and Tarato, but their Submarine fleet was intact and were busy sinking merchantment and escorts. !

The Luftwaffer started with:! ! 414 planes for close in support in Bulgaria! ! 570 in Austria and Romania! ! 108 in Sicily! ! ! A total of 1092! The RAF had:! ! 72 Blenhiem bombers! ! 30 Hurricanes! ! 18 Obselete gloster gladiators! ! ! A total of 120! No wonder we never saw them.! One day we pulled into a village and expected to be there about two hours. One of the carrier crew caught a chook, killed and plucked it and cut it into small pieces. Then walked up to a house and asked the woman who answered the door if she would cook it for him. Little she knew that she would be cooking one of her own chooks. !

On our way back through Greece we drove on to an abandoned airfield and found a dump of fuel and oil. We topped up our tanks and spares then tipped the drums (44gal) on to their sides and with our long thin crowbar rammed a hole into the top and bottom of the ends. Another day we drove up to a food dump the engineers were preparing to blow but were waiting for the Greek locals to take what they could first. We helped ourselves. Tea, sugar, tinned rations including fruit – something we had not seen since Egypt. We ate well for the rest of our time in Greece. !

Div Cav. was a mobile fighting force and we often shifted at a moments notice. Sometimes as a Regiment, sometimes as a Squadron or even as a troop of three vehicles. We plugged gaps, covered withdrawals, did reconnaissance and made hit and run nuisance raids on enemy forward troops to hinder their advance. The biggest withdrawal we covered was when Freyberg was asked to cover a front of 52 miles, 84 by road while part of the Div withdrew and the whole country was saturated and cut up by heavy traffic. On one of the hit and run raids one troop of three cars had German troops all around it, they managed to get clear. It was because of this flexibility that C Squadron was to arrive on

the south side of Corinth Canal just as Paratroops dropped to try and secure the bridge before it was blown. They were too late it went up. It was chaotic, C Squadron couldn’t move on the road because of bomb craters, some of the top heavy cars had tipped over. Things were so bad that they were faced with two options, be taken prisoner or take to the sea. They chose the sea, took anything that floated and headed for Crete. One boat carried their CO Major Harford who was seriously ill with dysentery and in need of medical help. The crew rowed flat out in shifts until overtaken by a Ciaque which took them aboard. The Greeks were also heading for Crete. Major Harford survived. Some of the Squadron arrived in Crete, some missed the Island and finished up in Egypt. !

Planning for the evacuation began almost as soon as the first troops had stepped ashore. Rear admiral Baillie-Groman was in Athens to organise the evacuation. Blamey, Mackay and Freyberg were recalled to Alexandria. Blamey couldn’t get there quick enough. He hadn’t won too many brownie points in Greece and got a lot of demerits when he scuttled off taking his son, a major who was on the staff with him. Another officer found Freyberg and relayed the news to him. Freyberg refused and sent a cable back to GHQ Athens.! From his diary: I told them I was being attacked by tanks fighting a battalion two brigade front and asked who was to command the New Zealand troops if I left. I was given the answer of ‘movement control’. I naturally went on with the battle. ! After that I never received an order as to my disposal.!

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Later when Freyberg was asked to compare his decision with hat of Blamey and Mackay he remarked only “They went, I refused”. ! Here I quote from Peter Ewers book “forgotten ANZACS”. In answer to cables from Canberra and Wellington noting earlier assurances about evacuation of troops and asking that they now be honoured Churchill replied “That the safe withdrawal of the men will have precedence over any consideration except that of honour”. While this was mere pap to keep the colonials quiet Churchill had other priorities. While the ANZACs were getting hammered in Greece, the British forces were being pushed aside by Rommel in the western desert. To meet this threat Churchill directed his chiefs of staff to tell the British commanders in the Mediterranean that if a choice had to be made Libya should be held and the ANZACs be left to their fate. He said, ‘you must divide between protecting evacuation and sustaining battle in Libya but if these clash, which may be unavoidable, emphasis must be given to Victory in Libya. Victory in Libya comes first, evacuation of troops from Greece second”. Unquote.!

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And some people wonder why I don’t trust politicians. ! On 26th April, Div Cav. minus C Squadron was at Marathon. It was a beautiful day and we were not being molestered by the Luftwaffer. We were told ‘no fires’ just do as much damage as you can. We set aside Brens, rifles, ammunition, three days rations and personal gear, pulled the sump plugs and ran the engines until they screamed to a stop. Then it was axes, crowbars, hammers, anything we could lay a hand on. By mid-afternoon we were surrounded by a sorry mess. We were then taken to Raffina Beach to wait for a ship to take us off. !

Yes we had had our casualties. Men killed, wounded or taken prisoner, trucks, cars and carriers knocked out, but we managed to keep going with what we had. With all the bombs and bullets thrown at us I am surprised we didn’t have more casualties. There must be something in the saying: “If you want promotion join the Infantry. If you want to get home, join the Cavalry”. !

There was a strong choppy sea running and only one side of the ship could be worked so that by the deadline time of 3am arrived the ship sailed leaving 750 on the beach, 150 of us Div Cav. There was not much shelter but we made good use of what there was and slept most of the day. At about 1am there was a short flash of light out at sea, our transport had arrived. It didn’t take us long to get aboard and we were off. We were on the Havock, a destroyer that was to be lost later off Norway, our destination Crete. We would be stepping out of the frying pan into the fire. After a cup of cocoa and a biscuit we settled and slept most of the way. How the Navy could thread their way though the islands in the dark at the pace they did will always amaze me. !

We were the last scheduled trip off Raffina beach. The following night Freyberg his staff and BaillieGroman were the last off at Monemivasia on the south coast of Polopenese but not until Freyberg and Bailllie-Groman had made a final sweep of the beach looking for stragglers. That was the last ship off Greece. !

The Navy had a strict deadline for ships evacuating troops. There was one very bad tragedy as a result of disobeying those orders, the Slamat tragedy. The Slamat, a Dutch Merchantman was embarking troops at Nauplia, the deadline for sailing 3am. Rather than leave men on the beach she never left until 4:15, too late to clear the area before daylight. Slamat was caught by dive bombers at 7am, hit three times and on fire. Destroyers Diamond and Wryneck went to her assistance but she capsized as they were arrived and were attached while picking up survivors. Diamond was hit aft which set off her depth charges, Wryneck was hit amid ships. Both sank in a few minutes. Survivors from these three ships were only one officer, 41 ratings and from the 500 soldiers only 8 survived. !

The evacuation got 50662 men out. That figure does not include the various parties and singles that made their way up through the islands to Turkey and back to Egypt, nor the ones who made their way across the Mediterranean to Crete and Egypt. !

