Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 3, 2011 1:39:31 GMT 12
I am very saddened to report the news that my wonderful Great Uncle Ted "Bluey" Homewood has passed away, aged 90.
I would like to share a little of his life.
Edward Cecil Homewood, known to all as either Bluey or Ted, was born in Auckland on the 31st of July 1921, the youngest of a family of twelve children. When he was three his Mum passed away, leaving his Dad and elder sisters to cope with the family. The family moved from Point Chevalier to Drury when Ted was still young, and his father had a small farm situated exactly where the State Highway One Drury off-ramp now lies.
Ted would bike to Papakura and get a bus to school, but at the age of 12 he felt he was getting nowhere with school and he was unhappy with his family life, not getting on with his father's new lady. So he ran away from home. He didn't go far, just down the road to the Morgan farm, where Mr Morgan took him on as a farm hand and stable boy. This Mr Morgan's grandson is Gareth Morgan of TradeMe fame. Bluey told me his was thoroughly happy with the Morgans, but sadly after a year or so they decided to move away and not take him. He moved onto a similar job on another farm down the road. However the farmer was a tyrant who ill treated young Ted and the other boys workign there. One night a huge storm blew up and Ted was orderedto put covers on the horses. He spent hours in the rain and lightning trying to catch the horses without success till he was exhausted. he was still only about 13 and had no chance. The boss asked him next morning if he'd covered the horses and he replied no, honestly. The boss flew off the handle and told him he'd "be down the road first thing Monday morning." Tes replied, "No I bloody won't!" The boss asked, "Why not?!!" And Ted shouted, "Because I'm bloody going now!". He grabbed his few things and stormed off.
As he made it to the road he made up his mind that he would take to the road and become a tramp, which was the fashion then. He fet good to be out of there and considered himself as having a new lease on life. He rounded a corner and met a school mate, Bill Darwin, who asked him what he was doing. "I'm goign to hump my bluey" he replied, which Ted told me was the slang then for becoming a swagman, or swaggie. Bill said, "No you're not, you'll come home with me, we have plenty of room and Mum will look after you. Don't you worry." So Bluey went with him.
Getting to the Darwins he found there were Mr and Mrs Darwin, and about seven kids, all in a one room house. And yet he was welcomed in with open arms and made at home. The Darwins treated him like one of their boys, and he came to call them Mum and Pop.
Bluey was by now working in Auckland city, his first job if I remember right was pushing a handcart roiund the city picking up goods from the wharf and taking them to shops. He then got the more glamorous job as an elevator boy, a job he had in a couple of stores, one being Briscoes and then at Smith and Caugheys if I recall rightly.
In 1938 Bluey noted the boys were all joining the Territorials. He and Bill Darwin were 17 and they decided the best thing to do was avoid the Army and go for the blue uniform of the Air Force, because they would "get more girls" was the theory. So the two of them went along and filled in the forms for what seems to have been the Auckland (Territorial) Squadron of the RNZAF, both lying about their ages. That was the last they heard of it. They never got the blue uniforms or the girls.
Then a year later the war broke out, and a few weeks later Bluey received call up papers. They had him on the list due to that form he'd filled put more than a year before, and the RNZAF wanted him as an Air Gunner, which he must have indicated in his initial application. He reported for a medical and they said he needed his tonsils removed. That took some time as there was a waiting list for the hospital. He finally had the op and recovered, and then got given a ticket to head to Levin to join up in february 1940.
This was the first time he'd ever been south of Ngaruawahia, so it was a massive trip for him. The RNZAF had no idea he was still only 18, they believed he was 21 as he'd put his age up a fair bit.
He did his training and then there was a period of waiting around at Levin for what was supposed to be his Air Gunners course. The highlight for him while at Levin was being sent to Wellington to march in the Honour Guard for the funeral cortege of the Prime Minister, Michael Savage. he was very proud of that.
This wait at Levin was frustrating but he was even more annoyed when in April they sent him to Wigram, and put him into the Stores by day counting boxes, and at night they made him push aeroplanes around the tarmac during night flying. His youthful theory was now he was even further away from the war, which he desperately wanted to get into. Every few days he would boldly march into the office of Warrant Officer (later Sqn Ldr) Jimmy "The Bull" Duncan and demand to know when he would be going on his course, each time being shouted at to get out and back to work. They had a running battle, and hated each other. He rememebred that on a parade The Bul once asked, "Who here likes music?" Bluey assumed there was going to be a concert, so put his hand up. The Bull replied, "Good, get down to the officer's mess and shift the piano!"
One day, on the 15th of May 1940, his patience wore thin. he was on leave in Cathedral Square. He was looking at an Army recruiting booth and bemoaning to the recruiting Sgt that he was stick at Wigram carryign boxes and pushing aeroplanes when he wanted to get to grips with the enemy. The Sgt tapped the form and said. "Get your name down here son, we'll 'ave you."
