Figure 1

The first of Harry Stone’s three diaries (Figure 1) covers his time in New Caledonia (Necal in official Allied parlance), from his arrival at Noumea on February 6 1943 until July 9. He made a drawing, probably from a photograph, of the Amedee lighthouse at the entrance to Noumea Harbour (Figure 2). Today Amedee Island is a tourist destination and may be visited as a day-long package by ferry from Noumea (Figures 3 and 4).

I find Harry’s drawing curious in a number of ways: it is done in such detail that one wonders if it was based on a photograph, but if so how would he have acquitted a photo on the voyage directly from Wellington? It is signed and dated 10 February 1942, the day he arrived in New Caledonia. It appears to have been drawn on the east side of the island, which is logical if drawn from a ship entering the harbour, and the island is seen from an elevated position as if from the deck of the troopship. The photograph I took on the ferry in 2018 shows the view one gets at almost sea-level: it appears much flatter. How has Harry been able to record the lighthouse and its surroundings in such detail, if the ship was steaming past? Did the ship anchor off the island for a period before entering Noumea Harbour? We will probably never know the answer to these questions.

Two days after their arrival the soldiers and their trucks and equipment were transferred to another ship, without having landed, and sailed north to the New Zealand staging camp at Nepoui, about halfway up the island on the west coast (Figure 5). It was at such camps that the troops of the Third Division were given training in preparation for action in the Solomon Islands.

Nepoui was described by one writer at the time as being “a dreary part of New Caledonia”. A remote and isolated location at the time, 182 km northwest of Noumea, Nepoui had become a busy little port where large quantities of stores and equipment for the NZEF IP where handled (Figure 6). Dad was to spend a great deal of time with his mates unloading Liberty ships at the Nepoui wharf (Figure 7).

Like many of his mates, Dad was clearly very homesick and didn’t think much of New Caledonia or the army experience:

SUNDAY 7 MAR 1943: Today is my birthday. I think it’s about the most uninteresting birthday I have ever had, not even a hot dinner…we are plagued with mosquitoes lately, I think it must be the rain.

The soldiers endured the unaccustomed heat and (when it wasn’t raining) the thick red dust whipped up by the constant military traffic. They were forbidden to swim in the stream, which ran beside the camp because of the danger of contracting hookworm. There were snakes and unfamiliar insects including black widow spiders (Harry was bitten by one), giant ants, locusts, and huge, blood-sucking (although not malarial) mosquitos:

WEDNESDAY 10^th. MARCH 1943: A Yankee officer told us a “gag” about the mosquitoes back in his home state. At a camp there, two “mossies” were heard talking. One said, “Shall we eat this guy here, or carry him across the lake”? But the other “mossie” answered, “If we take him over there, the big ones will get him!”

Boredom and homesickness were ever-present for the young soldiers who in the majority of cases had never been overseas before. It is telling that the word “home” is invariably written with a capital “H” when it is used in the diaries.

MONDAY 8th. FEBRUARY 1943: The boys who were here before us told us that two men had committed suicide since the arrival of third division troops on this island! One had dived overboard from the troop-ship at Noumea, as she lay at anchor. He struck out for the shore but disappeared. Plenty of sharks there! Another had jumped off the troopship on the journey up the coast from Noumea. It was dark so he wasn’t seen again.

The military authorities were obviously aware of the potential for depression amongst the young troops and to maintain morale went to great lengths to keep them occupied and entertained. Cigarettes, beer (usually warm) and chocolate rations were available to all on a regular basis. Harry, who was not a smoker or a drinker, traded his beer and cigarette allocations for chocolate, an addiction, which he maintained until the day he died.

Two important factors that helped stave off depression and which form a recurrent theme throughout the three diaries are the mail from Home and the movies or “pictures”.

In the present age of instant global communication through cell phones, Facebook, and Skype, it is difficult to comprehend the importance of the mail service for servicemen in the Second World War, especially in the remote islands of the Pacific. Mail provided a line of communication for the ordinary soldier which enabled him to maintain contact with his wife and children, keep abreast with family events and participate in family decisions, offer advice, and share (at the discretion of the censor’s office, which randomly opened homeward bound mail) the experiences he was having while overseas. Harry frequently grumbles about the mail not arriving on time, lack of letters from my mother, or the brevity of the letters when they do come.

Dad loved the movies and commented in his diary that he thought he could not have coped without them. He was able to maintain his regular attendance throughout his war experience in New Caledonia, Guadalcanal, and the Treasury Islands. He appears to have gone to the pictures almost every other night, giving the name of the movie he had seen but rarely making comments about them beyond “Not a bad show” or “I enjoyed it”. He never explains what he enjoyed about a film:

TUESDAY 7th. MARCH 1944 (Stirling Island): I’m going to the pictures tonight – Richard Dix in “The Kansan”, cowboys and injuns, I guess.

“The Kansan”, starring Richard Dix and Jane Wyatt, was directed by George Archainbaud and was released in 1943, so it was a reasonably recent movie. IMDb gives the film a rating of 5.7 (Figure 8: refer also to separate section “The Movies”).

