Obituary: Arch Scott

Arch Scott (left) with partisan leader Gino Panont in Venice.

* Arch Scott, prisoner of war, lecturer, rugby coach. Died aged 90.

Arch Scott was widely known as an education lecturer at the old Ardmore Teachers Training College near Papakura in South Auckland. And as a coach and selector of the fledgling Counties rugby team turning out players like All Blacks Pat Walsh, Kevin Barry, Roger Urbahn and many more.

Hundreds of training college students came to know him in the 1950s and 60s. Arch and Joy Scott's home on campus was a sort of drop-in centre for homesick and hungry students from throughout the North Island.

But Scott had another side.

It may not have been exactly a secret that Lance Corporal Arthur Wallace Scott of 24 New Zealand Infantry Battalion won a Military Medal in northern Italy. It is just that Scott never talked about the war or how he guided numerous Allied soldiers on the run in the German-held region to safety.

In fact it was only what he called the "gentle, diplomatic but unrelenting persistence of my wife Joy" - ably abetted by their four children - that an account of his remarkable war experiences was finally published 40 years after the end of World War II.

Scott was taken a prisoner of war in the Middle East in the area around Ruweisat Ridge in July 1942. Scott described being taken prisoner before he had really had a chance to do anything useful as "the most soul-destroying experience one can ever imagine". Worse was to follow.

Scott was one of about 2000 prisoners being transported by the merchant ship Nino Bixio to a prison camp in Italy when the vessel was hit by two torpedoes from the British submarine Turbulent.

Sitting in a cramped position in the hold near a column, Scott escaped the worst of the blast. A friend sitting next to him who had earlier offered to change positions with him was killed by a falling hatch cover. Reported figures vary but the tragedy is generally held to have killed about 434 Commonwealth soldiers, including 117 New Zealanders.

In his book Dark of the Moon, Scott included a detailed account of the incident, dedicated to that friend, Don McDonald, a farmer from Ngaroma in the Waikato. In subsequent interviews Scott would offer only a brief account of the horror, with a preference for praising Italian captain Antonio Raggio for comforting the wounded as the stricken ship was towed to port.

The Turbulent itself failed to return to base in March 1943.

Scott was imprisoned in camps in northern Italy and worked on farms, often translating the Italian work instructions for his fellow prisoners. By the time of the Italian capitulation in September 1943 he was fluent in the language.

The capitulation was a mixed blessing for the prisoners. The Germans controlled northern Italy and the Italian prison guards disappeared. Allied escapers were likely to be shot, but those who remained in the camp were also in danger, not least from Italian fascists.

Fortunately many Italians were well inclined towards the New Zealanders. At first Scott thought he stood a good chance of reaching the Allied lines on his own. He also worried about being sent to a camp in Germany. In the end he decided that if his mates went off on their own most of them would be captured as hardly any spoke Italian. He decided to stay.

For almost two years Scott posed as an Italian (an Italian identity card proclaimed him to be Arturo Scotti).

He found refuge with friendly Italians and partisans for POWs on the loose. The dangers were considerable.

Ultimately the prisoners reached the coast in groups of a dozen or so, where they could be evacuated to safety. Four groups totalling 47 prisoners escaped this way in 1945. In 1946 Scott was awarded a Military Medal for his work.

Born in Hamilton and educated in Kawhia and Auckland, Scott worked on the home farm in the King Country backblocks from 1932 to 1934, then became a teacher at remote sole charge schools. He married Joy Powell after the war. They ran a country store for a year.

Then Scott studied for an honours degree and a diploma, both in education.

In later years he revisited Italy several times meeting again the people who had helped New Zealanders so much: "I can't speak highly enough of the Italians. They were just wonderful."

Scott is survived by his children Rose, Marilyn, Trish and Don.