Motions — United States Forces—70th Anniversary of Arrival in New Zealand During World War II 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Motions — United States Forces—70th Anniversary of Arrival in New Zealand During World War II 
[Sitting date: 14 June 2012. Volume:680;Page:2977. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Thursday 14 June 2012 
Mr Speaker 
 took the Chair at 2 p.m. 
Prayers 
. 
Motions 
United States Forces—70th Anniversary of Arrival in New Zealand During World War II 
Hon MURRAY McCULLY (Minister of Foreign Affairs) 
: 
 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. 
Hon MURRAY McCULLY 
: 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 15000 and 45000 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. 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Labour—Mt Roskill) 
: 
 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 150000 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 2000 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.  
GARETH HUGHES (Green) 
: 
 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 100000 US servicemen arrived in New Zealand with a peak of 48200 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 159500 men and women under arms along with 100000 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 1500 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 1000 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. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 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. 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Speaker. Kia ora tatau e te Whare. Me penei rawa te korero e rua etahi paku korero e pa ana ki te take nei. Tuatahi kai te tautoko ake i te motini i tona hanga ki te whakanui i te hunga i haere mai ai ki Aotearoa nei ka mutu i tae ki te mura o te ahi a i whakapau i te werawera mo te tika me te pono e ai ki ta wetahi. Pena ki te Rt Hon Winitana Pita e korero nei ehara i te mea me whakaae atu ki ta ratau i whakatakoto mai ai engari me mihi ra ki te hunga i tu ki te mura o te ahi mo te aha? Mo te tika me te pono. Tera tera korero.  
Ka rua kare to matou kaikorero a te Hon Tariana Turia i konei i tenei wa tonu nei. Engari mena i konei kua ki mai ia nona te waimaria i te mea ko tetahi wahanga o tona whakapapa heke mai ai i te hoia Amerikana i nga tau kua hipa ake. No reira ahakoa nga tautohetohe i tona mutunga mai ko ta Tariana ko te ki ka nui tana miharo ki te ahuatanga o tona whakapapa ki a Amerika ka mutu ki tona whakapapa ki a Whangaehu. No reira koinei taku i tu ake ai hai waha korero mona i tenei ra. Tuatahi ki te whakatau i te ahuatanga o te hunga mate. Waiho ratau kia moe. Ka mutu kia whakanui i te ahuatanga o te hunga ora ko Tariana tera ko tatau tenei. Huri noa kia ora tatau. 
[ 
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. 
] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Leader—Mana) 
: 
 A kia ora mai ano ra tatou. Tena koe e te Tumuaki to tatou Whare tatou ano ra e hui tahi nei tena koutou kia ora tatou. Tautoko ano hoki au i te kaupapa o te motini kia mihi atu ki a ratou te hunga w’eturangitia ratou e tu ana ki mua i te hoariri i aua wa. Engari e tika ana kia kaua e wareware ki wa tatou nei hoia wa tatou nei toa i haere tawhiti atu ki te tiaki i nga tangata o roto o nga whenua katoa o te ao. I aua wa horekau he hoariri kotahi i haere mai ki Aotearoa engari ko wa tatou nei hoia i tae atu ki nga wahi katoa. No reira e tika ano hoki a te Mane e tu mai nei koia te hui a-tau o te Ropu 28 tera o wa tatou nei ropu toa o te ao Maori i tae rangatira atu ki nga wahi katoa o te ao kia tu rangatira tatou ki roto o Aotearoa nei. No reira e tika ana kia mihi atu ki a ratou ki te hunga kua w’eturangitia wa tatou matua kaumatua ahakoa ko Maori ko Pakeha ko wai ranei. Tena koutou kia ora tatou 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 Maori Battalion that gallant battalion of Maoridom 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 Maori Pakeha or whoever. Acknowledgments to you collectively and to us all. 
] 
Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future) 
: 
 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.