Post by vgp on Jan 22, 2009 6:50:43 GMT 12
Precious treasures
Manawatu Standard | Wednesday, 21 January 2009
You're barely old enough to be at war. You're clinging to a jungle foothold surrounded and outnumbered by the enemy. The heat is blistering. The food is basic. There is no leave. How can you relax? MERVYN DYKES discovers one man's answer.
John Rennie sits there, smiling, cradling memories in his hands. He brought them to the interview in an old cardboard box, but his eyes reveal that they are precious beyond price.
When he turns them over in his hands, or leafs through the pages of his memoirs, he can travel back to times that most young people today can barely imagine.
As with so many returned servicemen, these were at once the best of times and the worst of times. Out of the darkness came friendships and camaraderie that would burn brightly for the rest of their lives. In his case though, there would also be a viral illness in his digestive tract that still has him restricted to bland food at 86.
One of the first objects to appear from the box is an unusual ashtray made from salvaged scraps. But, 60 years later, Te Manawa Museum in Palmerston North wants to add it to its collection.
The museum would like a copy of the ring-bound memoirs too, but the Palmerston North City Archive is likely to have first call on those.
"Don't make this all about JG Rennie," he says. "There were many others involved too."
He describes his time on Bougainville, in the northern Solomon Islands, as a fine example of the Anzac spirit functioning in World War II.
"I don't want people to forget that and [he gestures at the box] I don't want these things to be lost. I want them somewhere they will be appreciated and looked after."
Te Manawa curator Tony Rasmussen is most willing to oblige. He treats the old serviceman with respect and says the ashtray would go well in an exhibition the museum is planning for Anzac Day in 2010.
"We would like to have it, but everything has to be considered by our committee, which meets every two months. This will give you time to think about it and be sure that it is what you want to do," he says.
Afterward, when he walks Mr Rennie to his car, the two are still deep in discussion.
John Rennie describes himself as a Palmerston North man through and through, despite many years away working in Levin. He is the son of long- serving Palmerston North Mayor Gilbert Rennie.
He made his first run at military service in May 1940, but one of the recruiting officers knew his grandmother and rejected him as underage.
He then turned to the Manawatu Mounted Rifles (later to become the 6th Light Armoured Fighting Vehicle unit) and took his oath of allegiance on July 2.
"The 6th LAFV was a great unit of volunteers, very young, who came from the Rangitikei, Manawatu, Horowhenua and Palmerston North districts," he says.
He remembers assembling for manoeuvres at Waiouru and getting his first real experience of the power of weather.
"As we arrived, so did the rain," he says. "Ten days of it. We were camped on swamp land. Water poured through our tents. Of our 750-strong regiment, only 200 paraded, the rest suffering dysentery and other stomach bugs. The day we pulled out, the sun shone through."
In May 1942, the unit was stationed in Feilding when an order came through to participate in a Liberty Bond parade in Wellington. They set out in darkness, driving with parking lights only until they reached Paekakariki where they were instructed to use full headlights for the coastal trip to Pukerua Bay.
"We were told that if any untoward incident happened, there would be ammunition in every 10th truck."
Many years later, in a casual conversation with a former WREN who worked in Naval Intelligence, he learned that they were intended as a decoy to lure fire from any Japanese submarines lurking off the coast.
This was confirmed by another friend who served with a bomber squadron stationed at Ohakea, who said his unit had been bombed up and on standby in the event of an attack.
In October 1942, when the 6th LAFV was camped at Levin Racecourse, the 9th Reinforcements were being formed.
"I, and a number of others, were pulled out as underage and told we would be posted to guards of vital points.
"Not for me. I said I would join the RNZAF."
He was discharged from the army on October 30 and the next day was transferred to RNZAF Harewood as an aircraft electrical engineer.
He was to serve at the Harewood, Wigram, Ohakea, and Ardmore bases, and in March 1943 was sent back to Wigram for an intensive electrical and wireless course.
All seemed set for overseas service, but in October he was rejected because of a groin hernia.
