Clive Kenyon at his home in Katikati. Photo / Rebecca Mauger
Clive Kenyon is Katikati’s last World War II veteran and this week celebrates his 100th birthday.
When asked the age-old question about the secret to longevity, Clive says to “choose your parents”.
But other than good genes, he puts it down to leading a very lucky life.
“Considering I shouldn’t be here,” he adds, referring to illnesses which affected his life’s trajectory.
As a teenager he had appendicitis, peritonitis followed by rheumatic fever.
This saw him turned down for the army at age 18 but accepted for the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) a year later.
“Looking back, I lost three years of what is a fairly important time in a young person’s life.
“But on the other hand I gained so much experience in so many different ways ... I could never work out if I gained or lost because of the war.”
These days Clive lives independently and spends his days reading, enjoying visitors and looking after his pot plants.
He says reaching 100 years is “not really that great as one can no longer do the things one would like to do, and those few things you can still do, you’re usually hurting somewhere.”
But the journey has been important, “and my journey has given me so many wonderful friends, family and memories”.
He celebrated his birthday with friends and family at Katikati Bowling Club on April 20.
Clive Kenyon was born in Hamilton on April 15, 1924. He was one of five siblings and his parents farmed at Mangawara, Waikato.
In 1927 they moved to a farm at Riverlea where Clive attended primary school.
The family moved to Tauranga, where Clive attended Tauranga District High School (Tauranga Primary School, Fifth Ave).
But just three weeks into fourth form he became ill and was diagnosed with appendicitis, ending his school days (he also hated algebra and refused to go back). He began working at Tauranga’s Mann Hardware.
As a teen Clive wanted to join the military.
After being turned down by the army he joined the RNZAF in 1943.
“I had ideas that I wanted to be a pilot but it was never going to happen as I didn’t have the schooling for a start.”
He trained as an armourer, graduating with the rank of leading aircraftman.
As an armourer he learnt about guns from rifles to bofors and how to service aircrafts. They were taught about turrets (a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired) and bombers (military combat aircraft air-to-ground weaponry).
“Turrets were difficult - it’s swinging around trying to follow an enemy plane and there are times when parts of our own planes are going to come into lines of fire. You can’t get it wrong.”
After a short spell at Ardmore aerodrome, he volunteered for a service unit (31SU) to the Solomon Islands.
The Solomon Islands campaign was a major campaign of the Pacific war in World War II.
Clive’s unit serviced Corsair planes in Bougainville, supporting first the American ground forces and later the Australian army.
Japan’s goal was to create a defensive buffer against attack from the United States and allies so the Americans had developed a system of island-jumping and cutting off supplies.
Two air stations were built in Bougainville.
“The first month was terrible,” Clive says. “It was a brand new camp just bulldozed out of the jungle. It was hot, wet and sticky, the mosquitoes drove you mad. There were six to a tent and the rain came every night through the tents.”
A bold comrade borrowed a truck when the Americans pulled out and gained entry to their camp with a blank piece of paper and scored a tent with a wooden floor - making life much easier for the Kiwis and Australians.
There were a few tense incidents in the islands — the scariest was when they were told there was a breach in the Australian lines and the Japanese were coming to destroy the aerodromes, shots were fired and the enemy was stopped.
Clive says being in the air force was an “arm chair ride” compared to the guys in the army.
“They really went through it. The danger I went through didn’t even compare.”
One good thing about the war for Clive was it “made my married life”, says a reflective Clive about his successful marriage with Kathlyn (who died in 2018).
Their first years courting was all done via letter writing.
“When I was in Bougainville, Kath wrote big letters every week telling us about everything that was happening in New Zealand so she was like our newspaper. Because we were doing it all by correspondence, I had to read her point of view first before I could reply my point of view.
“It means that you never talk over the top of each other and we carried this on. We had plenty difference of opinions over the years but we never really had an argument.”
When Clive returned to New Zealand in October, 1945 the couple married a month later in Hamilton. Kath’s stunning wedding dress was made from parachute silk which Clive had sent home in sections in cigarette packs.
They moved onto the Riverlea farm and sharemilked for three years before moving to Tauriko to take on a labourer’s job.
They had four sons and at one stage, a foster daughter from a children’s home in Auckland.
They bought a small cattle farm in Dargaville, then a farm at Kauri Point (one they had previously missed out on.
In 1967, they moved to Katikati where Kath worked as a secretary at Katikati College and Clive worked at Katikati Hardware.
The two did a two-year overseas stint with Volunteer Service Abroad in Tonga.
“We were married for 73 years — a wonderful marriage which became even more exciting and interesting in what is usually regarded as the retirement age.
“Kath was the mover and shaker in our union and thanks to her, we had more than normal trips both overseas and to just about every nook and cranny in New Zealand.
“I’ve been very lucky and had a very interesting life, so much more because I married Kath. She was the strength behind our marriage.”
They have 10 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
Rebecca Mauger is the editor of Katikati Advertiser. She has been with NZME for more than 20 years as a community reporter, as well as ad writer, copy sub and entertainment/lifestyle magazine writer.
