III
4th Nz general hospital

Unlike the mule, which has neither pride of ancestry nor hope of posterity, the 4th NZ General Hospital can boast of two lusty and honourable parents, though the question as to which can be more rightly referred to as the alma mater, must be answered only by the reader according to his affections. It was on 1 September 1942 that the Tamavua and Namaka hospitals of Fijian fame gave birth to that then somewhat disjointed child, the 4th NZ General Hospital and, in so doing, sounded their own death knells. On that date the remnants of the staffs of these two hospitals were amalgamated and, under Major J. D. Willis as temporary commander, the new unit moved from Papakura Military Camp to Wesley College, Paerata. We spent a little over a month at Paerata where we were occupied mainly with training and in sorting the Fiji equipment in Auckland. When in October it was decided that the Third Division should operate in the Waikato district, we shifted to Hamilton and at the Hamilton

West School, where additional veterans of the Fijian hospitals were rallied together, we set up a tented hospital to service the division. It was here that our administrative and medical staffs were appointed. Lieutenant-Colonel A. A. Tennent, NZMC, recently returned from service with the Second Division, was appointed commanding officer; Lieutenant-Colonel E. Y. Comrie, NZMC, the former commander of the Tamavua hospital, became OC surgical division; Lieutenant-Colonel E. G. Sayers, NZMC, then on his way' back from the Middle East, became OC medical division; and Miss D. M, Hall, the erstwhile matron of Tamavua hospital, was appointed matron.

The hospital at the Hamilton West School was only partly equipped and many personnel were still scattered, some undergoing training at the Waikato hospital, others under the quartermaster, Captain J. G. Oliver, employed in collecting, sorting and packing equipment in Wellington. The members of the New Zealand Army Nursing Service were assembled at Papakura Camp and were kept busy preparing dressings for future use overseas and in completing all necessary pre-embarkation formalities. On 11 November 1942, the hospital closed and the packing of equipment commenced, to be later despatched to Wellington. Happy days these were at Hamilton with everyone keyed up with the thought of adventure in strange lands ahead. An advanced party under Lieutenant-Colonel Sayers had departed on 27 November, with other troops of the Third Division, for an unknown destination and expectation and speculation ran high. During this period, the 4th NZ General Hospital had grown by the addition of four attached units—Nos. 1 and 2 Field Surgical Units under Majors P. C. Brunette and G. E. Waterworth respectively; No. 1 Field Transfusion Unit under Lieutenant I. M. Cairney, later to become registrar of the hospital; and No. 1 Army Optician Unit under Lieutenant E. R. Boyd.

The hospital proper embarked in two parties—working parties at Wellington on 24 December and the remainder at Auckland on 28 December. Baggage parties realised for the first time that the sisters had arrived as they laboured up the gangway with suitcases and kit bags in wild profusion containing those mysteries of the official NZANS kit that still confound the pundits. Then followed an uneventful voyage characterised chiefly by the close proximity of one's fellow human beings and all too infrequent page break

New Zealand's Governor-General visiting a, physical training class at No. 2 Convalescent Depot during his tour of New Caledonia. Patients busily engaged in the occupational therapy department are seen below

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Sections of the Dental Corps moved to every unit of the New Zealand forces. Above is a typical sub-section at work in the field, set up in close proximity to a camp. Below is the interior of a dental laboratory in a bure. Note the improvised polishing lathe run from a battery

page 97visits, on a roster basis, to the upper deck. Meanwhile the advanced party of 23 all ranks under Lieutenant-Colonel Sayers, ably supported by those veterans Major Brunette, the former commander of Namaka hospital, and Major L. S. Talbot, the eye and ear, nose and throat specialist of the force in Fiji, had arrived in Nouméa on 7 December 1942. After six days in the transit camp in the Dumbéa Valley, they travelled north to Boguen River valley arriving in the mid-afternoon in pouring rain. The feelings of the advanced party can well be imagined when the guide pointed to a desolate, maouli-covered, mosqnito-infested area and said, 'Here it is.' However, they set to work erecting tents, digging drains and latrines and setting up a cookhouse. On 17 December their period of complete isolation was ended when a telephone was installed and a jeep made available. Contacts and exploration beyond the valley to Bourail, the island's second largest town some ten miles away, were then possible.