So he signed up to join the Army. When the paperwork filtered through to the RNZAF, The Bull tore seven strips off him, and even tried to make him take off his Air Force uniform right there in the office but Bluey stood his ground. The Army was having him and Bluey felt he'd beaten The Bull.
A few days later he was at Lyttleton, on the ferry and up at Trentham, in the Army. The camp was new in the area where they were. The Army had simply knocked out a space in the scrub, and there were still sticks of toitoi and other shrubbery on their parade ground. The officer assigned to train them was a man who later became famous in NZ, Selwyn Toogood. Bluey reckoned all the other blokes in the platoon were older than him, and they'd all just walked out of the bush and off high country farms, and were rough as guts. He was the only city slicker, and the only one who had any training. he reckoned his drill was like a palace guard next to the others, and the officerand NCO's liked him a lot. He recalled an inspection where a senior officer came to look at them. He gave the order to open order march. On doing so one man at the back row was fidgeting intensely whilst menat to be at attention. The officer said, "You there, that man, stand still." The reply was, "I can't sir," and he asked "Why Not?" The rough as guts soldier replied, "Cos I've got a stick sticking right up my arse Sir!" Bluey said it was hilarios, they all fell apart laughing.
Soon they were fully trained and the men of the camp were all marched to the wharves where they were to board ships as part of the Third Echelon of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Forces, headed for Maadi Camp, Egypt. Lined up and almost to the gangplank, Bluey felt a hand on his shouder. Someone had discovered his true age. he was just 19, and therefore could not go overseas. He and around twenty other under aged boys were pulled out of that Third Echelon he said, and it was the worst feeling in the world to know his mates were all sailing without him.
He was sent back to Auckland and manpowered into a job at the Reid Rubber Co., working on a lathe making rings for jam jars. This completely infuriated him as he'd never been near a lathe before but was a trained soldier, and theyhad him doing something he hated. He continued to protest till they released him back into the Army, joining a regiment at Narrow Neck. There they were on garrison duty around several Auckland North Shore defence bases, and he did a lot of specialist training. This included an exercise where he and a few others were tasked to take the Orewa bridge and then mock blow it up. They were given sticks of dynamite for the exercise. None of them had handled it before and so they were unsure of its power. They stuck all their sticks together and apparently what was meant to be a small bang lifted the bridge off its pile a bit! Luckily it settled down ok again. Another task at this time was after the Japanese entered the war he and others form the Army were sent round the local farms to take the barbed wire from their fences to use on the beaches as the Army didn't have enough. No asking, just taking. This was the first time they came under fire, from angry farmers with shotguns!
Eventually he was selected to go overseas again, now of full age. he joined the 8th Reinforcements I think it was, and went to North Africa, He was allocated to 21 Battalion and was involved in several of the later battles there including at Medenine, the Mareth Line and Takrouna. He was one of those who was on Starvation Hill. And he also witnessed Sgt Manahae's fight that should have had him awarded the VC.
Something interesting Bluey told me about the desert was when the kiwis moved forward anywhere in trucks they took rugby balls. They would kick the ball as far as they could, then drive to it, and then someone whould kick it again. It kept the morale up when headed towards a battle he said. I asked another veteran about this and he said he did see that too.
After North Africa was won, they marched back to Egypt and while at Maadi an order came through requesting one man to go on a course. The CO he had then decided Bluey would go. It was a British Commando course, run in southern Egypt, and to full Commando standards. All the others on the course were British soldiers hoping to become full time commandoes, plus Bluey and one Maori chap from 28 (Maori) Battalion. The Brits he said were all massive burly guys, true commando types, while Bluey and the Maori were both smaller. They got a bit of ribbing from the poms which made them more determined to finish, and they stuck together. The two kiwis passed out as fully trained British Commandoes, ahead of some of the others on the course. Bluey had absolutely loved it and he said it was the fittest he's ever been. He learned a lot and would rememebr a lot of that training later.
He returned to 21 Battaion and was among the first lot who then went to Italy. He was now a Corporal. He fought in the early battles, Sangro River and Orsogna Road. Then byt the time he got to Cassino he was a Lance Sergeant, in No. 16 Platoon of 21 Battalion.
On a night patrol beside the river not long after he'd just arrived at Cassino, Bluey was one of five men who had a fire fight with Germans and Bluey managed to capture the first German prisoner taken at Cassino. He turned out to be a top guy to capture as he was an engineer who was very proud of the fortifications he'd been building and was happy to skite about them to the intelligence boys, spilling lots of valuable information.
Later in the Battle of Cassino No's 16 and 17 Platoons, D Company, 21 battalion were told to enter the town and attempt to capture the German held Hotel de Roses. This turned into a disaster as they were ambushed on the way in, and his platoon commander Dewson took three bullets in each arm and was out of it, taken back by the medics. The fight grew in intensity and more and more kiwis were getting hit. Bluey's platoon got into a casa only 100 metres from the objectiive but were pinned down, and so set up a defensive position but were amazed to watch as the entire other platoon to a man surrendered on the spot and were marched off by the Germans. By this time with no CO one of the two Sgts should have taken over command. Sadly as the battle went ont hrough the night one of the Sgts was wounded. the other apparently lost it completely, crawled under a table and began to cry. Bluey was next in command and he stepped up to the plate. He organised a plan for them to withdraw, taking the wounded and most importantly the radio which the didn't want to have fall into enemy hands. The plan worked, they all got out and away, but in the fire fight of the withdrawal Bluey took a machinegun round to the neck, and one of his best mates right beside him copped it in both legs.
