Work in progress
Previous | Contents | Next Out of hospital Sisters Whitten and Johnson must have known what was going on but didn’t take any notice. I was confined to bed, so the party centred around my own and Popeye’s bed, just across from mine. It was a happy and merry occasion. One ... Read more
Previous | Contents A few days later Cliff wrote from the Signal School, N.Z.E.F., Middle East Forces. They were at 2NZEF’s main depot and training camp near Maadi, about 8 miles up the Nile from downtown Cairo. Although he couldn’t tell Dorothy exactly where they were, he did say he ... Read more
Previous | Contents | Next The next stop was Ceylon — Sri Lanka — where the Mauritania berthed for over and week and the men had four days shore leave in Colombo. “Sights rarely seen” indeed, and a very different culture. In the Colombo Post Office Cliff added this note to ... Read more
Previous | Contents | Next Ten days later Cliff was back in Camp again. “My dear Dorothy,” he wrote. “Hello my dear, how are you now? To be frank with you, I’m as cheerful as a funeral. I miss you terribly, sweetheart. “Thank God that we can at least write to ... Read more
Previous | Contents | Next Cliff sent Dorothy a postcard, postmarked Wellington, as they were about to move out into the stream. They were “very, very lucky” — six of them in a flash, first class twin cabin with four additional berths fitted. They had a porthole, shower, hot and cold ... Read more
Contents Because of his role, Signalman Baugh (as he remained throughout the war) probably had a slightly better idea of what was going on than most of the Other Ranks — but Sidi Resegh, part of Operation Crusader in Libya, was not just lethal but confusing at every level. ~ ... Read more
Previous | Contents | Next Now he was in the Army he was unsure what he’d like to do, assuming he had any choice. It looked like it might be hard to get into Signals — he knew a Postmaster who’d tried and failed. The motor cycle platoon would be interesting ... Read more
Previous | Contents | Next There was little more than a year between Cliff’s leaving Hikurangi and his sailing for the Middle East in 2 NZEF. During that year he’d met, fallen in love with and been engaged to nineteen year-old Dorothy McCarroll. In the following chapters I’ve tried, through ... Read more
Previous | Contents | Next In September 1939 Hitler invaded Poland. According to Cliff’s diary, by the time he moved to Paparoa in March 1940 6,000 New Zealand men had enlisted for service overseas and wartime rationing had begun. Although he was still working for the Post Office and Telegraph ... Read more