IV
The Hospital Is Ready

The deadline was closing in on the 230 tired, grimy and sweaty sappers. The seven-day week, the 6.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. working day, the heat, the food, and the unbroken monotony were beginning to tell their tale of irritation and frayed nerves. The division was in action. When would the wounded arrive? There-was a rumour that the staff of the temporary 4th NZ General Hospital in Boguen Valley was moving into Dumbéa. Wards two, three and four were completed; in five the plumbers were installing the lavatory system and carpenters were finishing the mosquito netting along the windows. Each ward was a self-contained unit, consisting of two 30-bed wings well ventilated and insect proof. Between the wings was a service block consisting of kitchen for washing up, a linen room, a sterilising room, staff rooms, showers and lavatories. Electric light and hot and cold water were installed throughout. Just above the wards was the operating theatre. Until ready for an operation it was like a Rolls Royce chassis without an engine. Electricians were installing powerful electric lights, painters were busy on reflectors, plumbers hurried on with the sewerage. Everywhere men were swarming over the building; it had to be rushed, but it had to be accurate.

Across the road from the operating theatre a dispensary, a laboratory and a kitchen were being wired and internal fittings, shelves and sanitation completed. The carpenters, plumbers and electricians were beginning to see an end to the first part of their job. But not so the other services section men who were on the roads, the drains, the culverts, septic tank and watermains. Situated on the steep sides of the valley, hospital sanitation, sewer page 148age and road service was tough going all the way. Phase one of these services was but part of the whole and, as such, had to be planned. Where carpenters could sometimes work in the shade of buildings they were constructing, the men working on the roads, drains and culverts had no shelter from the sun. Beneath a light subsoil the ground was hard clay interspersed with rock. This daily drudgery was no sinecure; it was no task for 'playboys' from any part of the world; it was work that seldom receives adequate recognition. But it was carried out in a spirit that had left the 'Sappers' Lament' a long way behind. The middle of September found the concrete group transferred from works base camp to Dumbéa. Here a concrete yard was bulldozed out of a gully and the stock-in-trade set up. The importance of the work carried out by Tom Armon and his party of wharf personnel may be gathered from the fact that through the great shortage of earthenware pipes and fittings, the drainage system could not have been put into operation without their contribution.

The effort made by the men at the end of the construction end was paralleled by the technical staff of surveyors, draughtsmen and orderly clerks. From the commencement, records of building costs, progress charts and many graphs were kept of the progress of all phases of the work carried out, This accounting system was one of the most thorough undertakings in the Nzefip theatre of war and, along with official reports, should prove a valuable basis for future work in the islands of the South Pacific.

On Wednesday night, 4 October, the evening before the arrival of the first battle casualties, Works Services completed phase one of the 4th NZ General Hospital. Within a month the men had transferred what had been a scrub-infested wilderness into a working hospital capable of allowing the New Zealand troops to receive the best medical attention their country could give them. By the end of the week plans for a four-day holiday had the first party out enjoying a complete break from camp. Through Mr. Cyril Davy, of the Ymca at the New Zealand transit camp, arrangements were made with the United States base recreation officer for the use of American facilities at Ducos, Anse Vata and Shangri-La, three rest camps in Noumea, Daily launch trips, the Hickson picture theatre, and various other outings were so planned that those who wished first to sample the various brands of Noumea entertainment were at liberty to do so.

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Phase two of the hospital included the building of a further six 60-bed wards all of which had to be connected up with the main sewerage, road and electric systems. Ward one, which was the last to be built, was erected under test conditions in less than a day and a half, which gives some idea of the skill with which prefabrication had been mastered. The administrative block, which covered pay, records, registration, medical, receiving and discharge office, all had to be fitted into the general plan. To this had to be added the hospital services such as laundry, boilerhouse, power plant, dietician, massage, staff kitchens, mess halls and recreational facilities.

It will not be surprising then to know that 60 chains of roads had to be tar sealed, access roads and paths formed, over half a mile of watermains installed, a reinforced concrete 68,000 gallon water storage reservoir built, and a 30,000 gallon septic tank constructed. 'HMS Neverfail' churned out well over the 2,000 cubic yards of crushed metal. Such an array of figures conveys little of what that means in terms of energy to the New Zealander who has not laboured under the tropic sun. The names of those men did not reach the headlines, but the did a job that demanded everything they could give in terms of exertion.