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Australian losses were: 320 dead, 494 wounded and 2030 POW.! New Zealand losses were: 291 dead, 599 wounded and 1614 POW. ! The casualty list was bad enough, but the fragmentation and dispersal of the Australian and New Zealand divisions made it a lot worse. !

CRETE.! The island of Crete is roughly 160 miles east to west and 55 north to south at its widest. The White Mountains form the backbone of the island and dominate over three quarters of it. It is steep, rugged, volcanic rock up to 8000 feet with many deep ravines and numerous caves. The south side is very steep right to the waters edge and has only a few very small villages. The narrow northern strip and the north eastern area is the most populated and has some very fertile areas where they grow vegetables, wheat, and barley and have their vineyards, oranges and olives. And of course they have their sheep and goats. It is amazing what they grow in the poorer areas. !

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There was only one reasonable road and it ran from Maleme in the west through Cania, Suda Bay, Retimo and on to Heraklion towards the east. ! When the movement of troops to Greece began, a small British force was put ashore. About 2000 with some Ack-Ack guns and a few tanks. ! Freyberg was in command. On the assumption that we would be attached from the air and the sea it was decided that the defecnce be divided into four sectors. At Heraklion which had a small airfield and port were Australian, British and Greek troops. At Retimo, also with a small airfield, were Australian and Greek troops. Suda Bay was a mixture of British, Australian, Greek and New Zealand. From Suda Bay to Maleme was all New Zealand. The New Zealand 5th Brigade defended the airfield itself. Around Galatos was a composite battalion made up of all the odds and sods including Div Cav. We Div Cav. were on one side of Prison Farm Valley and 2 Greek Regiments were on the other. !

Our first few days on Crete were mainly rest periods, sleeping on dry grass under olive trees and being taken over the hills in small parties for a swim. There was always time for a glass of wine and an omelette. Then it was digging gun pits. Everything was quiet except when Chania and Suda Bay were bombed. That was at least once a day. ! We had been told to expect the Paratroops to arrive on 19 May. They didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t, but the bonmbing was stepped up and included Galatos and Maleme. About 8.30am on 20 May, Stukas and Messermitds were flying around and around Prison Valley firing at anything and nothing. Medium bombers took over for a while. There was a lull and we heard and then saw the Ju 52 Transports, some towing gliders which flew on to secure the prison and the powerhouse. All this time planes were flying in at 200/300 feet dropping paratroops using chutes of various colours. It was an awesome sight knowing that at the end of each chute was a soldier highly trained, armed ready and willing to kill. As one plane dropped its load another took its place. There seemed no end to them. !

To begin with hey were being dropped out of our range but were getting a hammering from the Greeks. It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t long and we got our turn. We did as much damage as we could until late in the afternoon when in danger of being cut off we were taken back nearer Galatos. The fighters and bombers kept up

their attacks until nearly dark. They were back early next morning circling around waiting for signals from the ground troops as to where their targets were. !

The paratroops didn’t all land on target. One lot landed on the undefended area of the 7th general hospital and 5th field ambulance. Lieutenant Colonel Plimmer was forced to surrender and then they shot him. They shot about 20 bed patients and forced others out of bed to be used as human shields on their advance towards the 18th battalion. Later they got themselves isolated. Some surrendered; most of the rest were killed trying to cross Prison Valley. !

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Some chutes never opened, some were ripped to shreds by Bren gun fire, and others dropped into the reservoir and drowned or were hung up in telegraph wires or on buildings.! Some pilots got out of position and were forced to unload on to New Zealand lines. ! Gliders destined to land on the Akrotiri Peninsular had a bad run. The glider carrying the CO and his staff crashed on takeoff and were all killed. The others came under heavy fire from the guns and shot down. Others tried landing on the rocky foreshore. Only one landed on target No 234 heavy ack-ack, most of the gun crew were killed. A counter attack by Royal Marines cornered them, most surrendered. Three officers and 24 men were able to slip away in the dark and joined troops in Prison Valley. !

Maleme went through the same softening up process as we had. They had a 3 inch Ack-Ack gun but with the planes coming in at 200/300 feet it could not be aimed low enough. However, the Bofors and Pom Poms were getting some direct hits, and with the forward Brens able to fire into the planes no one got out of some of the planes. The Stukas and Messersmidts were there all day and the paratroops were being supplied from the air so the defenders were soon up against heavy machine guns, mortars and light artillery. Three days of this and the 5th Brigade was forced back to watch helplessly as planes came in, unloaded men and materials at the rate of 20 planes an hour. However the Italian guns sent out to Freyberg earlier without sights were being sighted through their barrels with good results and destroyed 20 planes. !

Tavronitis. 15 minutes before the paratroops landed on Maleme 15 gliders attempted to land. Their aim was to secure the bridge over the Tavronitis River. Some landed on the rough riverbed, others stopped when they hit an olive tree or a wall. Many of the 75 never got out alive. The area was held by a small group of Greeks. They never had enough rifles or ammunition so soon ran out. It was time to stalk the Germans. Armed only with a stone or a knife they did a good job until reinforcements arrived. The Greeks made it to the hills. Infuriated by the delay and humiliation inflicted on the Germans their CO ordered 200 men rounded up into the Town Square and then shot them. That was another region that was never pacified and arms taken from dead paratroops were still being found on dead guerrillas as late as 1944. !

Retimo. The usual bombing and staffing began at about 4pm directed at mainly civilian targets. Soon the transports arrived, some out of formation causing collisions. Some were shot down and many flew out to sea trailing smoke. Some were so riddled with bullets from Brens that few got out alive. However the defenders were well outnumbered. The Aussies made a counter attack towards nightfall and captured some German weapons. They captured the German CO next day. The fighters and bombers were relentless, there were always some there. The Aussies put up with this until the 27th May when food and ammunition ran out. Captain Campbell did the only thing left for him to do and surrendered. The Germans took 934 POW, 120 Aussies were killed and about 200 wounded. The Germans lost 400 dead, 700 wounded and until the surrender, 500 POW. The Germans had not achieved their objectives: the airfield the fist day, the town the next. !

At Retimo a school was being used as a hospital and a young German officer came in and in perfect English said “I will kill five of you for every bullet I find”. Statements like this and the murders at the hospital and at Tavronitis set the tone for four years of Cretan Resistance against Nazi barbarism.!

Heraklion. A slight variation, a large number of bombers flew in, and then the Stukas and Messersmidts arrived. Heraklion had good Ack-Ack defence and they remained silent until the transports arrived then everything opened up. The Ju 52 transports and been used that morning and some should have been getting repaired, not flying. The losses of the morning had been so bad that 400 paras had been left on the ground – no transport. There was considerable confusion about landing zones, one unit being dropped on top of another. One lot was dropped on top of several Allied lines and were annihilated. !