When they got back the wounded were sent off down the line to hospital in Bari, including Bluey. His mate that had been machinegunned in both legs survived the injuries but lost both legs. Bluey told me after the war he went to see him. The Government had given him a State House, with nine steps and the front and twelve at the back!
After a short period to mend (luckily the bullet had done no real damage) Bluey returned to Cassino to find that the Sgt who'd hidden under the twable and cried for most of the battle had been awarded a medal for valour in the way he had supposedly organised the men and gotten them out alive. I was furious when Bluey tod me this, but he was philosophical. He said everyone who was there knew what really happened, and till that point he had been a brave soldier, but along with the medal he was also taken off the line and sent home. So the boys didn't need to worry that he'd do it again. What really annoys me is that the Official History has it written up the Sgt's way, and it's a lie. Bluey told me that after the war when the Official History was being compiled he used to get regular letters from them begging for him to contribute his memories and he always threw them away as he was too busy on his farm to worry about it. Later in life he regretted it so much as he had much more to tell. Luckily his story has been recorded a few times now, by the Auckland War Memorial Museum and by me twice, one on audio tape and the other on video.
Anyway, the war in Italy progressed. Before they had gone to Cassino when it was still winter the guys had been trudging through snow, and Bluey had found a sungle wide ski which he nicked form a shed and found he got on much better with his gear on the ski and scooting along with one foot uphill, and sledding downhill on his bum on it. so when after Cassino an order came through for one man to be sent to the NZ Ski School in Syria, the CO said, "Send Bluey, he can ski." Bluey was taken aback because he wasn't really a skier, but he went, and in the mountains of Syria he was trained to become a mountain troop. He loved it.
Again he returned to the unit and rejoined the men. Now a Sgt he went ona long patrol one day, the men were all tired and he decided they would take a rest in a disused bakery. Everyone bedded down, and he decided to climb into the big ancient stone oven which went back deep. Another bloke thought that was a good place to kip and climbed in too. They went to sleep. he remembered vaguely waking momentarily and seeing a flash and then he awoke again with a headache hours later. Everyone else had gone, the wall of the building had gone and his mate beside him was very dead. The bakery had been hit by a tiger tank shell. He made it back to his unit and found that the others were all ok but they'd assumed he'd died in the oven with his mate as that area got the direct hit. he was very lucky, his mate was not.
Bluey had many more battles and adventures and lost more mates as they worked their way up Italy. Too many to write about here. He had one particularly good friend die in his arms, and saw another who had just escaped from captivity and returned hit by a shell right in front of him. He and his platoon slept once in a house where a magnificent show bull had been left. He was freindly and lived inside the home in the basement. The boys all loved him and brushed and fed him for a day or two. Then the Germans counterattacked and a shell hit the bull, and it fell down dead on the man beside him. It took several men to get the big bull off the por chap who was otherwise unharmed. The bull in being there had saved the chap's life, but the boys were all upset at the Germans for killing the bull.
At the Po River he was one of several kiwis who came under fire from American P-47D Thunderbolts. Much to his embarrassment just before when planes were first heard, he'd loudly exclaimed "Don't worry, they're ours!" After the strafing they got where several kiwi trucks were blown up and guys hit, he got a bit of a ribbing with boys mimicking his confident exclamation of "Don't worry, they'd ours!" They didn't really trust the Yanks after that.
Bluey had done an OCTU course and been promoted to 2nd Lieutenant by now, and as they advanced up the country he was often leading the fight from the front. He and one of his mates (the one who later died in his arms) had been the first Allies ever to cross one of the rivers, I think it was the Arno but would have to check again, when they rowed across with Partisans to scope out the ground.
As the war neared its end his platoon took hundreds of prisoners. One of them spoke to him and Bluey could not believe it, he was a kiwi in German uniform. Bluey asked the guy how come, and the guy explained. His parents were both german but had moved to New Zealand in the 1920's or a little before. He had been born in NZ and grew up there, but before the war he'd gone to germany to study in a particular university. When the war broke out he got a letter from his parents saying they'd been interred at Soames Island. He was not in any way supportive of Hitler but he weighed up his otions, go home and spend the war in prison, or stay in Germany and have relative freedom. he chose to stay, but a few years into the war was conscripted. He ended up in Italy fighting his fellow kiwis. Quite a dillemma. And now the really freaky thing, Bluey asked where he was from, and he said Drury. This is staggering, as that is where Bluey was from. It is a small village these days and was a much smaller place then. One asking about his parents Bluey realised he actually knew the bloke's fatehr, and had been to his place of business on many occasions. Isn't that a remarkable story, two boys from a small village one one side of the world, enemies on the other side of the world but chatting like old mates. He told me the chap's name, I won't mention it here as I believe the family are still in Drury. Bluey said he chatted to the chap for ages and was sorry when he had to hand him over to the prison camp. Iwonder what happened to him, I'll doubt many other kiwi soldiers gave him such a cheery welcome to captivity as Bluey had.
