Motions — United States Forces—70th Anniversary of Arrival in New Zealand During World War II

I seek leave to move without notice a motion noting the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the United States forces in New Zealand.

💬 Mr SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that course of action being followed? There is none.

I move, That this House note the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the United States forces in New Zealand in 1942; recall the gratitude of the New Zealand people at the protection provided by the United States while our own troops were engaged in the Middle East and Europe; and note the growing strength of political, security, and economic cooperation between our two countries today. On 14 June 1942, 70 years ago today, US Marines sailed into Wellington Harbour. Five US army transport ships had sailed into Auckland 2 days earlier. They came to offer protection at a time when New Zealand’s own forces were engaged in Europe and the Middle East, and New Zealand was wide open to invasion. From June 1942 to mid-1944 there were between 15,000 and 45,000 American servicemen in camp in New Zealand at any one time.

This week these events and New Zealanders’ enduring gratitude to the United States will be remembered in this country. Fifty US Marines and a Marine band will participate in a range of commemorative events including a wreath-laying ceremony at the National War Memorial and a sunset ceremony at this Parliament. I ask the House to join me today in recording the enduring thanks of New Zealanders as we recall these events of 70 years ago. Today New Zealand and the United States are engaged in a new chapter of economic, political, and security cooperation, playing a hugely constructive role in our region and beyond. Today we are reminded that that relationship has deep foundations in a friendship forged at a time of great danger to our country. Seventy years may have passed, but New Zealanders have not forgotten.

On behalf of the Labour Party I would like to join with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and support this motion. It was a real privilege to be at the National War Memorial in Buckle Street this morning to commemorate the 70th anniversary and to celebrate in particular the veterans from both New Zealand and the United States who were there. Interestingly, there were also protesters there, and what I guess I would like to have politely said to them was that the war that we united to fight, the Second World War, actually made possible their right to protest. We should be grateful for the Kiwis and for the Americans who gave their lives in defence of our country in that war against Nazi Germany, against the Fascist Italian Government, and against the Japanese imperial forces, because that was a war that was to protect our democracy and our freedoms.

June 1942 was a dark time for the world. Nazi Germany controlled almost all of Continental Europe, the Japanese army had defeated the British and Allied Forces at Hong Kong and Singapore, had advanced down through Papua New Guinea as far as the Solomon Islands in the Pacific, and was bombing Darwin. As the Minister said, we had mobilised most of our adult male population, but they were not here. They were in the battlefields of North Africa, and our air force personnel were fighting in the Battle of Britain, in the battle for Europe. Churchill wanted us to keep our forces in Europe, and reached an agreement with Roosevelt that in return for our forces staying in Europe a US division would be posted to New Zealand. And when they arrived here we were very pleased to see them. There were 150,000 overall who came in those 2 years, the US Army to Auckland and the Marine divisions to Wellington. Some were on their way to the Pacific, some were here on rest and recreation in between the fierce fighting in the Islands, and some came to the hospitals in Cornwall Park and Silverstream to recover from war wounds. Today we pay tribute to them and their service.

The American invasion, as it was called, also, of course, had some significant cultural impact on New Zealand. They brought Glenn Miller, jazz and concerts, hamburgers, doughnuts, and Coca-Cola. You can argue about the merits of all of those things. They frequented the pubs—the old Midland, which maybe some in Wellington will remember, and the St George. They went to nightclubs such as the Majestic Cabaret, and I have to mention the El Rey nightclub in Hillsborough Road, in my electorate, which is now proudly St David’s Presbyterian Church.

The Kiwis generally warmed to their extrovert guests. Home visits were common—my own mother’s family hosted them on many occasions—with families providing meals and hospitality. The servicemen, in return, appreciated that warm and friendly welcome. But there were two sides to that story; I have to be honest about that. One I was told by my mother, and the other by my father. My mother said they were hugely impressive, and their smart uniforms, their generosity, and their manners put the Kiwi males to shame. My dad used an oft-quoted comment: “Only three things wrong with the Yanks: they’re overpaid, oversexed, and over here.” I do not know how he felt subsequently about having an American son-in-law and four grandchildren in the American army. Fifteen hundred women went on to become war brides and returned to the United States at the end of the war.

In fact, the soldiers’ presence here helped to develop and sustain a close and friendly relationship between our two countries. There was real sadness when the news came back of those who had died in battle. The last Marine division that left Wellington went to fight in the Battle of Tarawa in what we now call Kiribati. In that battle more than 900 of those who had left New Zealand’s shores were killed, and 2,000 were wounded. That is on a scale similar to Gallipoli. The columns of casualty lists were published in the Wellington newspapers. It is appropriate today that we commemorate with gratitude the 70th anniversary in order to pay tribute to those who sacrificed their lives. Their presence in New Zealand and their sacrifice are part of the rich tapestry of the relationship between our two countries, and their legacy was to strengthen a friendship that is enduring.

