Source: Radio New Zealand
Banner and armlets carried by the Halcombe Home Guard Supplied
The bunting’s up, sandwiches have been cut, crosses bearing the names of fallen soldiers are around the cenotaph and freshly made wreaths are ready to be placed.
It’s a common scene on Anzac Day around rural New Zealand but one small town goes to special lengths to involve its community every year.
This year in the Manawatū township of Halcombe, baggy 1940s-style suits have come out, the sleeves adorned simply with the letters H.G.
They’ll be worn by a contingent representing the local Home Guard, platoons of volunteers set up to protect New Zealand in case of invasion during WW2.
Each year Halcombe features a different theme “so we really get a sense of what was happening, and so we can all really learn from it”, one of the organisers Alex Short told Country Life.
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Last year the emphasis was on the “Land Girls” who looked after farms and food production when many of the workers went overseas to fight.
This year Short’s father Wayne had done a lot of research on the local Home Guard platoons for a display in the town’s Memorial Hall where locals, and many out-of-towners, would gather for a cup of tea and baking after the ceremony.
Alex Short with her father Wayne Short RNZ/Sally Round
Among letters, diaries and training manuals from the period, he discovered a secret group, given priority access to weapons, led by his grandfather Bruce Short.
“The Guide Platoon was actually a guerrilla warfare group, so they were trained in sabotage, to attack at night and all sorts of things like that.
“Not even the wives knew about what they were going to do, it was that top secret.”
His wife’s grandfather Eric Pryce, a WWI Miltary Cross holder, was the commander for the area, and his letters show some frustration at the lack of resources for the volunteers, Wayne said.
Halcombe’s Capt Eric Pryce, awarded the Military Cross in 1916, was local area commander of the Home Guard in WW2 RNZ/Sally Round
In the regular platoons, the men were well trained and relied on ingenuity a lot of the time, he said. They were busy working but still found time to train.
He still has the one and only gun belonging to his grandfather which had to be passed among men for firing practice.
They were expected to know the local terrain “so well they could walk it with their eyes shut”.
Dummy grenades made out of wood by his grandfather are among the artefacts on display.
One of Wayne Short’s grandfather’s hand made dummy hand grenades used by the Home Guard for training RNZ/Sally Round
Home Guardsmen believed to be on a training camp around Tangimoana Supplied
“It was all about just slowing down any invading force, so drop the bridges, blow up railway lines and stuff like that, and drop trees across the roads.
“Rural people really got in behind it – they saw the need to actually support the country.
“In the cities, it was a little bit different, and they had problems getting people on board. In 1942 they made it compulsory for anyone from 35 to 50 had to join the Home Guard.”
People in New Zealand were urged to join up for the Home Guard which started in 1940 to protect communities against the threat of invasion Supplied
The cenotaph at Halcombe ready with crosses and bunting to commemorate Anzac Day RNZ/Sally Round
Wayne’s daughter Alex said, through the research for this year’s theme, some people had discovered the role their forebears played in the local Home Guard, and that would be brought to life this weekend.
“We have about 20 men who will be dressed in period costume, just reasonably casual 1940s suits and stuff, with their armlets on, the Home Guard armlets, and they will be walking behind in the parade.
“I think it’s just sort of helping the people realise that these were just regular people in our community that stood up and did this job, and it makes you think, if something happened to us today, would we do the same thing? Who knows?”
The Halcombe service starts at 10.45am at the cenotaph.
Greenery being turned into wreaths for Anzac Day Supplied
One of the wreaths ready for Anzac Day Supplied
One of the wreaths made as part of a community wreath-making evening in Halcombe Supplied
Learn more:
- Watch the National Film Unit film Citizen Soldiers (1942) here
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