Bluey was involved in the taking of Trieste of course, and then was granted a few weeks leave. He and fellow 2 Lt Mike Kennedy, who later became a General, took a truck and a driver, and they drove from Trieste to Austria without any real authorisation to do so, to go skiing as they'd heard it was good there. They then decided to go and see Hitler's house, and went to Burchesgarden. There were Yanks everywhere and they wouldn't let them into Hitlers place so they went to Goerings and had a look round. Bluey told me he went into the wine cellar, and this is just a few weeks afetr the war ended, and he said there was not a bottle left. The Yanks had plundered tens of thousand sof bottles in that short time.
He said he and Mike Kennedy were chuffed as the Yanks kept calling them Major, they hadn't worked out they were only 2nd Lt's and they dind't have the heart to mention it. It's possible they may even have bumped into Easy Company there.
They then drove on, and ran out of gas. The Yanks wouldn't authorise them fuel so while Bluey and Mike kept the fuel guard talking the driver nipped round the back and nicked a few jerry cans full.
They eventually got back to Trieste and soon he was on the way home. When he was demobbed he returned to the Darwins place for a while but then he got a farm drawn in the ballot in the serviceman's scheme and it was at Bruntwood, Cambridge. He had just been selected to play halfback for the Counties-Manukau rugby side, a club he'd helped establish as a founding member, but he had to give it away to come south. Incidentally Bluey had played rugby for the New Zealand Army against the Italian Army in Rome in 1945. I asked if they won and he replied "We creamed them boy!"
Once settled on his farm he joined the local Territorial Army, which was an artillary unit base din Cambridge at the time.
He was at the pub one day and was offered a cheap horse. He decided to buy it and was proudly walking home with it, leading the horse. He met a mate who asked, "What are you going to do with that horse Bluey?" He proudly replied, "I'm gonna race it!" And his mate retorted, "Yeah, and you'll beat it too!"
He did race the horse though. It was hopeless but he had lots of fun. He told me some locals who's fatehr was big in the racing industry invited him to come to Taurangaand race the horse there. They put it in their float and took it across. Whenit was time to come back their father who was a bit of a grump decided he was taking the float, and there was no way they could sneak the horse back in it without him knowing. Bluey was stranded but then someone came up with a flatbed truck. So they loaded this poor horse on it and it had to stand on the back of a flatbed Bedford all the way back to Cambridge, with no rails, over the winding Kaimai hills! They made it back, drove into the paddock and then realised they had no loading ramp at this end. No problems, they simply got up beside the horse and shoved it off onto the ground below! Hilarious.
He had a fall from the horse one day in his paddock and ended up in hospital. There was a nurse there looking after him who told him, "You know, you really ought to take much better care of yourself." He replied, "Do you want the job?" That is one of the best marriage proposals I had ever heard, they were married and had two kids.
My grandparents moved to Bruntwood from Ardmore to live on the same farm, in a house nextdoor to Blueys. Bluey and my grandad Jim had been very close brothers and this is how my branch of the family on that side came to Cambridge. My Dad was 15 then, in 1954. Dad and Bluey were great mates too, and the two were very alike.
In the late 1950's Bluey got sick of farming and he and his family moved to Paihia, then a tiny coastal village, and he became a builder - responsible for building many of the homes and buildings in the town.
he was an avid sailor and had sailed around the Pacific and also done the entire coast around Australia. He had also acted as a guide aboard the replica Endeavour when it was in NZ for a while as a tourist attraction.
About ten years ago he moved to Whangarei as a widower to live in The falls retirement village. I stayed with him there last year and we had a brilliant time, he was king of the village, everyone knew and clearly love dhim and he was so proud to introduce me to all his mates.
A month ago I and my family went to Auckland where about 50 of us celebrated his 90th birthday. He was in fine form as ever, the life of the party. A few days ago while out on his regular morning walk around the neighbourhood, he fell and cracked his skull. He was in hospital unconcious,a nd we're told died at 5.30am Saturday 2nd of September, 2011.
I shall miss him terrinbly. He was one of my real heroes and he told me so much more than anyone else about my grandfatehr who I never knew as he died when iw as two. For me Bluey was like the grandad I never had, and I am proud to have known him. It was only in recent years I got to know him properly, but since then we've spoken on the phone and met up, and I have enjoyed every moment with him. He was a war hero and a family hero, and he still had lots of friends and was active and busy. Many of us will miss him. RIP Uncle Ted.
