We begin this new regular column in the magazine to provide individuals recollections of their service to their country. The Anzac day dawn parades are very much an indication of the respect that all New Zealanders have for their heroes.
The huge turnouts at the dawn parades are made up of a large percentage of young people showing their respect and appreciation to those that fought and gave so much to ensure freedom for so many. I too share in the respect and admiration for these brave men. I have with my profession been privileged to work with and train many true professional unsung heroes.
My dear friend Mr Bill Hall is one such unsung hero and it is his recollections that make up this first such inclusion. Bills honesty and modesty is only surpassed by his courage and conviction to do what is right no matter how hard that maybe in every aspect of his life. Bill joined the Armed Forces in 1937 initially with the New Zealand territorial forces First Otago Regiment.
Bill Hall
When the second Scots were formed Bill transferred to them and was later selected to join the Independent Company. When the New Zealand government decided not to send any soldiers under the age of 21 to serve in the army overseas Bill joined the air force. He was transferred to the Third Otago Regiment where he became a private and peeled potatoes for six weeks before leaving for the Royal New Zealand Air Force where he went through number one composite course in Rotorua.
He was with the first group of aircrew to go there. He was then sent to Taieri as a pilot under training. Bill was grounded at Taieri for low flying but as he says that’s by the by. Bill then went back, remustered, and left New Zealand bound for Canada to fly on what was then known as secret aircraft. In all there were 14 including Bill preparing to be navigator wireless operators on the secret aircraft that turned out to be the Mosquitoes.
The group was divided half on the navigation course and half on the wireless course. Halfway through the course they were interviewed by Tiny White and informed the New Zealand government was no longer intending to purchase a squadron of the Mosquitoes and that Bill and the rest of the group would have to stay on the courses they were on.
Bill completed his course and finished up as a wireless operator air gunner. From Canada Bill went to the United Kingdom and at the end of hostilities in 1945 he returned on a ship called the Mooltan. Bill’s service in the United Kingdom saw him finish up on 626 Squadron Number One Group Bomber Command. It was during Bills training phase in the United Kingdom that he underwent unarmed combat training. He had already undergone basic unarmed combat training with the Independent Force prior to leaving New Zealand.
Some of Bill’s crew – Bill at rear middle
For the unarmed combat training, because of the particular squadron Bill was serving in they were taken away each day for three weeks where they were taught hand-to-hand combat at an undisclosed location.
Bill’s instructor was a little Scottish corporal who was extremely proficient and his methods were quite simple. He instructed in the following manner, he would demonstrate the skill twice then you would practice the skill three times, if you got it correct the first time then that was good and you could continue, if you got it wrong twice you would get a good slap on the back and if you could not get it right the third time you would end up flat on your back.
Bill describes the hand to hand combat as methods of self preservation designed to completely eliminate the enemy in the shortest possible time using anything that was handy in order to accomplish this result or if there was no improvised weapon available, well then it was bare hands boots and your entire body. The training was referred to as the dirty tricks brigade.
Bill states he had the privilege of flying with some very brave men and if anybody said they weren’t scared, well then they simply were not there.
Bomber command suffered the biggest and most horrific casualties of the war. They were informed that one hours flying was equivalent to 8 hours hard labor. Bomber command operated throughout the entire war on a continuous basis but at the end of World War II they were not acknowledged in any way. The only people that acknowledged the efforts of Bomber Command in crippling the German war effort were the Germans themselves and that’s contained in both the Goebbels diaries and in the comments of both Speer and Hitler.
Lancasters over Holland on the Manna Operation
Most of Bomber Commands flights were at night for a very good reason, the guns they had on the aircraft were 303s and were calibrated to 150 to 200 yards depending on the wishes of the gunners. That was the maximum distance you would see another aircraft at night in hostile skies. That left you a fraction of a second to react to any threat that might arise.
In daylight the German fighters cannons could sit out there at 1000 yards and have a crack at you if you were on daylights and with the 303s you couldn’t get anywhere near them. Prior to the end of the war Bills Squadron was equipped with Rose turrets, which had two.5s in the rear turret that made daylight operations a lot more comfortable.
There were only 200 Rose turrets made and they were only issued to particular Squadron’s. We also had great navigational and radar equipment to help us. Towards the end of World War II the western portion of Holland was cut off together with three and a half million Dutch people and the German occupying forces.
The Dutch population was starving. The Germans had taken everything they possessed and they had no medical supplies, no fuel and no food. This was to be the beginning of what was known as the Hunger Winter.
We were called to the briefing room and were told that 23,000 Dutch women and children had already died and more were dying everyday. We were then asked to volunteer to fly low-level operations to drop food to the Dutch people.