Two days later some paras managed to get into the old city and there was considerable street fighting with the civilians joining in. The Germans told the civil authorities that unless they surrendered immediately the city would be bombed and that is what they did, bomb the city. Chappel's Force was surrounded, running out of ammunition and food and taking casualties. Unable to reach Frebyerg he reported direct to GHQ Cairo and was told they would be evacuated on the night of 28/29 May. They were picked up by the cruisers Orion & Dido and four destroyers: Harewood, Imperial, Hotspur and Decoy. At 6am they were attacked by 100 bombers and the attacks continued until they came into the area of Hurricanes from Egypt. Harewood and Imperial were sunk and Orion and Decoy damaged. Of the 4000 embarked 800 were killed, wounded or captured. I have no figures for the navy losses. !

! !

Many of the paras had made several landings unopposed and were very indignant about being shot at. ! We were on a high point near Galatos that first night and could see the flashes and hear the boom of naval guns out on the horizon. The navy had intercepted the invasion fleet, 2000 mountain troops and all thier gear, plus a lot of heavy gear including light tanks, trucks and artillery. All the ships were sunk and survivors picked up the next day. Some were from the water, others from the many small islands in the area. The Germans claimed that only 309 had been lost. !

That first morning the Germans had put up 430 bombers, 180 fighters and fighter bombers, 700 Ju52 transports, 40 reconnisance planes, 80 gliders and their tow planes – a total of 1430. The RAF wasn’t there. !

X1 Air Corp HQ Athens on the night of 20 May was not a happy place. This comes from General Student’s writings and his interrogations:! A large number of senior commanders had been killed or seriously wounded. Student’s beloved Assult Regiment, the very elite of the 7th Parachute Division had been virtually annihilated. Of the gliders that landed at Galatos and on the Akrotiri Peninsular there was no news. The Divisional Commander and his entire staff had perished; one complete battalion had simply disappeared. The attack on Retimo and Heraklion had been stopped dead. The only bright spot was the bridge over the Tavronitis near Maleme but at high cost. Hitler had so little confidence in the outcome that he told Geebles that there was to be no mention of it over Berlin radio until the outcome was absolutely certain. Student was the commander of X1 Air Corp and knew covertly that the whole operation would be called off so he committed the last of his remaining Paras, half a battalion to fly out next morning. Hitler was upset about losing so many of this favourite troops. Goering too was enthusiastic about the Paras but was less scrupulus about losing their blood. The bright spot for Student was the knowledge that the invasion fleet was on its way to the beaches of Crete. A total of 2330 men mainly 5th Mountain Division and including heavy weaponry detachments. The heavy weapons included 5mm Anti-Tank guns, light tanks and light trucks. They never made it, all the ships were sunk. The Flotella was made up of 20 Caiques and 4 Costal Steamers and were escorted by Italian destroyer Lupe and 4 torpedo boats. The Germans claim that only 309 men were lost, most of the survivors landed on islands in the area. In any case it was a great success for the Allied Navy. What a mess they could have made had they landed on Crete. We didn’t know at the time but there was another fleet with 5000 men that tried to make a daylight trip to Heraklion. A group of navy ships spotted them but they managed to escape in a smoke cloud. There was no 2nd try. !

We were to learn later what the various coloured chutes represented. Officers were violet or pink,other ranks black, medical staff and their supplies yellow, white were canisters. Some held arms and ammunition, others food, heavy machine guns, mortars, knocked down motor cycle/sidecar units, even knocked down handcarts. !

Several planes came over dropping canisters of armaments, ammunition and rations. Some dropped in our area – thank you Jerry. The food containers held among other things tinned bullybeef which had been left at the evacuation at Dunkirk. A friend from pre-war days had a badly cut leg and was sent to Suda Bay hospital. He was taken prisoner. Ken told us later that he had better fences around his haystacks than were around the hospital, so one night he and another chap walked out and into the hills. He spent six weeks in the hills with the Cretens before being taken off in a submarine. !

The Germans had been told that the Maori were savages and cannibals so any unit which knew or thought they had Maori troops near them were jittery. I saw the Maori make a bayonet charge one day. When the Germans could see who they were being attacked by they panicked and ran leaving everything. I heard of one incident where a German prisoner asked a New Zealand soldier if it was true about the Maori being savages and cannibals, he was told “hell yes, when they are on short rations they take a prisoner." !

At Galatos one of our Sgt. Majors organised a group of Greek soldiers, some civilians and their womenfolk. Antient rifles and shotguns without ammunition, some with bayonets, and some with knives tied on as bayonets, the women had axes, spades and other garden tools and some with kitchen knives. They charged down yelling their heads off, and came back with three German machine guns and quite a bit of German blood. The knife wounds were mistaken for torture and desecration. Next day the following order was issued: ! The murder of a German airman on 22 May proved that the Greek population was taking part in the fighting, shooting and stabbing to death wounded, also mutilating and robbing corpses. Any civilian caught with a firearm in his hands is to be shot immediately. Hostages, men 18 to 55 were to be taken from the village immediately and civilians told that any act of hostility against the German army and these men would be shot immediately.!

! !

The murders at 7th General Hospital and at Tavranitos didn't matter.! Here is a German officers account of an attack made on Galatos: We proceeded without opposition, about halfway up the hill we ran into sustained rifle and machinegun fire. The first attack on Galatos had cost us 50% casualties and half of them were killed. Unbeknown to him an earlier attempt had been made on the same position with similar results. The position had been held by part of the scratch composite battalion, all the odds and sods Div. Cav. included. This particular area was held by Div. Petrol Co., drivers and technicians not trained infantry. !

! !

They only had 2 Brens and an old Lewis machine gun, no bayonets and were five reifles short of those who needed them. ! Parachute Training Manual. A copy had been captured early in 1940. “Its loss was never reported”. Student had complained. “If I had known I should have followed a different plan”. In some cases the defenders were able to counter the Germans next move and forestall them. !

The first transports were airborn shoirtly after 5am and as they flew the Paratroopers read to themselves the “ten commandments of the parachutist” which they had sewn into the inside of thier packs. ! 1. You are the chosen ones of the German army. You will seek combat and train yourselves to endure any manner of test. To you the battle is fulfilment.! 2. Cultivate true comradeship, for by the aid of you comrades you will conquer or die.! 3. Beware of talking. Be not corruptible. Men act while women chatter. Chatter may bring you to the grave. ! 4. Be calm and prudent, strong and resolute. Valour and the enthusiasm of an offensive spirit will cause you to prevail in the attack. ! 5. The most precious thing in the presence of the enemy is ammunition. He who shoots uselessly, merely to comfort himself is a man of straw who merits not the title of parachutist. ! 6. Never surrender. To death or victory must be a point of honour. ! 7. You must triumph only if your weapons are good. See to it that you submit yourself to this law - first my weapons and then myself. ! 8. You must grasp the full purpose of every enterprise, so that if your leader is killed you can fulfil it. ! 9. Against an open foe fight with chivalry, but to a guerrilla extend no quarter. ! 10. Keep your eyes open. Tune yourself to the utmost pitch. Be as nimble as a greyhound, as tough as leather, as hard as Krupp steel, and you shall be the German warrior incarnate. !

