Digitising the War Years - Make sure you see the very end of this one!

We are asked all the time if digitising the probate records can get boring at times.  Sure, doing the exact thing over 1,500 times a day can tend to be boring, but depending on the material you're working with it could prove very interesting!  Such was the case during October, November and early December.  We digitised records from the War Years and they proved to be very interesting.

We've already shown some of the records from WWI.  World War II proved to be very interesting.

If you read the record below, it's for Stanley Watkinson of the New Zealand Navy.  Sub-Lieutenant Watkinson was assigned to the HMS Hood at the beginning of WWII.  Those who know their war history know that the HMS Hood was considered the mightiest of the British Battle Wagons.  She went up against the German Battleship "Bismarck" and after two salvos the HMS Hood was at the bottom of the sea in less than 90 seconds.  Sub-Lieutenant Watkinson was the only Kiwi on the ship that day and he went down with the ship and the movie "Sink the Bismarck" was made!

In many instances the probate records included the telegrams and letters from commanding officers to the families of those killed in action.  I thought long and hard about putting these on our blog and decided that these records are already available on the internet so they are no longer of a private nature so here are a few examples of what we've seen.

This is from the King and Queen of England to the father of a Kiwi killed in action.  It was written on behalf of the "Keeper of the Privy Purse" who is the financial secretary for the Royal House.

This is the actual death certificate of a soldier killed in action.  I find it interesting because of the nature of the soldiers death "Died as Prisoner of War".

This is extremely interesting in that it is the message home folks received if their son was missing and presumed killed in action.

Here's a copy of the actual telegram family received at home when their loved one was killed in action.

This one is a tear jerker!  This soldier was captured and then escaped.  His record has a personal letter to his mom detailing the events of his escape.  Then, about a week later mom received this notice that her son was killed in another action...SAD for sure!

Soldiers at the last minute made their "Last Will and Testaments" only to be killed in action literally days later.  Here's an example of one such will.

In many instances the probates also included letters from commanding officers expressing their condolences.  We were surprized that all this information was kept in the probates and not kept by the families!

Then we hit the mother load of them all with this death record:



Notice the yellow block in the right of the record..."Killed while attempting to escape from Prisoner of War Camp."  Well, I immediately took the name "Arnold George Christensen and googled it and sure enough, guess what came up????

Did you know that the movie "The Great Escape" was based on fact?  Well, we digitized one of two Kiwi flight officers that were killed by the German Gestapo for attempted escape.  In total there were 50 officers actually killed for attempting to escape.  You can find numberous websites on the topic and it is very interesting to read.  The photo below is the list of the 50 that were killed.  And you thought we were bored with this work.  NOT AT ALL!!!

In fact, when you do all these records of those that were killed during the war you gain an appreciation for what they did for US!  They were, in most instances, 18 to 30 at the very beginning of their lives with hopes and dreams only to be killed in action defending our freedoms.  We really gained an appreciation for what they sacrificed.  They came from all sorts of backgrounds.  The photos below are an example of about 20 different death records, all from different professions.  I've highlighted their profession so that you get a feeling, like we did, for the broad backgrounds of those that gave their lives.  This will end our "Digitising the War Years" posting, hope you liked it, let us know!

 

Paraparaumu Trip - November 2011

In late November we had the opportunity to combine a trip north for a baptism with a visit to the beach and a great dinner with some senior missionaries.  Our course took us north out of Wellington to the west coast of New Zealand and up the coast about 50 miles.  Our desinations were Paraparaumu (just like it looks) and Levin.

I don't think that I've every shown a picture of our little Toyota.  Well, here it is.  No, stop, the drivers side is on the far side of the car!  Actually, it gets us around just great!

As you come out of Titahi bay, you come to the west coast in front of you.  This is a small community on the coast!

You proceed down to the coastline and then follow it north for a number of miles to Paraparaumu.

Here's what the drive along the coastline looked like from the drivers side!

Oh, back above the little community on the coast, I thought these trees were very interesting in that they show the severe wind conditions being blown all the time!