It wasn't until July the next year that he was passed fit and sent to Ardmore to join 31SU (Servicing Unit) bound for the Solomons where they would care for New Zealand Corsair and other aircraft supporting Australian ground troops.
"Home" was then the Torokina region in Bougainville - a foothold of about 103 square kilometres gained earlier by US Marines.
The 6th Australian Division was on the way from the Middle East to join the 1000-or-so New Zealanders, but was delayed for several weeks by transport difficulties.
These were nervous times with up to 100,000 Japanese thought to be on the island.
This time the weather experience was at the other extreme to Waiouru with temperatures soaring to 50 degrees or more inside aircraft being serviced.
Without the leave centres or recreational areas available in other theatres, many of the men turned to making what they called "foreigners" - trinkets and useful items tinkered up from salvaged items and used for trade or to send home.
"I made a stainless steel watchband from a wrecked ammunition box, a crib board from duralium and perspex from a damaged cockpit and the cigar/cigarette ashtray."
As he takes the ashtray apart, memories unfold.
"The base is perspex and the main part is the bottom of an Aussie 25-pounder shell case - that's the Anzac connection.
"The base stands on three .300 calibre bullets from our own rifles and this part [he indicates a central stem] is a .50mm shell from our own Corsairs."
Atop the stem is a matchbox holder made from part of an ammunition box.
When he returned home after the war, Mr Rennie had the ashtray chrome plated by a Palmerston North company.
Several war-time writers have praised the enormous contribution of the support units who toiled heroically to keep the aircraft flying and the crews safe in extremely arduous conditions.
But it came at a cost.
When he arrived at Bougainville, Mr Rennie weighed about 70kg. When he left, he was only 53.5kg and suffered from hearing loss, a hiatus hernia and repetitive indigestion.
Despite this, he still smiles and expresses pride when he talks of being part of an Anzac operation and remembers old comrades who have since passed on.
"Don't make this all about me," he says again.
"There were many others. I want them to be remembered and these [he points to the items in the box] to be preserved."
www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/eveningstandard/4825557a6503.html
Manawatu Standard | Wednesday, 21 January 2009
You're barely old enough to be at war. You're clinging to a jungle foothold surrounded and outnumbered by the enemy. The heat is blistering. The food is basic. There is no leave. How can you relax? MERVYN DYKES discovers one man's answer.
John Rennie sits there, smiling, cradling memories in his hands. He brought them to the interview in an old cardboard box, but his eyes reveal that they are precious beyond price.
When he turns them over in his hands, or leafs through the pages of his memoirs, he can travel back to times that most young people today can barely imagine.
As with so many returned servicemen, these were at once the best of times and the worst of times. Out of the darkness came friendships and camaraderie that would burn brightly for the rest of their lives. In his case though, there would also be a viral illness in his digestive tract that still has him restricted to bland food at 86.
One of the first objects to appear from the box is an unusual ashtray made from salvaged scraps. But, 60 years later, Te Manawa Museum in Palmerston North wants to add it to its collection.
The museum would like a copy of the ring-bound memoirs too, but the Palmerston North City Archive is likely to have first call on those.
"Don't make this all about JG Rennie," he says. "There were many others involved too."
He describes his time on Bougainville, in the northern Solomon Islands, as a fine example of the Anzac spirit functioning in World War II.
"I don't want people to forget that and [he gestures at the box] I don't want these things to be lost. I want them somewhere they will be appreciated and looked after."
Te Manawa curator Tony Rasmussen is most willing to oblige. He treats the old serviceman with respect and says the ashtray would go well in an exhibition the museum is planning for Anzac Day in 2010.
"We would like to have it, but everything has to be considered by our committee, which meets every two months. This will give you time to think about it and be sure that it is what you want to do," he says.
Afterward, when he walks Mr Rennie to his car, the two are still deep in discussion.
John Rennie describes himself as a Palmerston North man through and through, despite many years away working in Levin. He is the son of long- serving Palmerston North Mayor Gilbert Rennie.