Clothing, firepower and rations. ! The paratroopers wore leather jerkins and special round helmets with canvas camouflage covers. Every man had a knee length camouflage cape over his uniform and rubber soled boots laced halfway up the calf. They were generously padded at knees, elbows, chest and shoulders. All this they discarded with their parachutes on landing. The majority landed with only pistols as weapons, collecting machine guns and heavier weapons from separate containers. Each section had one light machine gun, eight Tommy guns and two sharpshooters with long barrelled mausers with telescopic sights. These sharpshooters wore special goggles for the landing. There were also Anti-Tank companies in each drop, plus flame-throwers and light and heavy mortars. Rations for two days included special bread wrapped in silver paper, processed chocolate and rusks, tataric acid, sugar and thirst quenchers. Each company had a special portable water sterilising unit and provision had been made for the supplying of 1000 gallons of fresh water a day by air drop. Medical officers and orderlies

had extensive medical supplies and NCOs carried hypodermic syringes containing a caffeine sodium solvate solution with which to inject themselves or others suffering extreme fatigue. !

The Germans estimated the duration of the campaign would be ten days starting on 17 May but was set back to 20 May. The German intelligence let them down. They had expected the Cretan people to be like others they had walked over and that at least they would accept neutrality. Their reconnaisence planes had not seen as much as they should have and reported the area lifeless. There was disagreement between the German Top Brass and a compromise was reached and they settled for a first light attack on Maleme and the Suda Bay/Carnia area with Retimo and Heraklion areas in the afternoon. The troops to be used were the Elete Gliderborne who were considered a step above the 7th Parachute Regt. When the 7th were dropped in they were supported by the 5th Mountain Division which consisted of units of Anti-Tank, Pioneer and Engineers whose job it was to remove explosive charges before they could be set off. They also salvaged equipment especially vehicles. They even had containers of spares left in Greece. !

Student later wrote “The British were stronger and tougher than expected”. They had suffered immense losses that first day. The New Zealand troops had had a bad day because of lack of communication, not enough wireless sets and batteries going flat. !

On 27 May Freyberg received the order to evacuate the island and so began the withdrawal across some of the roughest country in the world to Sfakia on the south coast. We had three problems: the enemy above, the enemy behind and the lack of water. I can remember walking into a village one day and seeing two men using a four gallon tin on a dodgy piece of rope pulling water from a well. They had reached the muddy stage but it tasted good. !

Before we got into the very rough country we passed a POW camp. 1400 Italians were taken prisoner in Albania. The Germans had been getting close, too close for comfort. The gates were opened and the Italians streamed back down the road and blocked the German advance. I wonder how many never got back to Italy. !

It was near the camp that we were in danger of being cut off. There was a space of about 50 yards to a patch of scrub but the Germans had it covered with machine guns. There was only one way and that was into the river, waist deep we had cover from the bank and was it cold, snowmelt. Only one of ours was hit, he had 6 inches of beading torn off his tin hat. !

From midnight 28/29 May four destroyers a night over three nights, plus the troopship Glengyle took off 4144. The last convoy on night of 31 May / 1 June of four destroyers, the cruiser Phoebe and the new fast Minelaying cruiser Abdiel took over 6000. A total of over 10144. Some of those left would get off on the landing barges, left purposely by the navy. Some in small boats, a lot were taken prisoner, the rest took to the hills and were looked after by the Cretans who put their lives on the line by doing so. Some were to stay on the island as part of the resistance. But that is another story. Between June and November 1941, 869 men got off on landing craft, small boats including HMS Hedgehog, a North sea trawler flying the Italian flag, and submarines including the Greek submarine Papanikolis. We were on the Abdiel. Everything moveable had been taken off the deck and it looked as big as a football field. After a cup of cocoa and a biscuit it was sleep. When I woke it was to see a mass of bodies. The stern doors were wide open and the ship going flat out on a zig-zag course. !

! !

Rescued again by the Navy. Thank you Navy. ! We must never forget the Allied Navy and the Merchant Marine and their loss of ships and men. There were 49 Allied Navy ships sunk in the Eastern Mediterraen between 1 March & 30 June 1941 and practically every other naval vessel was damaged to some extent. The Merchant Marine lost 122, 89 of those were Greek. These figures do not include the many small Greek ships commandeered by the Germans, some of which were in the invasion fleet. !

Casualties in Crete.! Allied Troops taken to Greece ! 58 000! Taken off Greece!! ! 50 000! Taken to Crete! ! ! 30 000! Total strength on Crete ! ! 42 000 – only about half were trained infantry! Includes 9000 Greek soldiers insufficiently armed and trained.! In addition were 1200 Greek Gendarmes and Greek Irregulars. !

Rescued by the navy 27 May / 1 June 1941 – nearly 14 000.! Another 869 were taken off between 6 June and 20 November 1941.! Landing Craft ! 5/6/41 ! ! 68! “! ! 9/6/41 ! ! 141! ! “! ! 9/6/41! ! 52! “! ! 10/06/41!! 44! Small Boat! 20/7/41! ! 4! M19! ! 25/5/41! ! 31! HN Papanikelis! 19/6/41! ! 8! (Greek Sub)! HMS Thrasher ! 31/7/41! ! 67! HMS Torbay ! 31/7/41! ! 125! Ciaque! ! 15/10/41!! 18! HMS Hedgehog ! 20/11/41!! 86! Misc. ! to! 31/11/41!! 197!

! !

HN Papanikilis and HMS Hedgehog were used extensively landing and exchanging men for MI9.! KILLED

WOUNDED

PRISONERS

TOTAL

British Army

612

224

5315

6151

Royal Marines

114

1035

1179

Royal Air Force

226

306

Australian

274

507

1302

3883

New Zealand

671

1455

1692

3818

Royal Navy

2000 3742

2000 2225

11370

17337

Some of the non-combatant troops were evacuated before the invasion began. German figures taken from German reports.! Landed by parachute ! Maleme!! 1860! ! ! ! Prison Valley! 2400! ! ! ! Retimo! ! 1380! ! ! ! Heraklion! 2360! 8060! Landed by carrier! ! Meleme!! 13980! 13980! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 22040! Losses killed & missing ! ! Paratroops aprox! ! 6000! ! ! ! ! Mountain Troops!! 580! ! ! ! ! Air Crew! ! 312! TOTAL 6690!

Aircraft used ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Planes Destroyed! Damaged! !

Transport Planes! ! High Level Bombers! Dive Bombers! ! Single and twin engine! Reconnaissance planes! ! ! ! 220 plus gliders! 148!

