American Marines in Paekakariki, New Zealand

Hi there

Affer writing my blogs of last week, I was thinking about the WW2 years. Even though I wasn't born, my mother told me a lot about them. Thousands upon thousands of young New Zealanders went to war overseas, my two uncles among them (one uncle was wounded very badly, the other enlisted under-age).

During WW2, American marines came to NZ for R&R and to recover from illnesses and wounds (the recuperation hospital, and base, were in the Silverstream/Paekakariki area, about a half hour away from Wellington city). My grandmother's family was one of the Wellington families that 'adopted' American servicemen. The young men would come to her place for home-cooked meals.

Many young New Zealand women dated the American servicemen.

This year some WW2 American veterans returned to the area to visit.
Below is the link for the story

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/local-papers/kapiti-observer/10021455/Marines-warmly-welcomed-back

There is a commemorative plaque at Queen Elizabeth Park, Paekakariki, and also another plaque on a wall down on the Wellington waterfront which commemorates the arrival of the troop ships carrying the American forces.