Christmas Day 1942 was an eventful one because, contrary to expectations, a dinner of turkey, green peas and new potatoes was provided by the Americans, secondly because 25 December marked the first real attack from an army of mosquitoes, and thirdly because the first mail from home was received. The Christmas Day invasion by the mosquitoes was but a taste of what was yet to come, and from then on this pest was a terrific problem. They became incredibly bad—so bad that at the end of December the advanced party searched without success for an alternative less mosquito-ridden site for the hospital. On New Year's Day our main body disembarked at Nouméa to be temporarily accommodated at the Vallee des Colons, where later No. 1 NZ Transit Camp was built. The mysteries of a French colonial town were explored before the party set off, on 3 January 1943, in open trucks on the rough and dusty 120 mile drive to our new home at Boguen. There we found our site in a fairly wide valley surrounded by hills and covered by typical open bush of niaouli trees-—a species of eucalyptus. The advanced party had done its work well and we found a camp where accommodation tents, mess tents, cookhouse and administrative centres were all ready for use, a main road had been constructed and even swimming pools in the river had been allocated for the various sections.

From then on followed a period of two months that all will remember for its toil under pioneer conditions of our forebears— page 98a period of bush felling and clearing, of road construction, of a never-ending battle against nature and her mosquito hordes, mud and rain. But above all, there was an all-pervading sense of good fellowship and cheerfulness under difficult conditions. Our carpenters excelled themselves in the construction of native type huts for the administrative centre, cookhouses and mess huts, all built from the stripped trunks of niaouli trees and thatched by natives with grasses or bark. These natives, of whom we employed 25, belonged to various tribes round the area and came under the control of Staff-Sergeant Eric Lash, whose knowledge of the French language and whose innate persuasive manner could rouse even the most lethargic Kanaka to some show of energy. Our admiration for the ubiquitous niaouli increased as we saw our own native type bures rising and as we noted the multifarious functions it was called upon to perform for the natives.

With the assistance of engineers from the 23rd Field Company, a working party from 1st Scots Battalion, a bulldozer and our own personnel, roading was completed, concrete floors laid for tented wards, kitchens and the operating theatre, a water supply from the river installed and an intricate draining scheme for the whole area inaugurated. The main portion of the hospital equipment arrived from Nepoui during the first and second weeks of February and the opening date for the reception of patients loomed near. With the equipment came four generators and, for the first time, electric light was seen in Boguen Valley. The hospital opened for the reception of patients early in March. Though additional wards were still required and much work yet remained to be done, we managed to continue our expansion ahead of the rate of influx of patients.

The first few months in New Caledonia will be remembered as the days of spam and chili con carne. Over 90 per cent of the food came out of tins and, in actual fact, a moderate but definite degree of macrocytic anaemia was found among a number of the staff. During March, however, supplies of fresh meat began to come in and then fresh vegetables and fruit. At about this time a new appointment was made and a messing officer, Lieutenant W. Blakey, was appointed to our quartermaster's staff. This officer handled the messing of staff and patients and controlled the purchasing of certain local fruits, vegetables, eggs, fish and fresh milk from French inhabitants. When an additional team page 99of trained cooks arrived from New Zealand, and with the help of locally produced fresh foods, meals at the 4th NZ General Hospital never looked back. During the following month the hospital slowly settled down into the routine of a wartime army hospital—always busy with new problems arising so that life was seldom monotonous. Sports teams developed and achieved their measure of success. Entertainments were given by hospital and other concert parties. Mobile cinemas made their very welcome appearance and so 4th NZ General Hospital became gradually a civilised community. Walking parties found many pleasant and interesting places to visit—magnificent views along the ridges and hilltops, bush clad hills and valleys and peeps of a deep blue sea and wavy coastline in the distance. During this period, too, weeks of high temperatures and high humidity gave way to cooler days and nights of unexpected freshness. Mosquito attacks eased as the temperatures became lower but they never entirely deserted the hospital.