Bluey in the RNZAf in 1940
Bluey in the Army c. 1941
Bluey on his 90th birthday party on 30th July 2011
I would like to share a little of his life.
Edward Cecil Homewood, known to all as either Bluey or Ted, was born in Auckland on the 31st of July 1921, the youngest of a family of twelve children. When he was three his Mum passed away, leaving his Dad and elder sisters to cope with the family. The family moved from Point Chevalier to Drury when Ted was still young, and his father had a small farm situated exactly where the State Highway One Drury off-ramp now lies.
Ted would bike to Papakura and get a bus to school, but at the age of 12 he felt he was getting nowhere with school and he was unhappy with his family life, not getting on with his father's new lady. So he ran away from home. He didn't go far, just down the road to the Morgan farm, where Mr Morgan took him on as a farm hand and stable boy. This Mr Morgan's grandson is Gareth Morgan of TradeMe fame. Bluey told me his was thoroughly happy with the Morgans, but sadly after a year or so they decided to move away and not take him. He moved onto a similar job on another farm down the road. However the farmer was a tyrant who ill treated young Ted and the other boys workign there. One night a huge storm blew up and Ted was orderedto put covers on the horses. He spent hours in the rain and lightning trying to catch the horses without success till he was exhausted. he was still only about 13 and had no chance. The boss asked him next morning if he'd covered the horses and he replied no, honestly. The boss flew off the handle and told him he'd "be down the road first thing Monday morning." Tes replied, "No I bloody won't!" The boss asked, "Why not?!!" And Ted shouted, "Because I'm bloody going now!". He grabbed his few things and stormed off.
As he made it to the road he made up his mind that he would take to the road and become a tramp, which was the fashion then. He fet good to be out of there and considered himself as having a new lease on life. He rounded a corner and met a school mate, Bill Darwin, who asked him what he was doing. "I'm goign to hump my bluey" he replied, which Ted told me was the slang then for becoming a swagman, or swaggie. Bill said, "No you're not, you'll come home with me, we have plenty of room and Mum will look after you. Don't you worry." So Bluey went with him.
Getting to the Darwins he found there were Mr and Mrs Darwin, and about seven kids, all in a one room house. And yet he was welcomed in with open arms and made at home. The Darwins treated him like one of their boys, and he came to call them Mum and Pop.
Bluey was by now working in Auckland city, his first job if I remember right was pushing a handcart roiund the city picking up goods from the wharf and taking them to shops. He then got the more glamorous job as an elevator boy, a job he had in a couple of stores, one being Briscoes and then at Smith and Caugheys if I recall rightly.
In 1938 Bluey noted the boys were all joining the Territorials. He and Bill Darwin were 17 and they decided the best thing to do was avoid the Army and go for the blue uniform of the Air Force, because they would "get more girls" was the theory. So the two of them went along and filled in the forms for what seems to have been the Auckland (Territorial) Squadron of the RNZAF, both lying about their ages. That was the last they heard of it. They never got the blue uniforms or the girls.
Then a year later the war broke out, and a few weeks later Bluey received call up papers. They had him on the list due to that form he'd filled put more than a year before, and the RNZAF wanted him as an Air Gunner, which he must have indicated in his initial application. He reported for a medical and they said he needed his tonsils removed. That took some time as there was a waiting list for the hospital. He finally had the op and recovered, and then got given a ticket to head to Levin to join up in february 1940.
This was the first time he'd ever been south of Ngaruawahia, so it was a massive trip for him. The RNZAF had no idea he was still only 18, they believed he was 21 as he'd put his age up a fair bit.
He did his training and then there was a period of waiting around at Levin for what was supposed to be his Air Gunners course. The highlight for him while at Levin was being sent to Wellington to march in the Honour Guard for the funeral cortege of the Prime Minister, Michael Savage. he was very proud of that.
This wait at Levin was frustrating but he was even more annoyed when in April they sent him to Wigram, and put him into the Stores by day counting boxes, and at night they made him push aeroplanes around the tarmac during night flying. His youthful theory was now he was even further away from the war, which he desperately wanted to get into. Every few days he would boldly march into the office of Warrant Officer (later Sqn Ldr) Jimmy "The Bull" Duncan and demand to know when he would be going on his course, each time being shouted at to get out and back to work. They had a running battle, and hated each other. He rememebred that on a parade The Bul once asked, "Who here likes music?" Bluey assumed there was going to be a concert, so put his hand up. The Bull replied, "Good, get down to the officer's mess and shift the piano!"
One day, on the 15th of May 1940, his patience wore thin. he was on leave in Cathedral Square. He was looking at an Army recruiting booth and bemoaning to the recruiting Sgt that he was stick at Wigram carryign boxes and pushing aeroplanes when he wanted to get to grips with the enemy. The Sgt tapped the form and said. "Get your name down here son, we'll 'ave you."
So he signed up to join the Army. When the paperwork filtered through to the RNZAF, The Bull tore seven strips off him, and even tried to make him take off his Air Force uniform right there in the office but Bluey stood his ground. The Army was having him and Bluey felt he'd beaten The Bull.