ALthough the weather didn't look all that bad, the ocean (Tasman Sea) on the west coast is pretty unpredictable so you've got to be prepared for the worst at all times.

This doesn't appear to be as rough, but don't let it deceive you!



Once in Paraparaumu, we had a little time on our hands prior to the baptism so we headed down to the beach...in our suits and dresses.  This is not Malibu for sure!

It does however have it's unique beauty!  Like these flowers mixed in with the weeds!

Up close you can see the real beauty of these flowers!  Mollie, do you like the color?

This was sort of neat.  The circles are made from the straw being blown around and around in a circle.



This Red-Billed-Gull was having a wonderful time in the sand.

Ann wasn't so sure of the beach in the dress, but did look forward to the baptism and dinner!

On the hill overlooking Paraparaumu and the Tasman Sea is this statue that stands some 46' high.  It's known as "Our Lady of the Lordes".

Ah, our destination!  The little chapel in Paraparaumu.

Here are four of the five children of the Samoan family that was baptised.

Ann's getting back into the roll of grandmother!



Then after the baptism, we drove about 30 miles further north to Levin and had a great dinner!  I had venison that was outstanding.  Around the table from me you have the Brazzeals, the Patchetts, the Overtons and Ann.

We already have a plan in January to return here because it was so good!

Eastbourne Trek - November 2011

Toward the middle of November we decided to go to the other side of the Wellington Harbor and make a trek to determine if it was possible to DRIVE to the two lighthouses at the tip of the entrance to the harbor.  These lighthouses are known as the Pencarrow Head lighthouses and they guard the southwestern edge of the entrance to the Harbor.  A little research and you'll find out that lighthouses have been at this location since about 1841.  The top one is not longer functional, but the bottom one still works.  There have been numerous shipwrecks at the entrance to the bay.  Let's take off on our trek (or in New Zealand they call it a "Tramp").

As we drove along, we came across this memorial.  As you can see, it's rather simple in it's design, but sort of neat.

This placque is located on the lead post of the memorial.  It speaks to the dangers of the reef at the entrance to Wellington Harbor.  The "Wahine" was a ferry that traversed the Cook Strait.  On the date noted it struck the reef and 53 passengers lost their lives.  A witness to the trechery of the harbor entrance.

All along, we're not that far from Wellington across the bay as you can see in this photo.

And since it's the start of summer, the cruise ships are starting to appear.  They are monsters!  Their passengers get off a visit the town and museums for a few hours and then return to the ship which normally departs some 8 or so hours later and heads back around the New Zealand islands.

We also came across this interesting little crowd so we had to investigate.

It's fresh fish for sale!  1kg is about 2.2 pounds.  New Zealand is famous for it's fresh seafood and we can attest that it's fabulous!

Here's Ann getting a little closer to the action!  I can tell you that there's a lot of personality in the ship and it's crew!  Wish we had more time to explore that also!

 Sure enough, FISH!  You could purchase the entire fish or just a fillet and they were freshly caught that morning off the coast.  Seems this fishing ship comes every morning to sell its catch!  When we headed back home and passed where this boat was, it was gone and a sign was on the price board "Sold Out"!

Ok, we determined that you cannot drive to the lighthouses so we're off walking not knowing how far they are.

It was a beautiful day and as you can see the sail ships were active in the harbor.  Folks, these are not your ordinary 10'-12' sail boats.  These puppies are 30' - 50' + beautiful seagoing ships.  The sort you would see in the "America's Cup".  They take their sailing very serious here. 

The beach was rather deserted but non-the-less very fun to walk around on.

I was looking for a piece of driftwood that would make a great walking stick.  That story will come at a later date.

We were accompanied by this "Variable Oyster Catcher".  The beak is appropriate for it's name!

Not to be outdone by the pros, these casual fishermen were set for the day!

The side of the hill to the west of the bay is adorned with some beautiful shrubbery.

Well, needless to say, we had a great tramp on the beach.  We learned that you can't drive out to the lighthouses and that the walk is a lot longer than meets the eye.  A little more research and we've found out that the roundtrip is over 6 miles so we'll do this on another day.  Ann totally agrees!