700! 280! 150! 180! ! ! 40! 1350 plus glider tow planes!

A total of 3474 men and woman were shot by Nazi firing squads during the occupation mostly for assisting allied escapers and evaders. I have no figures for the numerous houses destroyed.!

After Crete there were many people very loud in their criticism of Freyberg and the way he went about defending the Island. Had they known about ULTRA they would have understood the situation better, but until 1974 when ULTRA was declassified the secret remained secret. ULTRA was the code name given to intelligence obtained after Britain managed to obtain one of the Enigma machines used by the Germans as a new code writer. Intelligence gained through ULTRA used by the Germans was known to only a few people, Freyberg was one of them. They were not allowed to act on the intelligence unless it was confirmed by another source as well. A good example of this was when Admiral Cunningham knew from ULTRA the whereabouts of the Italian Navy. He sent out la long range recon plane to check. He was able to destroy most of it a Cape Matapan and Taranto. Freyberg wanted to move troops to counter German troop movements to an area covering Maleme, but because he could not get corroborative evidence Wavell forbid him. He was fearful that the Germans might cotton on to the fact that their code had been broken. This sort of action was to crop up several times. !

I quote from Damer and Fraser’s book ‘On The Run’:! “There is another unpleasant question which has to be raised. Had the majority of troops on the run in Crete been British as opposed to ANZAC would they have been rescued sooner? We suspect they would. Churchill had already shown in the fighting on mainland Greece as well as on Crete that he was prepared to ride roughshod over agreements with the governments of Australia and New Zealand when it came to committing their troops. As he demonstrated on many occasions such as on the Dieppe Raid. He welcomed the fighting capabilities of Dominion troops but was not over-concerned about their casualties or the prisoners of war amongst them. We think it fair to say therefore that neither the British Government nor the British High Command in the Middle East displayed any great energy, imagination or enthusiasm for evacuating the thousand or so ANZZAC troops stranded on Crete. As we said in chapter 1 these men were left to their own devices”. ! ! I agree wholeheartedly. !

Another thing. The way Freyberg was treated from the beginning of the Crete fiasco. He asked for reinforcements and got a few British Infantry; for tanks they came with no wireless and/or the wrong ammunition, and broke down in action. He asked for 25 pounders they were gathering dust in store in Cairo and he got Italian guns which had been captured in the Western Desert and the had no sights. He wanted mines to set in the runways at Maleme; some bright spark said ‘no we may want to use it later’, so no mines. He could not tell anyone about the coded messages he got after the British had broken the German code nor was he able to act immediately on that intelligence. In my opinion he was being punished for refusing to obey the order of recall to Alexandria he received in Greece. !

The Helenic Navy suffered enormous losses during the German invasion; twenty ships, mostly by air attacks within a few days in April 1941. One cruiser, six destroyers, five submarines and several support vessels were sailed to Alexandria to fight with the Royal Navy. It was subsequently expanded by seven destroyers, five submarines, mine sweepers and other support vessels handed over by the RN. With 44 ships and 8500 men it became the second largest Allied Navy in the Mediterranean after the RN, accounting for 80% of all non RN operations. !

Britain did not stand alone after Dunkirk, Greece was her only Ally. The Greek Merchangt Marine was in the war before Britain. The Ioannis Carras was bombed in Gydnia Harbout, Poland on 1 September 1939. During Worle War 2 the Greek Merchant Marine lost 318 ships out of 500 ocean going vessels plus 52 of 55 passenger ships. 14% of total Allied losses. Nearly half of GMM’s 700 smaller diesel powered ships were lost mainly during the German invasion and occupation GMM losses in the Eastern Mediterraen between 1 March and June 1941.! ! Greek! ! 89! ! British! ! 24! ! Norwegian! 4! ! Dutch! ! 3! ! Turkish! ! 2! ! TOTAL! ! 122!

! !

Greek owned shipping worldwide in 1989 became the world leader and still is. In 2000 more than 1790 which 3500 ocean going ships more than 900 tons.! All I saw of Athens I saw from a distance. We had to stay with the vehicles until all were unloaded and then we took them to a siding where we loaded them on to flat top wagons for our 600 mile trip to Northern Greece, our destination the Aliakmon River. !

I had a week of survivor leave which I enjoyed on the S.S.Arabia, a houseboat moored near Gazira Island as a guest of a committee headed by her Excellency Lady Lampson. Her husband was Governor or High Commissioner at the time. It was a rest home for members of the Imperial Forces. I had a single cabin with ensuite, good bed, good meals, servants to do anything and everything and I could come and go as I pleased. !

When I got back to camp a list of promotions came out and my name wasn’t on it so I asked our troop leader and was told that if I persisted I wold probably get my three stripes, but if I shut up I would probably get home. I shut up and next day came a list of 73 officers and other ranks that were being seconded back to New Zealand to help set up the NZ Armoured Fighting Vehicle School in Waiouru in the centre of the North Island near Taihape. !

We left Port Tewfick on a lighter full of German prisoners of war. As we got near the ship there was a lot of chattering amongst the POWs so I asked one who spoke English and he said ‘we have sunk her five times’. The ship, the Queen Elizabeth. She towered up above us like a mountain, eleven decks. When standing amid ships in one of the passageways one couldn’t see either end. As the last man climbed on board the ship started to move. German bombers had a habit of coming over at night to bomb any shipping they might find. We were headed down towards the Red Sea and the ship was flat out and she was shuddering. During the night she had turned around and headed back to Port Tewfick to load more POWs. Going across the Indian Ocean her wake was a dead straight line to the horizon. I asked one of the crew where our escort was and he said we didn’t have one. “We can outrun any submarine and most Warships”. We called at Trincomale, a naval station on the north east of Ceylon (now Shrilanka) and took on fuel and water and then headed for Fremantle where we anchored off the port and took on more fuel and water. From there we loafed around the coast so the Aquatania could get there and tie up before we got there and dropped anchor out in the harbour. We were too big to tie up to a wharf. As fast as the POWs got off, Australian troops got on. We had two weeks before we were able to board the Aquatania to take us to Wellington. Two nights were spent out at the show grounds then I was billeted with my sister Ellie but had to report each morning. !

Let us go back a bit. We had a quiet trip across the Indian Ocean, the only outstanding incident was when a light was spotted from the bridge. It was traced to a cabin containing four German officers playing cards. They had opened the porthole to get some cool air. They were promptly transferred to the ships brig (jail). They were escorted up to the boat deck each morning for exercise. The day I was ships orderly corporal the ships Sgt. Major picked me to help take these POWs up to the boat deck. He made it clear that there was to be no talking. About half way up one started talking to his mates, so I jabbed his backside with the bayonet and worked the bolt to put a round into the chamber. If looks could have killed I wouldn't be here. There was no more trouble and I was relieved because I had no ammunition, it was pure bluff and it worked. !

