ARMY TRUCKS AND LVTA’S ON PAEKAKARIKI BEACH
A line of US military trucks, many pulling artillery trailers, move in convoy along the Paekākāriki coastline, Wellington. Multiple LVTAs (Landed Vehicle Tracked and Armoured) also called amphibious tanks, are put through their paces on the beach. Laden with Marines, Howitzer guns and other cargo, they can be seen driving into the surf and traversing steep sand dunes.
MANOEUVRES AT PAEKAKARIKI BEACH
A crowd of US Marines of the 2nd Marine Division watch from a sand hill on the Paekākāriki coast at dawn, while LVTAs (aka amphibious tanks) are tested and fitted out.
A davit is mounted on one tank and is operated by six Marines to hoist and unload gasoline drums. LVTAs navigate steep sand hills laden with men and 75mm pack Howitzers mounted on the front of tanks. Another fully laden LVTA goes out to sea to test handling and buoyancy.
Marines need to hang on tight when the LVTAs are navigating the dunes. Marines use a specially engineered davit to hoist a 75mm pack Howitzer from an amphibious tank to the beach.
CALISTHENICS RIFLE DRILL AT CAMP MACKAY
From Tinakori Hill in the Wellington Town Belt, there is a clear view of Wellington Harbour and the many US warships that are docked along the quays are revealed with a wide pan of the camera. From the same vantage point, a look across the city, with the Dominion Museum and the National War Memorial Carillon in the middle distance. Again, the camera pans left to reveal the Wellington Harbour.
[Scene 89] A US Marine walks across Bunny Street to the Wellington Railway Station.
[Scenes 21-29] Marines at Camp McKay, Paekākāriki, carry out a series of physical exercise drills with their rifles.
GUNNERY DRILL, SHIP UNLOADING
A massive crowd of US Marines wearing lifejackets, seen on the top deck of a US warship. Sailors practice gunnery drill, firing a missile from a large, mounted gun. Soldiers load racks of four smaller missile rounds into a mounted gun magazine, which is being fired. A soldier at the dock drives a tractor pulling a trailer loaded with US military sacks. Marines watching the unloading of the ship at the Wellington dockside.
TRAINING DRILLS: MĀORI BATTALION PERFORMANCE
The footage on this reel is silent and has been spliced together from various film reels out of chronological order. Members of the Māori Battalion and a Māori culture group performing kapa haka on an outdoor stage in Gisborne. A brief glimpse of a poi dance. Marines practicing target shooting with rifles near Camp McKay, Paekākāriki, before the scene abruptly cuts back to Māori kapa haka in Gisborne.
[Scene 47] A US Marine trying to corral three sheep with a Border Collie sheepdog. [Scene 83D] Skiing shot.
[Scene 50] US Marine milking a cow by hand. Mixed kapa haka dances on the outdoor Gisborne stage.
[Scene 82A] Marines walking out of a chalet, grab skis and start to climb a snow slope. [Scene 83B] Skiing past down a slope.
[Scene 64] Marines teeing off on a golf course. A young Māori boy is the caddy.
[Scene 203] A battalion of Marines in full kit marching along a dock in Wellington, board a US warship.
[Scene 182] ‘Hasty Tasty’ American coffee bar attracts groups of US soldiers walking along the street.