In June we became parent to yet another attached unit—a sub-section of No. 1 Mobile Dental Section under Captain W. R. Hamilton, NZDC. This section, which later became No. 1 Maxillo Facial Injury Section, provided dental services for patients and staff of the hospital and other troops in the area. On 16 June a new era dawned with the arrival of two officers and 78 other ranks of the New Zealand Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. Prior to this date, six somewhat shy Waacs could be sometimes seen in the vicinity of the sisters' mess or recreation hut, but when this latter band arrived and began their parade ground marches down to mess, the male members of the staff realised that the bachelor days of the 4th General were at an end and that henceforth the women's hand would become increasingly evident. For days before their arrival working parties had been busy preparing the 'Waacery' so that the girls might have some comfort. They soon became a happy, thoroughly established and important section of the hospital.

Because of manifold reasons, the medical and dental facilities available to civilians in New Caledonia were limited and local inhabitants throughout the island availed themselves of facilities offered by allied military hospitals. At Boguen there was a constant stream of French, Javanese, Tonkinese, Arabs and Kanakas —all seeking medical advice or treatment for their many ailments. page 100Language differences caused some confusion, but the pooling of the combined lingual talent of the staff and the frequent use of sign language, usually overcame the difficulty. That our efforts were appreciated was evidenced by the profusion of thanks showered upon us and, far more welcome, by the gifts of delicacies and rare wines and spirits given us during the Christmas season. In August 1943, the division began its move to the Solomons and it became obvious that to cater for divisional troops under these changed circumstances, the 4th NZ General Hospital would have to move its location nearer to a port or an airfield or, if possible, within easy distance of both. The Boguen site had been selected in 1942 for tactical reasons and it had served the division and base organisation well for some six months. A new site was finally chosen on the slopes of a hill in the Dumbéa valley within easy range of both the Nouméa harbour and Ton-touta airfield. There, a far different hospital from the tented institution at Boguen was to be built—a modern hospital of prefabricated parts prepared in New Zealand. The engineers of the works services construction company were in charge of construction and, under Major E. Blacker, NZE, did a magnificent job and our American allies, who are accustomed to speed, were amazed as they watched the mushroom growth on the hillside.

Pending the erection of yet another hospital at Kalavere which was to work in conjunction with No. 2 NZ Convalescent Depot, the deputy director of medical services, Brigadier J. M. Tvvhigg, DSO, decided to leave a hospital at Boguen to service base troops in the Bourail area. This hospital, under the command of Major Willis with Charge-Sister E. D. Cargo as matron, was staffed by our personnel and became known as Boguen detachment, 4th NZ General Hospital, Always a happy centre, Boguen continued to flourish and the peak of good times was reached there at Christmas 1943. Patients were treated to a traditional Christmas and Sergeant M. Guy, a generously proportioned X-ray technician, made a convincing Santa Claus as he distributed gifts from an ornately bedecked bullock-drawn 'sleigh.' Late in January 1944, No. 2 NZ Convalescent Depot assumed responsibility for staffing Boguen, though 4th General left sufficient equipment for a 60-bed hospital. Captain F. N. Sharpe, with Charge-Sister W. M. Gunn as matron, controlled the destinies of the hospital until March page 101when the new Kalavere Hospital was ready for occupation and Boguen was finally closed.

The hospital in the Boguen River valley will long-be remembered by members of the NZEF IP—by the patients who were treated in its wards; by the many visitors to see friends, male or female, who lived there; by the travellers who stopped by for a meal or a bed to break the tedious journey up or down the island; by troops on leave who came to rest in the quiet of the valley; and last, but certainly not least, by members of the staff. Boguen to them may recall memories of hard work, incessant trouble, rain and mud, but it will also recall memories of quiet nights in the valley when the toil of the day was over, moonlight glowing through the niaoulis, beach and river excursions in glorious weather, those countless little incidents which seemed to make army life bearable—but we remember pre-eminently the spirit of camaraderie which was so characteristic of our service there.