A Lancaster in flight over Germany
As far as Bill is aware all crews on his squadron and throughout Bomber Command volunteered. Originally the army was asked to invade that area of Holland but declined on the basis that as the Germans had already blown the dykes, it would be impossible without horrific casualties for the army and the Dutch population. Queen Wilhemena of the Netherlands appealed to the King of England to President Roosevelt to Prime Minister Winston Churchill to Eisenhower and to Montgomery to try and do something because they feared it would be a horrific death toll and seriously harm the Dutch nation.
The only way in which the situation could be resolved was from the air. This is how the Manna operation was mounted. There was no guarantee by the Germans in the first three days that they would not fire on us and we were told that there were 450,000 German troops underneath us. There were no guarantees but they hoped they would not fire on us.
The first operation consisted of approximately 250 Lancaster’s, they flew 200 to 300 feet above the English coast when a broadcast in German, Dutch and in English appealing to German Forces not to fire on the force of Lancaster’s approaching the Dutch coast as they were carrying food and not bombs.
The effect on all air crews was immediate, they dropped to about 50 feet or less above the sea, going in over Holland passing German gun pits where the gunner’s were winding their anti aircraft guns trying to get a bead on them.
The Dutch people in any high buildings were waving anything and everything to us. We passed windmills and two storied buildings where people were looking down on us. To wave back we had to look up to do so.
On the first of May we went to Valkenberg to drop food that was contained in gunnysacks, free fall – no parachutes. Shortly after we pulled up, our rear gunner reported that his rear turret was on fire and we came home from Holland in that manner.
Every time the fire flared up our rear gunner and the flight engineer, who was a fellow of about sixteen and a half stone who had gone back to assist the rear gunner vaulting the main spa of the Lancaster with a fire extinguisher in each hand. That is almost an impossible feat as the only way you could ordinarily get over the main spa in a Lancaster was to sit on it carefully, roll yourself up into a ball, and roll over it.
Bill has another clear vision in his mind of going over the dykes at about ten or twenty feet above the water where they had a Lancaster to their port side facing directly towards a Dutch man on top of a dyke waving furiously and pointing to a German anti aircraft position. The Lancaster was heading straight for him and at the last-minute he turned around and dived off the dyke showing a big red patch on the seat of his pants. Bill says he was a braver man than most to stay there as long as he did. The Dutch people were absolutely marvelous they were out on the streets waving at us; it was the first ever food drop and Bomber Command finished its war flying humanitarian missions.
The Dutch credit bomber commands Manna Operations with saving the lives of three and a half million Dutch people. After the first three days of Manna the Germans agreed not to fire on us.
The USAAF then joined the food dropping operations. They named their effort Chow Hound.
After the war I returned home on a ship called the Mooltan sailing into Wellington Harbour just before Christmas Day 1945 to find the wharfies were on strike and refused to tie us up.
The ship sat out in Wellington Harbour for four hours before they tied us up and the North islanders disembarked.
The Mooltan then headed for Lyttleton where the South Islanders disembarked and returned home. After the war of course most of us were still suffering from the effects for some time. I was fortunate that the girl I left behind to go to war was waiting for me and later became my wife. I am very fortunate to have a lovely wife, 3 lovely children, fine sons and daughter in law and 8 grandchildren.
Three months after I retired we were attacked at our holiday home. When we were attacked I used skills, which I had been taught in World War II. There were 10 or 11 people involved in the attack and the police report said there was up to 100 present. I thought there were 70 and the neighbours reported over 150.
There were only about 10 or 11 that actually came at me. The ringleader who made the first move was in his twenties and a well-known fighter. He attempted to use his skills and I reacted bending him over and to be honest for a second was going to kill him. I came within inches and seconds of doing that when it flashed through my mind that this was a New Zealand citizen that I was about to kill. I stopped and threw him down and away from me. My understanding from the Police is that he was incapacitated for about three months. This unfortunate situation at that time was the subject of a television documentary. The Police stated there was a good chance if they had got me on the ground they would have kicked my head in however if I had killed one of them I could have faced a man slaughter or murder charge.
I then decided to go back and brush up the skills I possessed prior to 1945. I did not realise there was any unarmed combat training available so I visited 3 martial arts schools in Dunedin. Each of the instructors at these schools asked of my previous experience and I briefly outlined it.
The first two advised me to go and see Geoff Todd at the School of Self Defence. The third instructor stated that he thought he could beat me easily as he just returned from training in Japan. I asked him how he would do that and he replied he would kick me, he then demonstrated his actions at which point I laughed and informed him he had been dead for the past 15 seconds.