A few days later he was at Lyttleton, on the ferry and up at Trentham, in the Army. The camp was new in the area where they were. The Army had simply knocked out a space in the scrub, and there were still sticks of toitoi and other shrubbery on their parade ground. The officer assigned to train them was a man who later became famous in NZ, Selwyn Toogood. Bluey reckoned all the other blokes in the platoon were older than him, and they'd all just walked out of the bush and off high country farms, and were rough as guts. He was the only city slicker, and the only one who had any training. he reckoned his drill was like a palace guard next to the others, and the officerand NCO's liked him a lot. He recalled an inspection where a senior officer came to look at them. He gave the order to open order march. On doing so one man at the back row was fidgeting intensely whilst menat to be at attention. The officer said, "You there, that man, stand still." The reply was, "I can't sir," and he asked "Why Not?" The rough as guts soldier replied, "Cos I've got a stick sticking right up my arse Sir!" Bluey said it was hilarios, they all fell apart laughing.
Soon they were fully trained and the men of the camp were all marched to the wharves where they were to board ships as part of the Third Echelon of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Forces, headed for Maadi Camp, Egypt. Lined up and almost to the gangplank, Bluey felt a hand on his shouder. Someone had discovered his true age. he was just 19, and therefore could not go overseas. He and around twenty other under aged boys were pulled out of that Third Echelon he said, and it was the worst feeling in the world to know his mates were all sailing without him.
He was sent back to Auckland and manpowered into a job at the Reid Rubber Co., working on a lathe making rings for jam jars. This completely infuriated him as he'd never been near a lathe before but was a trained soldier, and theyhad him doing something he hated. He continued to protest till they released him back into the Army, joining a regiment at Narrow Neck. There they were on garrison duty around several Auckland North Shore defence bases, and he did a lot of specialist training. This included an exercise where he and a few others were tasked to take the Orewa bridge and then mock blow it up. They were given sticks of dynamite for the exercise. None of them had handled it before and so they were unsure of its power. They stuck all their sticks together and apparently what was meant to be a small bang lifted the bridge off its pile a bit! Luckily it settled down ok again. Another task at this time was after the Japanese entered the war he and others form the Army were sent round the local farms to take the barbed wire from their fences to use on the beaches as the Army didn't have enough. No asking, just taking. This was the first time they came under fire, from angry farmers with shotguns!
Eventually he was selected to go overseas again, now of full age. he joined the 8th Reinforcements I think it was, and went to North Africa, He was allocated to 21 Battalion and was involved in several of the later battles there including at Medenine, the Mareth Line and Takrouna. He was one of those who was on Starvation Hill. And he also witnessed Sgt Manahae's fight that should have had him awarded the VC.
Something interesting Bluey told me about the desert was when the kiwis moved forward anywhere in trucks they took rugby balls. They would kick the ball as far as they could, then drive to it, and then someone whould kick it again. It kept the morale up when headed towards a battle he said. I asked another veteran about this and he said he did see that too.
After North Africa was won, they marched back to Egypt and while at Maadi an order came through requesting one man to go on a course. The CO he had then decided Bluey would go. It was a British Commando course, run in southern Egypt, and to full Commando standards. All the others on the course were British soldiers hoping to become full time commandoes, plus Bluey and one Maori chap from 28 (Maori) Battalion. The Brits he said were all massive burly guys, true commando types, while Bluey and the Maori were both smaller. They got a bit of ribbing from the poms which made them more determined to finish, and they stuck together. The two kiwis passed out as fully trained British Commandoes, ahead of some of the others on the course. Bluey had absolutely loved it and he said it was the fittest he's ever been. He learned a lot and would rememebr a lot of that training later.
He returned to 21 Battaion and was among the first lot who then went to Italy. He was now a Corporal. He fought in the early battles, Sangro River and Orsogna Road. Then byt the time he got to Cassino he was a Lance Sergeant, in No. 16 Platoon of 21 Battalion.
On a night patrol beside the river not long after he'd just arrived at Cassino, Bluey was one of five men who had a fire fight with Germans and Bluey managed to capture the first German prisoner taken at Cassino. He turned out to be a top guy to capture as he was an engineer who was very proud of the fortifications he'd been building and was happy to skite about them to the intelligence boys, spilling lots of valuable information.
Later in the Battle of Cassino No's 16 and 17 Platoons, D Company, 21 battalion were told to enter the town and attempt to capture the German held Hotel de Roses. This turned into a disaster as they were ambushed on the way in, and his platoon commander Dewson took three bullets in each arm and was out of it, taken back by the medics. The fight grew in intensity and more and more kiwis were getting hit. Bluey's platoon got into a casa only 100 metres from the objectiive but were pinned down, and so set up a defensive position but were amazed to watch as the entire other platoon to a man surrendered on the spot and were marched off by the Germans. By this time with no CO one of the two Sgts should have taken over command. Sadly as the battle went ont hrough the night one of the Sgts was wounded. the other apparently lost it completely, crawled under a table and began to cry. Bluey was next in command and he stepped up to the plate. He organised a plan for them to withdraw, taking the wounded and most importantly the radio which the didn't want to have fall into enemy hands. The plan worked, they all got out and away, but in the fire fight of the withdrawal Bluey took a machinegun round to the neck, and one of his best mates right beside him copped it in both legs.