The Commanding Officer of the 54^th. Anti-Tank Battery was Captain Robert Foreman (see the previous section), known to the soldiers as “Bruiser”. Dad mentions him many times throughout the diaries and obviously the men had great respect and affection for him:

“SUNDAY 14^th. MARCH 1943: At last “Bruiser” has arrived! He came just after mess tonight, in a “command car” filled with luggage…He went around shaking hands with all the boys within reach. I like Bruiser, he has given me more breaks and better dealings than any other officer I have known. Another thing, a gunner can stroll up to him without a hat and have a yarn, ask advice or practically anything, which we cannot do with all officers.”

Harry belonged to “F” Troop in the 54^th. Anti-Tank Battery. The definition of a troop varies from army to army. In the context of the New Zealand Army in the Pacific War, a troop was a small group (twenty men) within an Artillery Battery. Three troops were eventually stationed in the Treasury Islands: the other two were “E” and “G” Troops.

Figure 10 is a photograph of E Troop relaxing at their gun emplacement at Soanatalu on the north coast of Mono Island. The other team, G Troop, was stationed at the other end of Stirling Island from my father’s.

Dad originally trained on “two-pounder” guns, but these were replaced soon after he arrived in New Caledonia with the “six-pounder” 57 mm M1, originally a British design but adapted by the Americans. They were very effective artillery pieces and were the main Allied anti-tank gun in World War 2.

Harry was trained to use the gun, but he was also a driver in charge of the Ford 4 X 4 truck which towed it (Figure 11). He parted company with the truck soon after he landed on Mono Island when he was sent across the harbour to Stirling Island.

Most of the time in Necal was spent in training on the anti-tank guns and towing them around the island on manoeuvres. As a driver, Harry also spent a lot of time cleaning and maintaining his truck. Because of his artistic ability, Dad was called upon to paint the battery insignia on trucks, as well as motorcycles and the guns themselves.

SATURDAY 1^st. MAY 1943: I have finished drawing an Anti-Tank insignia which I showed to our troop Sgt., Jack Graham, he is very taken with it and thinks it would be good to have on our guns as an insignia. It will look good if I can get the paint. I did get the idea from a book though.

Unfortunately, there is no record of what his insignia design looked like, but it is likely to have been a variation of the 54^th Anti Tank Battery insignia which featured a white and green diamond containing the number 13 with the battery motto “Nihil Bastardis Carborundum” (see previous section) below (Figure 12). It seems that different units were at liberty to design their own insignia or create variations of existing designs. Having an individual insignia promoted pride and esprit-de-corps within the unit.

THURSDAY 6TH MAY 1943: Another half day working on the truck. In the afternoon I painted an insignia on Maurie Hammond’s motorbike. It is a real good one, I copied it from a small sketch an artist did in the corner of an article on anti-tank work. I changed it a bit to suit ourselves and painted it in suitable colours, it looks real good.”

 SATURDAY 22ND MAY 1943: I have to help the battery painter put the new insignias on (the picture of the Kiwi, the No 13, the truck’s number, and the black and red diamond). I even have to work Sunday too, but have been promised two days off when it’s all done.

Figure 12

Although the truck number 19198, Lucky Number 13, and “black and red diamond” motif are clearly visible in Harry’s pencil drawing of his truck (Figure 12), it does not show the Kiwi symbol mentioned: this may have been painted on the rear. The “black and red diamond” on the door of the truck does not appear to be the “Nihil Bastardis Carborundum” insignia. It appears to be just that: a diamond shape divided horizontally into two triangles, black on top, red below.

Possibly this design was inspired by a picture of the Tactical Recognition Flash worn by the members of the British 56th Anti-Tank Regiment, which also features a diamond shape divided into two triangular sections, albeit vertically, and in red and blue rather than red and black (Figure 13). The regiment was established in 1938.

Figure 13

Rumours are the lingua franca of armies and although they are generally dismissed by the soldiers as soon as they heard they often contain an element of truth. Dad mentions rumours frequently in his diaries. The most popular ones were those about going Home. The most common ones were about the progress of the war and where they were being sent next. But the only information you could really believe was that which was delivered by the Commanding Officer. By July it had become apparent that they were about to move out. The last entry in Diary 1 reads:

FRIDAY 9th. JULY 1943: “Bruiser” came in at breakfast this morning and told us that we were going up to Guadalcanal, and that they were going to let us “have a go”. He said we were getting new uniforms, special camouflaged ones, similar to the Yankee overalls.

 We heard some heavy gunfire last night, there is a naval battle going on up in the “Solomon area”, we have been wondering whether it had drifted south a bit? Haven’t heard any war news for a long time, don’t know how the war’s going! Heard someone say the Yanks were doing very well up north, well I sure hope so anyway.

(The only significant recorded action at that time was an attack by American B-24 Liberator bombers, flying from Midway Island, on Japanese positions on Wake Island, 4500 km north of New Caledonia. It is unlikely that the sound would have carried this far, even across open ocean at night.)

Harry concludes the first diary on the same day, wondering how he will get it “Home”:

“Well, I guess this is the end of the old book, 266 pages in 6 months. I should have a hell of a lot by the end of this war! My next problem is to get this book Home, as it won’t pass any censor!”