He made his first run at military service in May 1940, but one of the recruiting officers knew his grandmother and rejected him as underage.
He then turned to the Manawatu Mounted Rifles (later to become the 6th Light Armoured Fighting Vehicle unit) and took his oath of allegiance on July 2.
"The 6th LAFV was a great unit of volunteers, very young, who came from the Rangitikei, Manawatu, Horowhenua and Palmerston North districts," he says.
He remembers assembling for manoeuvres at Waiouru and getting his first real experience of the power of weather.
"As we arrived, so did the rain," he says. "Ten days of it. We were camped on swamp land. Water poured through our tents. Of our 750-strong regiment, only 200 paraded, the rest suffering dysentery and other stomach bugs. The day we pulled out, the sun shone through."
In May 1942, the unit was stationed in Feilding when an order came through to participate in a Liberty Bond parade in Wellington. They set out in darkness, driving with parking lights only until they reached Paekakariki where they were instructed to use full headlights for the coastal trip to Pukerua Bay.
"We were told that if any untoward incident happened, there would be ammunition in every 10th truck."
Many years later, in a casual conversation with a former WREN who worked in Naval Intelligence, he learned that they were intended as a decoy to lure fire from any Japanese submarines lurking off the coast.
This was confirmed by another friend who served with a bomber squadron stationed at Ohakea, who said his unit had been bombed up and on standby in the event of an attack.
In October 1942, when the 6th LAFV was camped at Levin Racecourse, the 9th Reinforcements were being formed.
"I, and a number of others, were pulled out as underage and told we would be posted to guards of vital points.
"Not for me. I said I would join the RNZAF."
He was discharged from the army on October 30 and the next day was transferred to RNZAF Harewood as an aircraft electrical engineer.
He was to serve at the Harewood, Wigram, Ohakea, and Ardmore bases, and in March 1943 was sent back to Wigram for an intensive electrical and wireless course.
All seemed set for overseas service, but in October he was rejected because of a groin hernia.
It wasn't until July the next year that he was passed fit and sent to Ardmore to join 31SU (Servicing Unit) bound for the Solomons where they would care for New Zealand Corsair and other aircraft supporting Australian ground troops.
"Home" was then the Torokina region in Bougainville - a foothold of about 103 square kilometres gained earlier by US Marines.
The 6th Australian Division was on the way from the Middle East to join the 1000-or-so New Zealanders, but was delayed for several weeks by transport difficulties.
These were nervous times with up to 100,000 Japanese thought to be on the island.
This time the weather experience was at the other extreme to Waiouru with temperatures soaring to 50 degrees or more inside aircraft being serviced.
Without the leave centres or recreational areas available in other theatres, many of the men turned to making what they called "foreigners" - trinkets and useful items tinkered up from salvaged items and used for trade or to send home.
"I made a stainless steel watchband from a wrecked ammunition box, a crib board from duralium and perspex from a damaged cockpit and the cigar/cigarette ashtray."
As he takes the ashtray apart, memories unfold.
"The base is perspex and the main part is the bottom of an Aussie 25-pounder shell case - that's the Anzac connection.
"The base stands on three .300 calibre bullets from our own rifles and this part [he indicates a central stem] is a .50mm shell from our own Corsairs."
Atop the stem is a matchbox holder made from part of an ammunition box.
When he returned home after the war, Mr Rennie had the ashtray chrome plated by a Palmerston North company.
Several war-time writers have praised the enormous contribution of the support units who toiled heroically to keep the aircraft flying and the crews safe in extremely arduous conditions.
But it came at a cost.
When he arrived at Bougainville, Mr Rennie weighed about 70kg. When he left, he was only 53.5kg and suffered from hearing loss, a hiatus hernia and repetitive indigestion.
Despite this, he still smiles and expresses pride when he talks of being part of an Anzac operation and remembers old comrades who have since passed on.
"Don't make this all about me," he says again.
"There were many others. I want them to be remembered and these [he points to the items in the box] to be preserved."
www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/eveningstandard/4825557a6503.html