But to turn now to the activities of the 4th General at its new location, Dumbea. An advanced party of 50 personnel had left Boguen on 25 September 1943 to make the necessary preparations for the reception of the main body and to handle equipment as it arrived. This latter was a major job as, in all, some 142 six-by-four truck loads of stock and equipment had to be moved—a quartermaster's nightmare but which entirely failed to disturb Lieutenant W. J. Freddy or his imperturbable RQMS, Sergeant-Major H. W. Jones. The balance of the hospital personnel was due to arrive on the same day that advice was received that patients evacuated from Vella Lavella would require admission. It was then that a wardmaster in the advanced party, Staff-Sergeant Fred Archer, showed his worth when he set up, at extremely short notice, a 60-bed ward. Fortunately the patients were delayed en route and did not arrive until 9 October, two days after the medical staff had reached Dumbea. The hospital at this stage, when it opened, consisted of four wards, a hospital kitchen, laboratory and dispensary, while sufficient personnel huts were available to house the existing staff. The theatre block had been completed but, until late November, it lacked steam equipment and autoclaving had to be done at the neighbouring 8th US General Hospital.

Towards the end of October our first New Zealand battle page 102casualties from the 14th Brigade operations on Vella Lavella were admitted. They had been evacuated by sea and air transport, through the 2nd NZ Casualty Clearing Station at Guadalcanal, to Nouméa harbour or Tontouta airport where they were met by the vehicles of the 4th Motor Ambulance Convoy and transported to our hospital. We had had some earlier experience of battle casualties from amongst Fijian troops who, along with all other British personnel serving in the South West Pacific area, were given hospital treatment where possible in New Zealand facilities.

On 15 November 1943 our commanding officer, Colonel Ten-nent, relinquished his command. Colonel Tennent had seen the unit through its early formative days and his task had never been an easy one. He had, however, the satisfaction of seeing his unit safely installed in a hospital which could be, and did become, as fine as any base general hospital working under the Union Jack. Lieutenant-Colonel Sayers, on his return from Vella Lavella which he was visiting in his capacity as consultant physician to the force, was promoted and assumed command. From this time until Christmas, the building programme proceeded apace and we were able to treat a continually increasing' number of patients. Buildings completed and pressed into immediate service were the unit cookhouse and messes, a fifth ward for psychotic cases, a recreational hut for patients and Waacs, bulk ration store, medical equipment store and bakehouse. The completion of the latter building enabled a section of the field bakery unit to be attached and allowed us to make a very welcome return to New Zealand bread. The opening of the patients' recreation hut saw the arrival of Sergeant-Major M. W. Kennedy to become AEWS and education officer, and Private L. G, Scott and, later, Sergeant C. Mcl. Robertson as YMCA representative.

Christmas 1943 at Dumbea was celebrated in a manner traditional to hospitals. On Christmas Eve, sisters (wearing their attractive red capes) and VADs, all with lighted candles, filed through the darkened wards singing carols. Next day, Lieutenant-Colonel M. Williams, the new senior physician, made a most realistic and jovial Father Christmas as his sleigh was dragged through the wards by cavorting 'reindeer,' those erstwhile Boguen collaborators, Major C. L. E. L. Sheppard and Captain Hamilton. The New Year saw the building programme still forging ahead and we gradually occupied completed portions until nine of the page 103ten wards were in use and all administrative and technical personnel were housed in new buildings. The job of installing the colossal boilers for steam production and an improved electricity supply was not completed until June.

Though most of the staff were kept fully occupied with their normal work, recreation and amusements were not neglected. Nouméa was fairly close and many enjoyed visits to this picturesque and very busy community. For the energetic, tennis could be played in Nouméa, there were ideal hikes up the valley available to trampers, swimming could be indulged in the Dumbea river or at more distant beaches, Sergeant Peter Gowing led a band of soccer enthusiasts while Private B. W. Chandler's rugby team claimed the really tough. Films were shown three times a week by a mobile thirty-five millimetre machine in the 'tennen-torium'—an open air theatre named in honour of the first commanding officer. Concerts, unit dances and the inevitable unofficial parties all helped to pass away any further surplus time.

