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From NZ History online:
Photo - War brides leaving for the US
Sound - War brides leaving for the US
Video - War brides leaving for the US
We all know stories of girls who fell in love with the tall, handsome Americans. They knew how to talk to girls, they danced, brought corsages, chocolate and nylons. Their teeth were so white!
But those stories cut both ways. The Marines fell in love with us too. They found a warm familial embrace in New Zealand. They were doted on by Mums across the country, who cooked for them, wrote to them, sent them socks and care packages.
1500 New Zealand women married US Marines in the 18 months they were here. There are families right across the United States with kiwi grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
More than that, the influence of those young men in our midst changed our outlook on life in New Zealand. We engaged for the first time with our natural neighbours in the Pacific. We began to slowly disengage ourselves from Mother England and think about a 'can do' future with our new whanau from America.
Pvt. Chris Hansen, 1109 Hawthorne Ave., Waterloo, Iowa, and PFC Roger Lenard, Louisburg, N. C. together with two New zealand Defense Force girls, cross the swift-flowing Waikato (wy-cat-ho) river in a unique boat which is propelled simply by manipulating the rudders, on their way to spend a day visiting the thermal regions of Orakei Koraka (O-Rah-key Ko-Kah-ko).
April 5, 1943
New Zealand
Mar. Gun. Leopold
Pvt. Chris Hansen, 1109 Hawthorne Ave., Waterloo, Iowa, and PFC Roger lenard, Louisburg, N. C. together with two New zealand Defense Force girls, enjoy a well earned meal which has been cooked over a natural steaming vent called Nagawha (Nah-Far) while they had been exploring the thermal regions of Orakei Koraka
March 29, 1943
New Zealand
Mar. Gun. Leopold
Miss Florence Hislop, of the American Red Cross, a pretty New Zealander who heads a program of occupational therapy at a U.S. Naval Hosp. in N.Z. smiles approvingly at a painting depicting the warm-hearthed relationship between Red Cross nurses and the fighting Marines. The painting is the work of Pvt. Charles West, USMC, of Huston, Tex.
New zealand
June 1943
Miss Florence Hislop, of the American Red Cross, a pretty New Zealander who heads a program of occupational therapy at a U.S. Naval Hosp. in N.Z., helps Sgt. Geo. Stafford, USMC, of Wellington, Texas, to learn how to exercise the muscles of his hand on a sea shell. Later Sgt. Stafford will be able to use his hand expertly in clay modelling, woodcarving and leather work.
New Zealand
June 1943
At a table in the Allied Service Club, Wellington, a U. s. Marine Corporal from Illinois ad a new zealand girlsshare a laugh over their meals. She is Miss Marjorie Laurenson, one of the thousand women who serve (in daily teams of eighty) as voluntary waitress hand cashier at the Club. (The boy from the left is from Minnesota)
September 10, 1943
Wellington, N. Z.
Seated at a table in the Allied Service Club, Wellington, this texas Marine appears to be handing a mean line to this new Zealand girl, one of the voluntary helper at the place. Her name is Rona Quirke. Their glasses contain orangeade.
September 10, 1943
Wellington, N. Z.
On the night of the party which marked the first anniversary of the Allied Service Club in New Zealand, the motif was 'turnabout'. For one year, new Zealand women and girls have been serving voluntarily as waitresses for hungry Marines at the Club, so in this occasion, The Marines did the serving and then the dishwashing. Here a Marine is serving two women volunteers with saveloys -- New Zeland's equivalent to America's hot-dog.
September 10, 1943
Wellington, N. Z.
From NZ History online:
Photo - War brides leaving for the US
Sound - War brides leaving for the US
Video - War brides leaving for the US
Marinesnz.com is the website of The Kāpiti US Marines Trust and part of a major project to collect, preserve and promote World War II US Armed Forces history from 1942-1944 in the Kāpiti district, north of the capital city Wellington, New Zealand. While our focus is the history surrounding Camps Russell, MacKay and Paekākāriki’ we also have an interest in Marines camps in other parts of the Wellington region and in the social history and friendships between Kiwis and Americans during this brief but all-important encounter.
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