When they got back the wounded were sent off down the line to hospital in Bari, including Bluey. His mate that had been machinegunned in both legs survived the injuries but lost both legs. Bluey told me after the war he went to see him. The Government had given him a State House, with nine steps and the front and twelve at the back!
After a short period to mend (luckily the bullet had done no real damage) Bluey returned to Cassino to find that the Sgt who'd hidden under the twable and cried for most of the battle had been awarded a medal for valour in the way he had supposedly organised the men and gotten them out alive. I was furious when Bluey tod me this, but he was philosophical. He said everyone who was there knew what really happened, and till that point he had been a brave soldier, but along with the medal he was also taken off the line and sent home. So the boys didn't need to worry that he'd do it again. What really annoys me is that the Official History has it written up the Sgt's way, and it's a lie. Bluey told me that after the war when the Official History was being compiled he used to get regular letters from them begging for him to contribute his memories and he always threw them away as he was too busy on his farm to worry about it. Later in life he regretted it so much as he had much more to tell. Luckily his story has been recorded a few times now, by the Auckland War Memorial Museum and by me twice, one on audio tape and the other on video.
Anyway, the war in Italy progressed. Before they had gone to Cassino when it was still winter the guys had been trudging through snow, and Bluey had found a sungle wide ski which he nicked form a shed and found he got on much better with his gear on the ski and scooting along with one foot uphill, and sledding downhill on his bum on it. so when after Cassino an order came through for one man to be sent to the NZ Ski School in Syria, the CO said, "Send Bluey, he can ski." Bluey was taken aback because he wasn't really a skier, but he went, and in the mountains of Syria he was trained to become a mountain troop. He loved it.
Again he returned to the unit and rejoined the men. Now a Sgt he went ona long patrol one day, the men were all tired and he decided they would take a rest in a disused bakery. Everyone bedded down, and he decided to climb into the big ancient stone oven which went back deep. Another bloke thought that was a good place to kip and climbed in too. They went to sleep. he remembered vaguely waking momentarily and seeing a flash and then he awoke again with a headache hours later. Everyone else had gone, the wall of the building had gone and his mate beside him was very dead. The bakery had been hit by a tiger tank shell. He made it back to his unit and found that the others were all ok but they'd assumed he'd died in the oven with his mate as that area got the direct hit. he was very lucky, his mate was not.
Bluey had many more battles and adventures and lost more mates as they worked their way up Italy. Too many to write about here. He had one particularly good friend die in his arms, and saw another who had just escaped from captivity and returned hit by a shell right in front of him. He and his platoon slept once in a house where a magnificent show bull had been left. He was freindly and lived inside the home in the basement. The boys all loved him and brushed and fed him for a day or two. Then the Germans counterattacked and a shell hit the bull, and it fell down dead on the man beside him. It took several men to get the big bull off the por chap who was otherwise unharmed. The bull in being there had saved the chap's life, but the boys were all upset at the Germans for killing the bull.
At the Po River he was one of several kiwis who came under fire from American P-47D Thunderbolts. Much to his embarrassment just before when planes were first heard, he'd loudly exclaimed "Don't worry, they're ours!" After the strafing they got where several kiwi trucks were blown up and guys hit, he got a bit of a ribbing with boys mimicking his confident exclamation of "Don't worry, they'd ours!" They didn't really trust the Yanks after that.
Bluey had done an OCTU course and been promoted to 2nd Lieutenant by now, and as they advanced up the country he was often leading the fight from the front. He and one of his mates (the one who later died in his arms) had been the first Allies ever to cross one of the rivers, I think it was the Arno but would have to check again, when they rowed across with Partisans to scope out the ground.
As the war neared its end his platoon took hundreds of prisoners. One of them spoke to him and Bluey could not believe it, he was a kiwi in German uniform. Bluey asked the guy how come, and the guy explained. His parents were both german but had moved to New Zealand in the 1920's or a little before. He had been born in NZ and grew up there, but before the war he'd gone to germany to study in a particular university. When the war broke out he got a letter from his parents saying they'd been interred at Soames Island. He was not in any way supportive of Hitler but he weighed up his otions, go home and spend the war in prison, or stay in Germany and have relative freedom. he chose to stay, but a few years into the war was conscripted. He ended up in Italy fighting his fellow kiwis. Quite a dillemma. And now the really freaky thing, Bluey asked where he was from, and he said Drury. This is staggering, as that is where Bluey was from. It is a small village these days and was a much smaller place then. One asking about his parents Bluey realised he actually knew the bloke's fatehr, and had been to his place of business on many occasions. Isn't that a remarkable story, two boys from a small village one one side of the world, enemies on the other side of the world but chatting like old mates. He told me the chap's name, I won't mention it here as I believe the family are still in Drury. Bluey said he chatted to the chap for ages and was sorry when he had to hand him over to the prison camp. Iwonder what happened to him, I'll doubt many other kiwi soldiers gave him such a cheery welcome to captivity as Bluey had.