How the units of the Third Division celebrated Christmas, 1943, unit historians will no doubt reveal with reservations. For Works Services the occasion was one that cannot be allowed to pass unrecorded. The recorder, like the recording angel, has not unfortunately, the power of omniscience which would have permitted him to chronicle the celebrations of the wharf operating company, and that of HO Works and the detachment at base camp. The reader is invited to believe that the company happenings were duplicated. Under the supervision of Percy Kenna the mess hall was decorated to look like Belshazzar's banquet chamber minus only the writing on the wall Mid section was a temporary floor panel stage on which a piano of ancient lineage and little utility awaited the ingenuity and resourcefulness of Sappers Jennings and Scott. Mess tables were loaded with a plentiful supply of bottle openers (for 'soft drinks '), cigarettes, sandwiches, cheese biscuits, 'coke' and some beer. Master of Ceremonies, Mic Pasco, his initial nervousness overcome with the disposal of the official toasts, kept a tight hand on proceedings until Lennie Boot mounted the platform for the first (of many) renderings of his page 150song. The second performance found the 'old man' on the platform which was the signal for a community sing that did not finish until 'Ike' Smith and his 'Vitamin D' party exhausted their repertoire, and a general handshaking began that did not finish until the dawn of Christmas Day. The day did not break before Sergeant-Major Gordon Berry had tucked more than one hilarious sapper into his little bed.

With phase two of the 4th NZ General Hospital almost finished, plans for the erection of the Kiwi Club at Bourail Beach, and the convalescent hospital at Kalavere, were drawn up by Hq Works. Soon parties of men under command of Lieutenant S, R. Mann moved up from Dumbéa Valley. The club site was forbidding. Huge cacti, stunted niaouli trees, swamp grass and masses of drift wood constituted the home of sandflies, stick insects and bugs that cluttered up one's hair and ruined the flavour of the tea.

The club occupied 26,000 square feet of this ancient habitation which was transformed into a spot where the best meal on the island, with a bottle of beer, could be obtained for the sum of one and threepence; moreover it was served by a member of the Kiwi WAAC Company. As a rest spot it was almost ideal. There was a writing room, a reading lounge, cafeteria, large kitchen, servery, and bulk store.

From the Kiwi Club to the convalescent hospital site at Kalavere was only a matter of 20 miles. There were almost as many miles of mud around the 'Con Depot.' It was just one 'helluva place' for red slush. Here the wharf operating personnel became, in their own language, 'thoroughly browned off 'with so much drain digging. They did have some justification for their attitude for they had dug holes until they went through the motions of digging as soon as they sighted a shovel. They had dug drains at the 4th General Hospital, they had dug them at the Kiwi Club and they dug them at the 'Con Depot.' A man would go through the soles of a pair of working boots in a fortnight.

The New Zealand Convalescent Hospital was situated in the same area as the Kalavere Hospital, a 3rd Division hospital for the area. The 'Con Depot,' as it was known, was a four-warded hospital which followed in small scale the '4th Gen' in Dumbéa Valley. To the four wards were added the operating theatre, female ward, administration block, laundry, bulk stores and page 151accommodation quarters. Instead of following the 'assembly gang' system of constructing the wards, a single gang was made up and allowed to follow the construction through to completion. Comparison of times, method and efficiency were then checked, and a summary of findings made for future use.

The following quotation, taken from an official report by Major Blacker to Army Hq, Wellington, on the works services programme, is applicable to the personnel who worked on the 'Con Depot' as much as to any other party:—

'The writer would like to place on record his appreciation of the fine work done by all ranks under his command. The fact that the many problems encountered were successfully overcome was entirely due to the interest, enthusiasm, ingenuity and resource of the rank and file without whose efforts, often under arduous conditions, the programme entrusted to Works Service Engineers could not have been carried out.' On 3 May, 1944, the Construction Company Hq. and all personnel at 4th General, but for a small detachment, returned to the base camp at Le Clere's farm. The detachment which remained behind under command of Staff-Sergeant Jack Matheson had but to complete the bricking in of the £35,000 steam boiler and plant which was to supply the 4th NZ General Hospital with steam, hot water and electric power.

