Jim Henderson - Gunner Inglorious, etc

[Dave Homewood]

Many of you will have heard of the late author and broadcaster Jim Henderson. He was a New Zealand soldier in WWII and became a POW. He wrote an autobiography about his wartime experiences called 'Gunner Inglorious' which became a best seller.

Now i have not read any of Jim's books, but I am familiar with his radio broadcasts as many of his old recordings from the 1950's and 60's are replayed on Sounds Historical (Radio new Zealand National on Sunday evenings). He certainly had a great way with words as a broadcaster and i imagine his books must be very good. What I'd like to know is:

How many of his many books are about WWII? I know he wrote a couple of the Offficial Histories of the 2nd NZEF, but a lot of his many books seem to be based on his travels around NZ (which his radio show was also about) but there are other titles which seem to indicate they're about soldiers. For example, he also wrote the following titles"
- Soldier Country
- No Honour, No Glory
- Songs of Gunner Inglorious
- Writers in Conflict

Also written by Jim was the book called Unofficial History - Yarns From Old Soldiers from 1964. Was this stories from WWI or WWII?

Has anyone here read his books? Which ones are miliatary-related, and are they any good? Thanks.

[flyjoe180]

I read 'Gunner Inglorious' a very long time ago. I can't really remember much from it sorry except that he was the sole survivor from his little group of gunners and was repatriated to NZ.

Mr Henderson had visited our school to to talk about his war in the North African deserts.

[flyjoe180]

Some research reveals:

No Honour, No Glory: www.aifpow.com/part_1__missing_in_action,_believed_pow/chapter_4__transportation_of_pow/a._by_sea

Writers in Conflict (very little found on this): openlibrary.org/books/OL5234723M/Writers_in_conflict

Soldier Country: khakiliterature.com/authors-h/154-henderson-jim-soldier-country

Also see here for the RSA story of Jim Henderson: www.rsa.org.nz/about/nws2005jul/jim_henderson_obit.htm


I seem to recall after reading a bit about Jim that he had an artificial leg.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks Joe. That one on the Nino Bixio might be interesting. Here in Cambridge there used to be a man who was one of the survivors of that sinking, and he lost mates. He created a memorial made from concrete and scoria in his front yard in Thornton Road with the words NINO BIXIO on it. He kept it pristine till he died but his son then sold the house and the developers who're put a monstrosity of a house on the section after moving the old house out, demolished the memorial.

That Khaki Literature site is new to me, I will have a browse of that later. Thanks!

As for Jim Henderson, does anyone else here have knowledge of his books and which others are war related?

Does anyone know if he ever read his books for the radio? Recordings of then in his wonderful delivery patter would be great to listen to.