I went to visit Geoff Todd at that time and explained how incensed I was in regard to the attack as they not only threatened myself, but had also threatened my wife and to burn down our holiday home. The implication that my wife would be harmed had quite an effect on me and this is what brought me to the School of Self Defence.
I explained to Geoff Todd my situation current health and background and found that he could provide what I was looking for.
I trained for six months and I provided some nervous moments for my training partners as my reactions and actions of the past tended to at times be reflex and not pulled short.
I’ve had a long association with the School of Self Defence since I began the training that I needed to avoid killing someone in a self-defence situation. It has been my pleasure to be associated with the School of Self Defence. I have met many fine people and their code of conduct that proclaims the more knowledge you possess the more responsible you are has my full backing and confidence.
I learnt many methods over and above what we were taught in World War II. What I was taught in World War II was to bring everything to final fatal conclusion in a very small space of time. What I have learnt at the School of Self Defence is to immobilise your assailants in order that you might walk away in the same small space of time.
At the invitation of the Food and Freedom Foundation in Holland I was invited to be part of the Manna Association visit to Holland in 1995, which was the 50th anniversary of the Manna food drops. They took 2 New Zealanders, 2 Australians, 4 Canadians, 40 Englishman, 40 Americans and 8 Poles. All aircrew that had flown these operations. We flew 5 such operations and I presume this is why we were selected, there are other New Zealanders who also flew. There are south of Christchurch, three of us and there are another three in Christchurch to the best of my knowledge who flew these operations.
The Dutch people paid for my airfares and permitted me to take my wife with me and hosted us for eight days. They put us in old military vehicles and paraded us through all the areas where we had dropped the food for people, even though they did not need to do so, standing in the streets of Amsterdam Rotterdam, The Hague and every other area, between 8 and 10 deep just to say thank you to us. We found their gratitude overwhelming and it was a tremendous experience one which we will never forget.
To come along 50 years later and say thank you was tremendous. They again invited us to go to Holland in the year 2000 but unfortunately we were unable to make this journey as I had a leg injury. Part of the journey included a visit to the Royal Palace where we met Prince Bernhard who personally thanked a representative from each country for what they had done for the Dutch people.
At that ceremony the sole remaining flying Lancaster flew overhead at about 100 feet and that was quite impressive.
I consider Prince Bernhard to be in my opinion the bravest man there. He was suffering from terminal cancer and had been in hospital for approximately four months and had discharged himself from hospital in order that he could stand there and receive us. We felt very humble that he should do that for us.
We visited all the drop sites and had the freedom of Rotterdam and truly enjoyed our time in Holland.
It had always been my belief that everyone in Bomber Command did the same hand-to-hand combat course that we did. It never crossed my mind that it was not standard practice throughout bomber command and I was surprised to learn some years ago that this was not the case. Why a particular squadron was selected I honestly do not know, perhaps it was because at the end of World War II in Europe we were asked to transfer onto other aircraft and to volunteer to go directly from Great Britain to Iwojima in order that the war against Japan could be finalised.
VE Day in Europe was the eighth of May 1945, the day in which we flew the last Manna operation. After that they came around and asked all the Australian and New Zealand crews to transfer onto other aircraft, fly the aircraft out to Iwojima and then partake in the bombing of Japan.
Why we were not taking Lancaster’s to Iwojima was that we could not close our bomb doors on the biggest bombs, which were then being made. The aircraft that we were to transfer onto could close the bomb doors on a 22000 pounder.
Many years ago I had a friend that offered to make me a model Lancaster and asked me if I had any photographs. I gave him the photographs and the aircraft had a yellow dot painted on the front. It was quite large and he said to me that we were a special crew. I replied “no we weren’t” and he informed me that we were. I replied well nobody ever told us anything about it. Approximately 4000 New Zealanders flew with Bomber Command of whom approximately 2000 died and approximately 500 were prisoners of war. 200 more were seriously wounded.
When I returned home from the war I went back to working at the Post Office working in the money order and savings bank divisions. I completed my accountancy qualifications and also was a part-time student at the University of Otago. I worked all day and studied at night achieving my bachelor of commerce. On completing this I obtained further qualifications, which included anzim and anzcs.
I was next offered a transfer by the Post Office to head office in Wellington, which I declined. I later moved to a Dunedin firm of public accountants and worked for them for the next two or three years mainly doing auditing. My next position was secretary accountant for J and W. Faulkner Ltd. I was then offered a position as financial controller for Reckitt & Colman that involved a transfer to Auckland so I declined the offer. I then joined the New Zealand Plunket Society as their New Zealand treasurer and spent the next 21 years until retirement in this position. I was responsible for the control of considerable government funds and preparation of yearly and three yearly budgets that entailed a considerable amount of management accounting. The Plunket society at that time had 234 cars on the road owned around $10 million worth of properly and had in the vicinity of 790 employees.