Bluey was involved in the taking of Trieste of course, and then was granted a few weeks leave. He and fellow 2 Lt Mike Kennedy, who later became a General, took a truck and a driver, and they drove from Trieste to Austria without any real authorisation to do so, to go skiing as they'd heard it was good there. They then decided to go and see Hitler's house, and went to Burchesgarden. There were Yanks everywhere and they wouldn't let them into Hitlers place so they went to Goerings and had a look round. Bluey told me he went into the wine cellar, and this is just a few weeks afetr the war ended, and he said there was not a bottle left. The Yanks had plundered tens of thousand sof bottles in that short time.
He said he and Mike Kennedy were chuffed as the Yanks kept calling them Major, they hadn't worked out they were only 2nd Lt's and they dind't have the heart to mention it. It's possible they may even have bumped into Easy Company there.
They then drove on, and ran out of gas. The Yanks wouldn't authorise them fuel so while Bluey and Mike kept the fuel guard talking the driver nipped round the back and nicked a few jerry cans full.
They eventually got back to Trieste and soon he was on the way home. When he was demobbed he returned to the Darwins place for a while but then he got a farm drawn in the ballot in the serviceman's scheme and it was at Bruntwood, Cambridge. He had just been selected to play halfback for the Counties-Manukau rugby side, a club he'd helped establish as a founding member, but he had to give it away to come south. Incidentally Bluey had played rugby for the New Zealand Army against the Italian Army in Rome in 1945. I asked if they won and he replied "We creamed them boy!"
Once settled on his farm he joined the local Territorial Army, which was an artillary unit base din Cambridge at the time.
He was at the pub one day and was offered a cheap horse. He decided to buy it and was proudly walking home with it, leading the horse. He met a mate who asked, "What are you going to do with that horse Bluey?" He proudly replied, "I'm gonna race it!" And his mate retorted, "Yeah, and you'll beat it too!"
He did race the horse though. It was hopeless but he had lots of fun. He told me some locals who's fatehr was big in the racing industry invited him to come to Taurangaand race the horse there. They put it in their float and took it across. Whenit was time to come back their father who was a bit of a grump decided he was taking the float, and there was no way they could sneak the horse back in it without him knowing. Bluey was stranded but then someone came up with a flatbed truck. So they loaded this poor horse on it and it had to stand on the back of a flatbed Bedford all the way back to Cambridge, with no rails, over the winding Kaimai hills! They made it back, drove into the paddock and then realised they had no loading ramp at this end. No problems, they simply got up beside the horse and shoved it off onto the ground below! Hilarious.
He had a fall from the horse one day in his paddock and ended up in hospital. There was a nurse there looking after him who told him, "You know, you really ought to take much better care of yourself." He replied, "Do you want the job?" That is one of the best marriage proposals I had ever heard, they were married and had two kids.
My grandparents moved to Bruntwood from Ardmore to live on the same farm, in a house nextdoor to Blueys. Bluey and my grandad Jim had been very close brothers and this is how my branch of the family on that side came to Cambridge. My Dad was 15 then, in 1954. Dad and Bluey were great mates too, and the two were very alike.
In the late 1950's Bluey got sick of farming and he and his family moved to Paihia, then a tiny coastal village, and he became a builder - responsible for building many of the homes and buildings in the town.
he was an avid sailor and had sailed around the Pacific and also done the entire coast around Australia. He had also acted as a guide aboard the replica Endeavour when it was in NZ for a while as a tourist attraction.
About ten years ago he moved to Whangarei as a widower to live in The falls retirement village. I stayed with him there last year and we had a brilliant time, he was king of the village, everyone knew and clearly love dhim and he was so proud to introduce me to all his mates.
A month ago I and my family went to Auckland where about 50 of us celebrated his 90th birthday. He was in fine form as ever, the life of the party. A few days ago while out on his regular morning walk around the neighbourhood, he fell and cracked his skull. He was in hospital unconcious,a nd we're told died at 5.30am Saturday 2nd of September, 2011.
I shall miss him terrinbly. He was one of my real heroes and he told me so much more than anyone else about my grandfatehr who I never knew as he died when iw as two. For me Bluey was like the grandad I never had, and I am proud to have known him. It was only in recent years I got to know him properly, but since then we've spoken on the phone and met up, and I have enjoyed every moment with him. He was a war hero and a family hero, and he still had lots of friends and was active and busy. Many of us will miss him. RIP Uncle Ted.
Bluey in the RNZAf in 1940
Bluey in the Army c. 1941
Bluey on his 90th birthday party on 30th July 2011
