A Dark Memory Reactivated

Paul from Levin

Last week’s RNZ documentary about the US Marine base on the Kapiti Coast raised a forgotten (or perhaps a deliberately hidden) memory of my activities on 3 Mile Bush Road, Kamo in Northland, during World War II. And in hindsight it made me wonder if, had my bravery been made public, I would perhaps have been the youngest ever recipient of the Victoria Cross or similar award, (I would have been under 10 at the time). The house in the photos was the home of a great uncle and aunt (siblings of the Hansen Family.) One of my sisters and I used to spend school holidays up there. (The other sisters hadn’t been born yet.) Anyway, during the war there was a US military base within sight at the end of a side road. Every day tanks and armoured vehicles would rumble up and down 3 Mile Bush Rd past our gate. I developed a plan. There were a lot of very “free range” turkeys, ducks, and poultry of various kinds enjoying the relatively empty and unspoiled environment around the surrounding farmland. Result: lots of eggs, many of which were by no means fresh. I remember collecting eggs, especially old ones and going out to the road with a supply of hand grenades. There was a deep open drain beside the road so guess what! I would hide in the drain when I thought it was time when the armoured vehicles would be returning to base. I courageously attacked them from the drain with my hand grenades though I do remember I was clever enough to attack only the last one when they were in a close queue. I imagine when they had returned to base and discovered that they had been under attack, it would have given them food for thought and probably had some influence in their decision to return home when the war was over. With the benefit of decades of observing world events and the behaviour of nations, it now seems to me that by acting to terminate U.S. military presence, as a young child, I have nevertheless contributed to our small country’s enjoyment of relative independence for all those years post W.W.II. (Seriously. Don’t laugh!)