WEDNESDAY,FEBRUARY 8, 2023
Wairarapa’s locally owned community newspaper
I N S I D E : VEGGIE GROWERS SAY FAREWELL P5
A platinum couple P4
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Richmond Funeral Home ~Incorporating Clareville Crematorium
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Erin Kavanagh-Hall
erin.kavanagh-hall@age.co.nz
Their own local watering hole, assisting with pest control and Catholic priests’ petrol costs, flowers for Solway College teachers, wild house parties, and several dollars contributed to the wartime economy: the US Marines were only in Wairarapa a short time, but “made a heck of an impact”. This impact is captured in great detail in Our New Zealand Home, a new local history by Wairarapa archivist Mark Pacey, to be launched in Masterton next week. Our New Zealand Home, published by Pacey’s own label Gosson Publishing, tells the story of the 3rd and 4th Defense Battalions of the
United States Marine Corps [USMC]: Stationed at Solway from February to September 1943, and fondly remembered for “livening up the town that had been darkened by years of war”. During World War II, the US military was based in the Pacific, fighting against the advancement of Japanese forces – and were sent to New Zealand for short periods for “rest and relaxation”. Between June 1942 and mid-1944, there were between 15,000 and 45,000 American servicemen in camps in New Zealand, mostly throughout the Kapiti Coast. When the soldiers of the USMC arrived in Masterton, it didn’t take them long to become a staple of the community:
ABOVE: Members of the United States Marine Corps spent time in New Zealand between 1942 and 1944. PHOTOS/AUCKLAND LIBRARIES. BELOW: The USMC in training at Parris Island, USA. PHOTO/NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE US NAVY
Continued on P3
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