April saw the beginning of a heavy undertaking for the medical services of the force when it was decreed that all personnel returning to New Zealand under the recently announced manpower scheme should be medically boarded and, if possible, X-rayed. This meant an increased tempo of work for many medical officers who were required to form medical boards, and set an almost impossible task for Captain G. L. Rolleston, the radiologist, and the radiographer, Sergeant Ron Harvey. However, these two did a splendid job and, by reorganising their department, they were able to cope with the work and were eventually completing X-rays at the rate of one every minute. By the end of July it became obvious that the force as a whole would be withdrawn to New Zealand and preliminary preparations toward this end were made. Hospital numbers were reduced as far as possible and many of the staff embarked for New Zealand— officially on furlough to return at its.conclusion to New Caledonia, but we all knew that their chances of return were very slight. By the end of August, all patients and the majority of personnel had left Necal for home and, by early September, only a small team under the quartermaster remained as members of the force rear party to clean up. On 9 September 1944 this latter team left Dumbea to join the main body of the New Zealand rearguard in the Bourail area. And that was the end of the 4th NZ General page 104Hospital, though final rites were not observed till later at Mangere Crossing Camp, Auckland, New Zealand.

The 4th General Hospital at Dumbea, conspicuous on the slopes of a hill overlooking the length and breadth of the valley and with a superb view out to sea, was a magnificent building, Constructed from prefabricated wooden parts, the whole establishment was spread over 33 acres and buildings occupied a total floor space of 133,799 square feet. There were nine 60-bed wards, one 76-bed ward for infectious diseases and one 20-bed ward for servicewomen—a total of 636 beds. Every department usually found in a metropolitan hospital was there, with the exception of a radio-therapeutic branch. A 70,000 gallon water reservoir on the hill at the back of the hospital drew water from the main Nouméa supply and was fed to the whole hospital area by gravity feed. Steam was produced by two enormous oil-fired Babcock and Wilcox boilers in the power house and this made possible an excellent steam and hot water service throughout the hospital. The kitchen was equipped with the very latest in the way of steam ovens, steam presses and steam cookers. A 125 KVA electric generator, steam driven, supplying enough power for a small town, lit up the 959 electric lights in the area and also supplied the power for 157 power points. For the officers, NCOs and men of the Works Services Construction Company who built this splendidly appointed hospital, we have nothing but the highest praise.

During its existence, changes in the hospital staff were considerable. Of the officers who joined the unit in New Zealand, only Colonel Sayers and Captain M. W. Gatman, the pathologist, survived with it to the very end. Amongst the NZANS there were fewer changes, though many sisters were transferred from our strength to the staffs of the 2nd NZ Casualty Clearing Station at Guadalcanal and to the Kalavere Hospital. Only three Waacs, Sergeant D. G. Julian, Private P. Bassett and Private B. M. Iggulden (nee Findlay) remained of the six girls who had embarked with us on the West Point in 1942. Considerable changes in NCOs and men were made, especially when the advent of Waacs allowed for their release to field units.

The casual manner of the final break-up of the unit was most disappointing to the members of the staff. To the last we, had hoped that the unit might retain its identity and operate again as page break

Headquarters of the AEWS were situated in this quaint building in Bourail. Below is the Kiwi Concert Party ready for one of the many shows which entertained Ihe men in the. Pacific. At the foot of the page is an AEWS art class in progress in the native type bure which was used as a library

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On the narrow and often tortuous roads of New Caledonia accidents were bound to happen. A 3-ton truck went off the road near Moindah Prefabrication played an important part in the building programme for the NZEF IP. Here are the parts of

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Athletic meetings were popular and interesting contests were witnessed

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The Bourail Club, claimed to be the largest bure built in New Caledonia. There were no doubts about its popularity. The immense framework of this building, before it was covered with niaouli bark, may he seen above. Below is the completed building, facing parade ground in Téné Valley

page 105the 4th NZ General Hospital in some other theatre of war. Such was not to be and our members are now scattered far and wide— some in civilian life once more, others still in the service at home and abroad. However, we feel that we can confidently claim that ' 4th General' did well all that it was asked to do, and that it can take its place with pride alongside other units on the roll of honour for the Third NZ Division.