Walking past the War Memorial Town Hall there is a plaque commemorating the US forces who were stationed in the area during WW2, so I have included a couple of images easily found on line from those times. For anyone who would like to read a bit more about this period of our history, please follow this link US forces in New Zealand - US Forces in New Zealand | NZHistory, New Zealand history online
Above and below a couple of images from a series showing servicemen helping local land girls with the harvest in 1942 or 43
New Zealand wives and fiance's of US servicemen marking the American Memorial Day in Wellington, 1943
Interesting stuff, evening in our news they are talking about the change to the approach and the new controls in NZ i do hope things settle soon 👍
ReplyDeleteThanks Matt. Our Govt has conceded the eliminatiom policy isnt going to work with Delta and is now pushing for 90% double vaccination - but we seem to have about 20% of the population who are very resistant to being vaccinated - not all anti vaxers but whatever their reasons, most of the rest of the population are at the point where we are happy to remove most of the restrictions, let people get sick, and if a per centage of the unvaccinated die, thats on them. They are free to choose not to be vaccinated but they cant complain about the outcome - of course the problem will be the chaos it could cause in our health system, which is similar to the NHS. Plenty people say, if you get sick and have not been vaccinated, you should not be allowed into a state hospital - but we al know thats never going to happen....
DeleteInteresting items on your walk! Hope your lock downs get eased soon. Looking forward to more painted stuff when you are able to post.
ReplyDeleteThanks Joe glad you enjoyed my space filler! I have some figures 90% ready so should have another post in a day or two
DeleteI really enjoy you local scenic posts, Keith.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jon, I always enjoy other peoples non tot soldier posts too, so hope others will view mine in the same light - you obviously do!
DeleteI certainly do! We are not all one-dimensional.
DeleteGreat looking stuff sir!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michal
DeleteI enjoyed your photos, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI am glad they were of interest and happy to share!
DeleteThat looks like an enjoyable walk. It's great when you are surrounded by history
ReplyDeleteThanks Neil. Yes a pleasant little stroll on a nice sunny morning. We only have limited exposure to history here - no Roman remains or medieval castles! - but there is always something around if you look - and nowadays, there are a lot of these type of information boards in many New Zealand towns and cities.
DeleteLovely neck of the woods for a stroll there mate. Interesting history too, I didn’t know US troops were stationed there?!
ReplyDeleteBy the way I can’t believe you’re still in lockdown…that’s soooo 2020.
Thanks JBM - yes, lots of Americans here during the war - well, all the NZ soldiers were in N Africa and Italy, weren't they?! As for our lock down, it may be a bit "last year", but we have only had about 30 people die of Covid in total, so seems to be working (although I think the majority are over it now - see my reply to Matt above....)
DeleteNSW has lifted many restrictions today for vaccinated people. We're still dodging lockdowns here in Queensland, but none of us can really explain how. The State government doesn't seem very sure what they are going to do when it does finally break out again, variously saying that they will lock us down until we get to 80%, then saying they'll want 90% before backing away from that. Brisbane seems to have done well but there is a lot of apathy in the regions, probably because most areas have been completely untouched. I'd love the government to send them a bit of a warning that they will measure the rates by region, but that would put the all important country vote offside so I can see them doing that.
ReplyDeleteCheers Lawrence - this is kind of where we are too - except 25% of our population ie Auckland, is currently is pretty restrictive lock down and have been since 16 Aug (plus several times previously) whereas most of the rest of the country are operating as usual except they have to wear masks in shops etc. The S Island has not had a case for a year and are whinging about even having to wear a mask! We have had a few breaches whereby the virus has popped up in a couple of places in Waikato, and Bay of Plenty and they are also worried it might have got to Northland too - so I reckon in a month, it will be in various locations all over the N Island and the whole raison d'etre of the Auckland restrictions will be null and void - well, I am hoping anyway! I still think when people look back in five or ten years, NZ will come out pretty near the top in terms of how we handled Covid - but at the moment all we get is that we are 38th, we have slipped back, everyone else in the world is opening up again and we need to too etc....and because we n o longer get ANY news reporting about the state of the NHS in the UK or 300 deaths per day or needing the army to help drive ambulances in Scotland and Wales etc, an awful lot of people here dont think we have much to worry about any longer....
DeleteYour daily walk is certainly a lot more interesting than mine Keith…
ReplyDeleteAll the best. Aly
Thanks Aly - Pukekohe is not a bad little town on a nice sunny day to be fair. I have only ever spent one night in Nottingham, about six years ago - we arrived late afternoon and didn't do much except grab a curry for dinner from a local restaurant and and visit Sherwood Forest the next day before heading over the M1/M62 to the Lake District. The abiding memory is heat - it was 21 deg C at 2am - 34 deg c during the day!
DeleteWTH is this lazy blog writing?! Either you GOTS wargaming stuff or you DONTS….
ReplyDeleteI’m joking of course. 😀 I too enjoy an occasional post of ‘this is me and the life.’ Especially people like yourself who I consider to be something like an online pen pal.
Today I learned that you will walk WAY to far for coffee and that your wife must be patient to wait while you took photos for your blog. 😀
Hahaha - I DO GOTS wargaming stuff Stew - you will just have to exercise some patience bud! As to my wife being patient...hmmmm...no comment! That walk is nothing - when we visited Sydney a couple of years ago, she made me walk over 21km in one day ! :)
DeleteEntertaining post, I like a bit of non wargaming stuff and some interesting photos!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain I am glad it was of interest.
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