As works programme of the construction company tapered off the engineer stores staff had to be increased to handle what looked like a Christmas rush with Lieutenant D. Brooker likely to play Father Christmas. In the preceding 17 months the stores had been the receiving and distributing centre for engineer stores and equipment. The big warehouse was none too large for the supplies which ranged from 1,000 tons of cement, 100 tons of nails, a complete ice-cream plant, 27 different types of water pumps and spare parts, 20 electrical lighting plants, bridging equipment, wire ropes, nuts, bolts, fittings and accessories for anything from hospitals to baths. In the timber yard there was over 250,000 superficial feet of timber, box girder bridges, and heaps of prefabricated panels.

As tools and equipment were handed back to the engineer stores from construction company personnel, and the return of 3rd NZ Divisional Engineers from the combat zone brought more work, Lieutenant Brooker would have been mistaken for a New page 152Zealand finance minister at the end of the financial year. Instead of talking of 'balancing the budget,' he was talking of 'striking a balance.' Like a good general he combed the land for brains. Staff-Sergeant George Aim was taken from Hq Works, Sapper 'Hec' Mulholland and Ned Sainsbury were culled from wharf operating; Sergeant Alan Chapman appeared in an even more meticulously pressed shirt; Sergeant Arthur Burge spent even more money in the canteen, and Johnny Mason forgot his pin-up girls. Lieutenant Brooker cast around for more men.

'Men full of strange oaths and bearded like pards 'who told fantastic stories of 'jungle juice' and Japanese in the 'forward area' now took up quarters in works base camp area. They were the Div. Engineers returning from the combat zone. 'A tough bunch of pretty good guys' an American soldier described them. They looked a piratical crew in moustaches and beards that would have done credit to the Spanish Main, the pride of crop being the 'Handle-bar Hank' of Lieutenant-Colonel J. Brooke-White, CRE Div. Engineers.

Among the field company personnel who returned were Cyril McRae, Joe Andrews, Arty Carey, Percy Willis, Bill Turner, Jack Telford, Jim Blair, Bill Charleton, and 'Ike' Smith who had been transferred as bulldozer operators to field companies in the forward area. Their arrival in services lines was the signal for a combined hunt for what was left of the weekly issue.

There was no rest in the final weeks in New Caledonia. Crates and boxes had to be made. Carpenters, mechanics, welders, 'plumbers and painters all joined in the double shift at the saw bench. Crating up and cleaning the equipment fell to the staff of engineer stores who had all the checking and consigning to handle as the convoys set up a continuous procession to Nepoui wharf, where the wharf operating company was working the clock round.

By the beginning of September, 1943, works service engineers had packed up. All that remained was to embark for home. The war of the South Pacific had shifted to Central Pacific waters. Noumea was no longer protected by blimps; airfields no longer bristled with fighters and bombers; American regiments which had loaned equipment and had placed their entertainment and canteen facilities at the service of works personnel had moved north. 'Kaiwai 'and Yank friendships cemented over a period of living page 153in close proximity were disrupted though each carried away an appreciation of the other.

At 2 p.m. on 20 September 'the boys' embarked at Noumea. For some it marked the end of their military obligations; for others it was but an introduction to the historic battlefronts of Europe. As a summary of the 17 months in New Caledonia the following extract from a contribution to Doserdust by the CO of the construction company, Major Blacker will serve as an epilogue:—

'I do not think that New Zealand could have gathered together in one unit a better array of technical ability than has been assembled in this company of ours which, after its initial growing pains, built itself into a good team. I am aware that many of our members would have preferred to have taken a more active part in the forward area, but I think you will all recognise that you were the right men in the right place. Had it been necessary, as it might have been, I am sure you would have done equally well in the forward area had you been called upon.

'I have no hesitation in saying that the conduct of the unit both at work and at play has been creditable both to the Kiwi Force and to New Zealand. I hope that the year that has passed has cemented friendships that will continue in the future and that our experiences here have given us a wider understanding of New Zealand and the Pacific'