Kia ora, Mr Speaker. I rise to speak on behalf of the Green Party and join with the Labour Party and National Party to acknowledge the 70th anniversary of US troops arriving as part of our alliance over World War II. We acknowledge the critical role US Marines played in the defence of the Pacific region against Fascist aggression in the 1940s. We remember their fallen, just as we remember the fallen of New Zealanders and other allies. On 13 June 1942 a regiment of the US Army’s 37th Division landed at Auckland, and on the next day the 1st Marine Division did so here in Wellington, moving into hastily constructed camp facilities. All in all about 100,000 US servicemen arrived in New Zealand, with a peak of 48,200 in July 1943. In addition, many thousands of other American sailors, merchant seamen, made fleeting visits to the country.

It is important to acknowledge why they were here. A month after the Americans arrived in July 1942, New Zealand’s military mobilisation—the largest in our country’s history—peaked with 159,500 men and women under arms, along with 100,000 in our Home Guard. Unlike Australia our men, based on Winston Churchill’s urging, remained in the European theatre, mostly in the sands of North Africa or the beaches of Fiji, and were not here to protect us from the threatened Japanese invasion.

The threat was real, and we rightly welcomed the American invasion, as it was affectionately known, and our guests. They may not have left the Transmission Gully motorway, so often discussed, but they left their marks on our culture, our economy, and on the hearts of those 1,500 New Zealand women who married US servicemen. Interestingly, as they departed, between 1944 and 1946, numerous “bride ships”, as they were known, departed from New Zealand, carrying nearly 1,000 women and nearly 500 children back to the States.

Seventy years on, it is important to recognise those US servicemen and the people who can still remember it. Many of them will not be around for the 80th anniversary. Seventy years on, it is important to acknowledge how New Zealand has changed. Seventy years on, it is important to acknowledge that we are now a proud independent nation. Seventy years before, foreign policy decisions essentially were made in London and, after the War, in Washington. Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage, who broadcast from his sickbed on 5 September 1939, said the immortal words: “Where [England] goes, we go; where she stands, we stand.”

This year New Zealand also celebrated 25 years of nuclear-free status, where we have truly become a proud, independent nation. We no longer go where England goes, and we no longer stand where Washington stands. We are a proud, independent nation that can celebrate the fact that New Zealand refused to enter Iraq and be part of the illegal coalition of the willing in 2003, and were not privy to part of those human rights abuses committed over there. This was right that we are nuclear free, and 70 years on we can celebrate the beginnings of our truly independent standard.

Looking forward, as we have built the relationship with the United States, we must ensure New Zealand’s independence, and urge, as the Government puts it, our very, very good friends to abide strictly by the rule of international law in everything they do and tell them they are being closely watched.

The Green Party acknowledges those servicemen and their families, and we would like to pay our respects.

New Zealand First endorses the sentiments behind this motion. The fact is our soldiers were in Europe and in North Africa when to our shores, and to our enormous relief, the Americans came and died in their thousands north of this country. Prior to that it was for months an anxious hope on everyone’s lips, and it was questioned as to when the Americans would come. Many of the people in generations or decades following that time sometimes forgot to be grateful for that event.

Although we can disagree with a country like the United States on foreign policy, it is never an excuse to be straight bad-mannered about it, and I think we would all now, in 2012, regret a part of that difference with the United States—not that we had a difference, but the way we handled it. We may not always agree with United States foreign policy, but they came, in the cause of liberty and freedom, to our shores and north of us lost men in their thousands in the theatres of war on different islands. Those of us who have been fortunate to see some of the burial grounds offshore realise just what a tragic sacrifice they made in the interests of Pacific peace. A mature nation should always honour that country and its soldiers who did that.

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. Kia ora tātau e te Whare. Me pēnei rawa te kōrero, e rua ētahi paku kōrero e pā ana ki te take nei. Tuatahi, kai te tautoko ake i te mōtini, i tōna hanga ki te whakanui i te hunga i haere mai ai ki Aotearoa nei, ka mutu, i tae ki te mura o te ahi, ā, i whakapau i te werawera mō te tika, me te pono e ai ki tā wētahi. Pēnā ki te Rt Hon Winitana Pita e kōrero nei, ehara i te mea, me whakaae atu ki tā rātau i whakatakoto mai ai ēngari, me mihi rā ki te hunga i tū ki te mura o te ahi mō te aha? Mō te tika me te pono. Tērā, tērā kōrero.

Ka rua, kāre tō mātou kaikōrero a te Hon Tariana Turia i konei i tēnei wā tonu nei. Ēngari mēnā i konei, kua kī mai ia nōna te waimaria i te mea, ko tētahi wāhanga o tōna whakapapa heke mai ai i te hōia Amerikana i ngā tau kua hipa ake. Nō reira, ahakoa ngā tautohetohe i tōna mutunga mai ko tā Tariana ko te kī, ka nui tana mīharo ki te āhuatanga o tōna whakapapa ki a Amerika, ka mutu, ki tōna whakapapa ki a Whangaehu. Nō reira, koinei tāku i tū ake ai, hai waha kōrero mōna i tēnei rā. Tuatahi, ki te whakatau i te āhuatanga o te hunga mate. Waiho rātau kia moe. Ka mutu, kia whakanui i te āhuatanga o te hunga ora, ko Tariana tērā, kō tātau tēnei. Huri noa, kia ora tātau.