While in Sydney we did several trips around Sydney courtesy of a committee looking after the welfare of troops. One of these trips as to Koala Park now my next door neighbour. In those days the main park was across the road and the paddock this side was used by an old Abo who demonstrated the throwing of boomerangs. Ada was also at Ellie’s, she had come over to be with Ellie when Graham was born. She was waiting to be called up for service with the Australia Nursing. !

After two weeks leave we were in Waioru Military Camp. We soon had the school up and running. There were four training wings, driving and maintenance, wireless, gunnery and tactical. We trained 8500 troops all ranks form trooper up to Lt. Colonels on British and American Armoured Vehicles. I had a class of Majors one time and was having a bit of trouble from one. He went too far one day so I let him know that I was in charge of the class and while the class was in session rank didn’t mean a thing to me, except that I was a Staff Sergeant and they were all students and that if he didn’t pull his head in I would report him and he would be on the next train and back to his unit. I got a round of applause from the others and no more trouble from him. !

At one stage I returned from leave to find a vehicle outside the office covered with a tarpaulin. I could see from the outline and the tracks that it was an American General Stuart Light Tank. I walked into our Gunnery Wing office and Russ our wing Co handed me some manuals and said “go and swat these, you have a class coming in tomorrow”. So I did that. I swatted only what I would be teaching next day. I did that for two weeks. The next class was a holiday. When I was asked something and wasn’t sure of the answer I brushed it off by saying that would come up in a later lesson. From time to time we had visitors, M.P’s and other more important VIPs and we always had to put on a demonstration. I was fortunate to be picked for most of them. Preparing the tank for whose shoots was all part of the training. One of the other instructors was driver and a third was loader. My orders were to fire the first

shot low but the second had to be spot on. It was. We were seconded to the school on a nine month tour of duty, it was extended another nine months and then they seemed to forget about us. Towards the end of 1943 the Government decided that the production of food was more important than training more tank crews and the married men were given the option of going back to the regiment or going out on indefinite leave without pay under manpower direction. I decided to stay in New Zealand and opted for the dairy industry. That would give me a house and a job and finished up in a dairy factory making cheese. It was at Lowgarth, near Stratford and in the winter the sun went behind the mountain at about 2pm. I was a cheese maker and relieving whey butter maker. !

John was born 30 October 1944. Some kind of infection in the hospital kept him in for another two weeks. Bell Block advertised for a second assistant. I applied for it and got it, second assistant cheese maker and relieving butter maker. We made the same tonnage cheese as Lowgarth, but half of our suppliers were on home separation and we made butter for export and local consumption. We also made whey butter for local. Two seasons later and the first assistant got factory managers position and I went up to first. I had obtained my second class steam driver ticket at Lowgarth and first class manager certificate for both butter and cheese at Bell Block. Later a friend enticed me into ice cream a job which led to assistant foreman at Robinson’s ice cream, Auckland. They closed and I got foreman at milk and cocoa, Manurewa making the base for milk chocolate for export to Denmark. It was a joint venture Danish / New Zealand with a Dane as manager. The chairman was also chairman of Tip Top ice cream, Auckland. It ran 24 hours a day seven days a week, closed for 36 hours at Christmas only. After running for 18 months there was some skulduggery in Denmark and the factory was closed temporally. I was kept on doing very extensive maintenance. When I was almost finished the chairman came and told me the closure was permanent and offered me foreman at Tip Tops Epsom factory. I had the opportunity to buy the Manurewa place we were living in so Sharyn and John didn’t have to change schools. Sharyn had been born in New Plymouth while we were at Bell Block, 30 September 1947. !

While I was at Tip Top I was offered a Colombo Plan Appointment to New Delhi, India. Under the Colombo plan the Indian government provided the land and buildings and New Zealand provided Sterling $80,000 for the plant – A lot of money in 1959. !

! !!

My area of responsibity was the ice cream section, but when I got there found that I had the whole by products to look after.! At my final briefing at Wellington I was told that the plant was installed and they were waiting for me to arrive and start it up.I knew nothing about dried milk or ghee and so he to do some swatting. !

When I was in Wellington for my final briefing before leaving I was told that the plant was all installed and that they were waiting for me to arrive and get things started. What a load of rubbish. The Danish Engineers had walked off the job in disgust. They couldn’t even get a temporary line to check the rotation of the motors even though power was being used less than 50 yards away. They came back about a month after I got there. It was a great introduction to what turned out to be the most frustrating and disappointing job I have ever had. The place was run by a most autocratic bureaucrat from the Indian Department of Agriculture. Anything I asked for or suggested was either shelved or turned down on the spot. We eventually ran every machine to prove we could do it but there were months between each run. I couldn’t get materials or men. We never made enough ice cream to be able to put it on the market.!

My contact at the New Zealand High Commission was Bob De Lambert. The trade commissioner and I often used to call into the office on my way to the dairy which was on the other side of the city. One morning I was blowing my top to Bob. He just sat there and when I had cooled down he said: “Frank, stop banging your head against a brick wall, cool down and let things go the Indian way, don’t take work home, write your reports out at the diary”. Sit back and be a part time tourist. Bob had been in India for ten years and was married to an Indian so his advice wasn’t to be taken lightly. So I eased up. I thought at that time that the ice cream plant was 20 years ahead of India and still think so. Seven years after I came home I was to read a report, things hadn’t changed. I really believe the Dr. Sikka did not want the ice cream section to run. !

We had arrived early in September 1959 on a 12 month contract and provided with a Hillman Husky car. Our accommodation was a suite at 1 Mansing Road. It had been a Maharajah’s Palace and during the 1939-45 war it was a rest and recuperation centre for army officers. In the main building were seven suites, each had a lounge, one, two or three bedrooms (ours had three) and a room which could

be used as a kitchen. The staff had a separate entrance with stairs and could bring meals up from the kitchen if we wished. We always had our meals in the dining room down stairs. Our room bearer was also our table bearer. There were also small motel type units around the grounds. While we were there we had people of 30 nationalities, all working at their high commissions or embassies or like us working for their governments. There was a high concrete wall around the property and chokedahs (watchmen) at the gates. The servant quarters were away down at the back. The only time we saw much of them was at Christmas when the owner/manager put on a concert and snacks for them on the front lawn. We spent the last three months in what was called a caretaker flat. Two Swiss embassy girls were on leave and we got it on a very low rental. It had three bedrooms, lounge, dining/kitchen etc; all on the ground floor. The two upper floors were taken up by cocoa-cola offices and we had access to the flat roof. All the girls staff went with the flat, bearer for inside, part time gardener and a chokedah. When we were home the gate would be shut all the time. If we went out at night we shut the gate behind us but it would be open when we got home. It would be closed before we got out of the car; he had been waiting for us. !

