Camp Life
Between 1942 and 1943, Paekākāriki was home to thousands of young Americans from the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions. They lived in three different camps. Camp Mackay was the first built and inhabited - it tended to be the centre of social activities, largely dances. Camp Paekākāriki was next developed and last was Camp Russell.
The smiling faces of US marines soon after their arrival in Wellington on 14 June 1942. They are on board the train which is to take them to their camp at Paekākāriki. George Silk photo, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, War Effort Collection. Source NZ History online
For young servicemen coming straight from the United States, camp life was spartan. Most men lived in pyramid-shaped tents but later two, four and some eight-man huts were built. There was often no electric light or heat and the louvred windows let in the cold and damp.
US Marine poses in front of his tent accommodation, 1942
The men found the New Zealand winter unpleasant after the warmth of the American summer and the heat of the tropics. They were always keen to improve their living conditions.
A New Zealand electrician who worked there later recalled:
"They thought nothing of shinning up a pole and attaching a wire to connect a toaster or a light. They always installed electric lights in their tents and they would rip out the fittings in the ablution blocks in order to replace their kerosene lamps. There were several accidents in connection with illegal installations."
From The Yanks are Coming, by Harry Bioletti, 1995
The first troops had only six weeks to prepare and then set out for Guadalcanal. More continued to arrive as they transhipped from the States to the fighting on Guadalcanal Island then returned for R&R. Life in the camps was basic in many ways, but a good deal easier than the island-by-island battles the US Marine Corps fought across the Pacific.
US Marines playing cards. Photograph taken by John Dobree Pascoe. Source National Library
The last Marines left the camps in late October 1943. These were infantry regiments of the Second Division. They headed to Tarawa Atoll to storm the Japanese positions on the island.
Suffering 3,300 casualties in only three days of intense fighting, the Division went on to campaigns in Saipan and Okinawa. For the survivors, times in the New Zealand camps must have been some of the better memories they would have of this war. The Marines returned to the expanded camps after a successful battle to take Guadalcanal from the Japanese. The Marines of the Second Division were withdrawn from the "gut-wrenching, stomach-churning" conditions when the island was declared secure on 9 February 1943.
American author Leon Uris recalls the pleasure he and the other troops felt when told of their return to the Paekākāriki camps:
"A roar of cheers greeted the news and there was a lot of handshaking and backslapping. We were going back to the land we loved. I couldn't help feeling soft about it even after so many years of travelling from pillar to post in the Marine Corps."
The Marines socialised with the locals in their free time - the area north of the camps at Paraparaumu and Waikanae was "dry" but Paekākāriki had a liquor licence.
"The Marines who visited north...were essentially those who were looking for family relationships. Whereas those who were wishing to enjoy the wine, women, song and excitement went south..."
From The Yanks are Coming, by Harry Bioletti, 1995