[Thank you, Mr Speaker. Greetings to us, the House. Let me put it this way: there are two small parts relating to this matter. First, I endorse the motion in terms of celebration for those who came here to New Zealand and those who went to the battle-front to exert themselves for what is right and valid according to some. Like what the Rt Hon Winston Peters said, it does not mean that we have to agree with what they put before us, but we must acknowledge those who stood at the battle-front—and for what purpose? For what is right and what is valid. That is that contribution.

Secondly, our spokesperson the Hon Tariana Turia is not here right at this moment. But had she been she would have said how lucky she was, as one side of her family tree is from an American soldier of years past. So, regardless of the disputes at the end of it all, Tariana would say how she is full of admiration for the circumstances around her genealogical connection to America and those with Whangaehu. So this is why I stand to represent her today, in the first instance, to acknowledge those who have passed away. Allow them to rest there and then to celebrate the living. That is Tariana and us here. And so greetings to us throughout.]

Ā, kia ora mai anō rā tātou. Tēnā koe e te Tumuaki, tō tātou Whare, tātou anō rā e hui tahi nei, tēnā koutou, kia ora tātou. Tautoko anō hoki au i te kaupapa o te mōtini kia mihi atu ki a rātou te hunga w’eturangitia, rātou e tū ana ki mua i te hoariri i aua wā. Ēngari, e tika ana kia kaua e wareware ki wā tātou nei hōia, wā tātou nei toa i haere tawhiti atu ki te tiaki i ngā tāngata o roto o ngā whenua katoa o te ao. I aua wā, horekau he hoariri kotahi i haere mai ki Aotearoa ēngari, ko wā tātou nei hōia i tae atu ki ngā wāhi katoa. Nō reira, e tika anō hoki ā te Mane e tū mai nei, koia te hui ā-tau o te Rōpū 28, tērā o wā tātou nei rōpū toa o te ao Māori i tae rangatira atu ki ngā wāhi katoa o te ao, kia tū rangatira tātou ki roto o Aotearoa nei. Nō reira, e tika ana kia mihi atu ki a rātou, ki te hunga kua w’eturangitia, wā tātou mātua, kaumātua ahakoa ko Māori, ko Pākehā, ko wai rānei. Tēnā koutou, kia ora tātou katoa.

[And greetings once again to us. Salutations, Mr Speaker, our House, and all of us assembled here. Salutations to you collectively and to us. I too endorse the tenor of the motion in that we acknowledge those who fell before the enemy at that time. But we must not forget our own soldiers and warriors who travelled afar to protect people in all countries in the world. At that time not a solitary foe came to New Zealand, but our soldiers went everywhere. So it is fitting as well that next Monday is an annual get-together for the 28th Māori Battalion, that gallant battalion of Māoridom that arrived tall in places in the world and that made us proud here in New Zealand. So it is right that we acknowledge them, the ones who have passed away, our parents, elderly folk, Māori, Pākehā, or whoever. Acknowledgments to you collectively and to us all.]

I rise on behalf of United Future to support the motion that is before the House at the moment. On the Wellington waterfront there is a simple plaque to commemorate the arrival and the departure of the American troops in 1942. It no longer stands in its original place. For members who are familiar with the geography of the waterfront, somewhere adjacent to the current cruise ship terminal would be where those ships arrived and sailed from. The waterfront has changed considerably in the 70 years; our country has changed considerably in the 70 years. But the simple legend on that plaque endures. It says: “If you ever need a friend you have one”. That was the sentiment of the time.

I think that when we, from the luxury of this distance, reflect back on those circumstances and that time, the poignancy of those words becomes stronger. As others have acknowledged, in 1942 a large proportion of New Zealand’s defence forces was fighting for our freedom in far-off places: in Africa, in parts of Europe, and in parts of the Pacific. There was a sense of our exposure in this country. The arrival of the American forces—apart from any of the other variants that they may have introduced while they were here—gave our people a sense of security that our well-being was once again being looked after. It was an act of friendship. It was an act that created a bond between nations that, through ups and downs, has endured for the last 70 years.

As others have acknowledged, friendship is a two-way street. You show loyalty to, and support for, those who need it, and you also have a certain ability to speak freely and to share differences. Both the United States and New Zealand, in the intervening 70 years, have shared occasions where they have spoken frankly and bluntly to each other in the way that only true friends can. But what does carry forth and what characterises always, even at our darkest moments, the relationship between our two countries is this overbearing statement of friendship: “If you ever need a friend you have one”. It was as true in 1942 as it has become today. Although none of us has direct memory of that time, what we can take solace from are the events that occurred. In focusing on those few words, we can understand the feeling of our country, and we can see its modern translation.

Those were very dark days for New Zealand. It was very good for this country to have the friend that it did, and today it is appropriate that we commemorate, celebrate, and offer our respects to those who made those sacrifices.

Motion agreed to.