We saw most of the touristy places and a lot of places tourists never see. We went up to the Presbyterian mission field in the Punjab and a village near New Delhi. They were harvesting the day we went out. They were threshing grain, the threshing machine was a boy driving a couple of oxen towing a frame with discs cutting the seed heads and a man then gathered up the small stuff and shook it out for the wind to blow the chaff away and the grain to fall to the ground at his feet. The most modern thing they had was their church, it looked so out of place. ! We went to Agra to see the Taj Mahal at daybreak, noon and full moonlight. It is really a beautiful building and must have been a remarkable sight before being stripped of its jewels. We had booked accommodation early because full moon was the peak period, when we arrived we were told that the rooms had been double booked and the best they could get for us was an Indian hotel which on a scale of one to ten would have been off the scale. We had a big room with four chapoi Indian rope beds), a drain running from the kitchen across the middle and rats everywhere. !

Our next stop was Jaipur, our accommodation the other end of the scale. The place belonged to a Raja who at the time was Indian Ambassador to Laos . He kept his servants on and took in guests from Embassies and High Commissions. !

Before we came home I was sent to Bombay for a week. During that time I was able to visit Poona and see and Indian Co-op dairy. Some farmers were delivering their milk, surplus after taking what they needed for themselves, billy lots of half to two gallons of buffalo milk. They knew what butter fat content they were paid for so added water to bring it down. The water came out of the nearest drain. One chap had a bicycle with two five gallon cans hanging from the handlebars; he rode 15 miles and crossed two rivers. I also went to Annaud and the Aary colony. New Zealand was involved with both places under the Colombo Plan. I had seen some of the old dairies in Bombay and they were pretty filthy, and although the Aary colony took 32000 cattle off the streets another 40000 were still in the outer suburbs .They were all buffalo that I saw housed in long barns two to a stall, 250 in each. There was a roadway through the centre with a stream of carts going through; all loaded with freshly cut green grass. It was two feet high before it was cut, the soil and weather is ideal for growing this particular grass. The milk was delivered to Annuand in stainless steel tankers provided by New Zealand. The cattle are housed in 52 colonies each of 500 animals. It is a co-operative set up. Producers have their own staff in the units. The largest producers are tow brothers and their families which have 530 between them. The units are run by: one manager for each two units, one veterinary officer for each four units with an assistant vet for each two units. They have a total staff of 5000, 200 vehicles, 16 double unit rail tankers and four road tanks, 8 tractor s and four bulldozers. Under the Colombo Plan New Zealand also provided accommodation for 120 students doing a dairy technocoligy course. !

From the Aary Colony I went to Ahmedabad. I was supposed to have travelled back to Delhi next day by train but the hotel staff forgot to wake me so I spent the day in Ahmedabad and flew back that nightl. During the day I was escorted around the city by the wife of a professor. When we climbed the Shaking Towers I could see 360% and counted 81 smoke stacks. Ahmadabad is a textile city. From Bombay I flew to Nagpur to change planes and fly north to Delhi. We had about three hours at Nagpur as it is the meeting place of planes to and from Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras so there were eight planes swapping freight and passengers. !

Among the VIPs that visited Delhi that year were Eisenhower, USA, Nasser, Egypt and Kruschehev, and USSR. We saw Eisenhower arrive at Palam airport. What a crowd. He was late arriving and it was nearly dark and so it was hone in the dark. Pedestrians, bullock carts, tongas, cars and trucks all

mixed up and going at snail pace. For Nasser we were at Connaught Circle Shopping Centre. I never saw Krushchev. Jean did. She had been to some Commonwealth do and she was on her way home with a Canadian professor also a resident of 1 Mansing Road. when she got tangled up in the prosession She was tickled pink driving our red Hillman huskey with Gordon as passenger wearing a bright red tie. !

On our way back to New Zealand we went via Hong Kong. In 1960 you could go broke saving money, things were so cheap. There is not such a difference in today’s prices. We were introduced to a Chinese gentleman attached to the High Commission and he was able to save us a lot on our purchases. We were also able to do a lot of sightseeing, more than if we had been on our own. !

We arrived in Sydney in time to see the Waratah festival parade and left that night on the Gothic for Auckland. Jean, John and Sharyn had never been at sea so it was a great experience for them, especially as we were travelling first class. Jean and I had the honeymoon suite. !

On my return to Auckland I worked in the laboratory for a few weeks on some experimental work and was then asked to go to Christchurch to help Apex ice cream out of a hole. They had lost their production manager through illness, also the foreman and mix maker. The new foreman had a mechanical background, ex RAF. The mix maker came off the bottling line at the milk processing plant. Their only experience with ice cream was eating it. Sales were rising and freezer stocks vanishing. However, with a willing and co-operative staff and a lot of overtime we soon had things turned around. Three hours Monday to Thursday and 8 hours on Saturdays. I took in a small team on Boxing Day to do one line only. We did not have to do any overtime at New Year. !

About the end of November I was asked to stay on as production manager. I was living at the local City Hotel and the company flew Jean and John down for Christmas. Jean was able to say yes to the purchase of a new home, partly finished which I had bought subject ot her approval. It had been built for a man who had ben recalled to Auckland and we were able to pick our own colours and floor coverings. We were not far from the Burnside High School, Sharyn was able to go as they were so new they only catered for third and fourth forms. John was fifth and so had to go to Papanui Boys High. The family never settled there. Cook Strait separated them from their friends and relations in Auckland and New Plymouth and John was wanting to go to Victoria University in Wellington. !

So it was up and away again. This time to Bunnythorpe near Palmerston North as assistant manager at Glaxo Laboraties dried milk factory where we made the base for Glaxo baby food. Glaxo had built a factory in 1904 especially to make dried milk. They soon learned that dried milk on its own was not a satisfactory food for infants and so they started experimenting and came up with “Glaxo Baby Powder” with the slogan “Glaxo Builds Bonny Babies”. It must have been good because as an infant I was a very sick kid in Karatane hospital in Dunedin, then someone started feeding me Glaxo baby food and I’ve never looked back. We were to get a new factory in the 1970s, the earthworks were nearly completed and the contracts ready to be signed when overnight the whole project was dropped and the factory was to be closed and there were 70 people out of work. Some retired, some found other jobs, and some of us went to Manawatu Dairy Co. I went as assistant manger. I had been there two years when John’s widow (he had been killed in a car accident in the USA two years earlier) and her mother told us they would be with us for Christmas. An assistant manager of a dairy factory doesn’t ask for leave in the peak of the season so I retired. We had been over there for their wedding in Corvallis, Oregon. He was four weeks into a new job planning a new industrial city and had gone down to see something in Virginia while Lois went shopping. He hit a patch of black ice and piled into an other car and walked away from the car thinking he had hurt his knee. He was badly injured internally and after six hours on the operating table he died. 19 October 1974. We were able to give them a good trip around New Zealand without worrying about work. !

