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Stepping Stones to the Solomons: the unofficial history of the 29th Battalion with the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the Pacific.

[introduction]

Every Army has its own songs. The 29th Battalion went still further and evolved unit songs, many of which have since spread throughout the Third Division. In addition, numbers such as the Fijian melody, 'Isa Lei' have long become part of its tradition. Credit for most of the numbers printed in this section must go to the original 29th. Those that followed saw less and less to sing about. In common with all units of B Force, the standard song was the old British Army 'Bless 'Em All'—with variations! So bad did the variations become that instructions were issued to the 29th that anybody singing the unexpurgated edition except at smoke concerts and in the wet canteen, was 'for it'. It was always a source of annoyance to Padre Mitchell that a battalion which could shatter the air round Namaka or Samambula with 'tough' songs could hardly produce a cheep at church parade when hymns were being sung. At least one later padre took his singing as and where he found it—but hardly approv ed of a lot of it.