I retired in 1986 and since have held a number of voluntary positions with various organizations working to help as many people as possible. I was the Otago President of Grey Power for a number of years, mainly involved with assisting the elderly and needy. I wrote the submissions to the human rights commission regarding asset stripping of the elderly and also was involved in considerable negotiations with government around the issues of the treatment of our senior citizens. I’m also the president of the Brevet club Otago and have been an executive member of the Dunedin RSA and at present I am a trustee of Dunedin RSA Welfare Trust. I have been a member of the School of Self Defence since 1986.
Standard Operational Procedures
Firstly there is a list posted of all crews on standby, then the station is completely sealed off, all telephone links are cut and all leave is cancelled. The crews have a meal depending on what time the operation is planned to get under way. The Catholic members of the crew after eating would attend mass in the boiler room at the back of the mess. All the crews to fly that night would be assembled in the briefing room and the doors would be locked. There would be a blind covered map at the front of the room and when the room was sealed off the blind would be lifted revealing the operational plan for the night.
All the leaders of various sections of the aircrew give their briefings. The station commander speaks and after that the squadron leader or wing commander in charge of the operation will brief the crews. The pilots then the navigators followed by the wireless operators and the gunners and the bomb aimer as well as the flight engineer would all have their turn at speaking.
After each person spoke they would finish off with asking if there were any questions. The met officer would also brief the crews in relation to the weather and anticipated conditions and changes of conditions en route to and from the target. You would also be briefed in regards to all the known flak areas and where we might encounter enemy fighters on the way in and the way out.
When briefing was over you would move to the crew room etc, then to your aircraft, sometimes you were put on standby so then you would wait around for half an hour or more out at the aircraft dispersal. When given the signal to go you would get in the aircraft and perform final checking procedures. Your ground crew is there with you at dispersal.
Their duties are to maintain the aircraft and ensure it is fully ready to go.
During the day of the operation after the ground crew have fully prepared the aircraft you would complete what is known as a (DI) short for daily inspection, that is your responsibility to check your own equipment and to make sure that everything is functioning correctly.
If there was anything that you were not happy with then you would refuse it and would be the ground crews responsibility to ensure it was fixed. The chief of our ground crew had been in the RAF for about 25 years and was excellent at his job. The only difficulty we had was that he would not even enter our hut but would instead come to the door and stand rigidly at attention. It took us quite some time to cure that attitude but eventually we did so. Our ground crew were marvellous and did everything they could to help us.
Normally a squadron would operate around 18 aircraft and on being given the go-ahead would taxi out around the perimeter of the airfield of which a bomber airfield is between 10 and 15 miles. We would line up at the end of the runway and on the green light the pilot would put the brakes on and rev the motors and open them up as much as he possibly can and then let the brakes off and you are rolling. Then with a Lancaster you let it go down the runway and eventually it will lift off.
One evening when we were the next in ‘line’ for takeoff – the aircraft in front of us attempted to lift off early. We watched as it bounced three times before becoming airbourne much too our relieve.
What should have happened is that the under carriage should have collapsed, the aircraft should have blown up and the chain reaction would have been to take the rest of us with him. We would fly in a gaggle in what we called a bomber stream. Operations would vary in length of time.
The longest operation we did was 10 hours and 50 minutes from start to finish.
The pilot would hand control over to the bomb aimer on run up to the target and he would give corrections. Our bomb aimer was Colin Grant from Lake Hayes and his voice used to go up in pitch the closer we got to the target. He would give his directions as left and right, if they were major corrections and say left left or right right for minor corrections.
On the target you would hear him say “bombs gone” and the aircraft would lift considerably. We would get out of there and head for home.
On landing you would be interrogated by the intelligence personnel and they would want to know all information in relation to the operation and anything you had seen like heavy flak areas or positions where you came under enemy attack.
Every aircraft carried approximately one hour extra fuel so if you were not down in one hour somewhere in England then the aircraft was posted as missing unless other information was available.
There were seven crew members on a Lancaster – Pilot, Flight Engineer, Navigator, Bomb Aimer, Wireless Operator, Mid Upper Gunner and Rear Gunner.
Everyone worked together as a unit to achieve a common objective.
Bomber Command effectiveness is confirmed by German records.
I would like to end this honest and emotive account of my dear friend Mr Bill Hall’s recollections of details of his record of service by saying thank you Bill I am proud and honored to be your friend and let us not forget those who did not return and gave the ultimate sacrifice to ensure our freedom.