While in Bunnythorpe I had bought a caravan shell, walls, roof, windows fitted and I did the rest from floor to ceiling. With that van we were able to see some of the South Island we had not seen from Christchurch and toured extensively in the north. !

I didn’t have a job for a while then I got a message to see Fred Pearson an old friend who was registrar at the teachers college. He was wanting to make some experimental changes in his staff and needed someone to come in 4 hours a day and be prepared to leave at a moments notice while he sorted things out. I did 20 hours the first week and then it was 40. I did the job for 9 months and then he asked me to do an inventory of the college. That was a very interesting assignment. Scott had arrived by then and as I had practically finished the inventory we decided that we would be more help to Sharyn if we were closer. Scott was born on 6 September 1977. Kym was born 1 November 1975 and she was

already a big help to Sharyn. So we sold the house. At the farewell morning tea I said It ha been a very pleasant 12 months and the best job I had ever had. Someone piped up “and it took you 50 years to find it”. How true. A lot of change some good some not so and many no fault of mine. My working life had a lot of ups and downs, the ups won. !

We bought a place overlooking Stanmore Bay on the Whangaparoa Peninsular. It was two story with a self contained flat on the ground floor, very convenient for Sharyn who was living in Papatoetoe a southern suburb of Auckland. All she had to do was toss some extra clothes and food into the car and she was away. We had been there two years when Sharyn and Richard left to take up a position in Sydney, a very good move. About the same time Jean was diagnosed as having Lymphoma and was receiving treatment at the Auckland hospital. She was on the toughest course of chemotherapy in use in Australia and New Zealand at the time. The drag home was too tough on her so we shifted to Pakuranga, one of the new eastern suburbs of Auckland. Jean said she wasn’t going to lie down to cancer so we got going as soon as the doctors allowed. Sharyn booked us on the Indian Pacific to Perth and we flew back to Sydney. I had seen Perth in January 1940 and hoped I would see more of it some time in the future, it took 36 years. We had seen it from the air with the lights coming on when we flew to India in 1959 and Jean said then that she wanted to see more of it. We had a first class compartment and Jean was able to lie down any time she wished too. She had just come off chemotherapy and we didn’t know at the time she was going to have about 14 year’s remission. We visited Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Honolulu and Canada. We had booked and paid for a trip to the South Eastern States of USA, when the cancer started up again. She went to Middlemore hospital then was transferred to Auckland. The doctor told us that with her extra years the cancer was more active and that all he could do was keep her as comfortable as possible for as long as possible. Sadly she died on 10 October 1993. Sister Ada died 14 May 1994, two days after her 82nd birthday. Ellie died of cancer 21 January 2000. Here it is 29 July and I will be 99 on 10 August, only 12 days away. !

I came over here 25 March 1994. I have a unit, one of eight on a battleaxe section behind Sharyn. The first weekend I was here Richard got the chain saw out and cut a hole in the fence and made a gate of it. Very convenient, straight into Sharyn’s back yard. !

I had a heart attack out on the street in 1999 and a stroke in 2003. I am currently in pretty good knick using a stick inside some of the time; have a walking frame the rest of the time. Both my GP Dr. Anne Lowe and my cardiologist Dr. Melissa Doohan think that if I continue as I am I should reach the 100. !

I joined Probus Pakurana, the third formed in New Zealand and we had been able to do some good trips with our Probus friends. I joined Probus Northern Line in 1994 and have had some good trips over here. Have done some trips on my own, eg. Broken Hill and Kangaroo Island. !

I still enjoy going to Granny Smith each Friday. It is one of over 70 RSL day clubs in NSW. These clubs were started by the RSL NSW and the department of Veteran Affairs. Nor specifically for RSL members and dependants but for the people in the community who because of age, illness or other inability have little or no social life. For some of our members it is the only outing they have. The first day I went along I saw that I didn’t need looking after and became a volunteer. I have been a volunteer for nearly 18 years and wear a 15 year bar on my RSL day club volunteer’s badge. In 2004 I was honoured by the Epping sub-branch when they presented me with my life members badge in recognition of my work at granny Smith Day club. I still can’t see why I received the honour, what I do there is a privilege and a pleasure. !

I have been an active member of the New Zealand sub=branch of the RSL for about five – six years. It feels good to be present and take part in a meeting when you know that they are all New Zealanders. We have Greg Makutu as secretary treasurer and its amazing what that man dose for our members especially the ex WW2 Veterans. He made it possible for two of us to take part in this years Anzac day march in Sydney. I used to attend the march and service at Epping but the hear attack and stroke put that out of bounds. There were three of us in the front row of the New Zealand Contingent. New Zealand always lead the march here in Sydney and the Australian lead it in Wellington. Maurice Boreland was in a wheelchair on the right and pushed by his daughter. In the centre was Ken Frank escorted by his daughter. Ken has MD. I was on the left also on a wheelchair and pushed by my daughter Sharyn. I didn’t know she was anywhere near Sydney she has been living up at Wangi Wangi on Lake Macquarrie for the last three years. Greg was on the phone and I heard him say Sharyn so asked what he was up to. He had arranged with Sharyn that she come down and push me in the parade. After the march Maurice and I were interviewed by Steve Marshall from NZTV 1 and his report was shown on the news in New Zealand. I got a phone call from NZ as soon as it was over, Sharyn had several emails. !

For the last two years I have been attending a clinic at speech therapy dept. at Hornsby hospital. The first stroke took half my voice and the second one left me with a whisper. The girls have helped me get some of it back and have given me so much confidence I was able to give a talk at the New Zealand sub branch on Greece and Crete. Since then I have spoken at Granny Smiths, on the presentation of the Maori Artefacts to mum in 1922. In 2010 and again in 2011 I was guest speaker at the 1st Carlingford Ventures at their Queen Scout Award Presentation night and am at present working on a speech to my Probus Club. How do you squeeze 99 years into sixty minutes?!

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Ă&#x2013;! I have been helped by many people putting this address together from London, Perth, Sydney, Auckland, New Plymouth and Wellington. I thank them all and they will understand if I mention two of these people. The first is my friendly librarian from Hornsby Shire library who when she knew what I was doing started bringing me books. Over the months she brought me every book she could find in the Hornsby library which had anything to do with Greece or Crete in 1941. She also raided the state library; one book came from the Melbourne University library. Thank you Helen. The other lady is the press sectary at the Consulate General of Greece who sent me the history of the Helenic Navy and the Greek Merchant Marine. Thank you Hara. !

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I think this is a good time to end this story covering 98 years and 355 days. ! Now you know SOME of the incidents along the way. !

Frank ! !

30 July 2012. ! !