NZ's Korean War rush little to do with ideals

It was the "Big OE" 1950s-style for many young New Zealanders who rushed Army recruiting offices in response to a call for volunteers to go to war in Korea.

Jobs were plentiful, but the call was massively oversubscribed - by almost six to one - when 5982 men signed on.

Some had been too young to fight with older brothers in World War II; others were ex-servicemen who had trouble settling down.

Many just wanted any excuse to see the world.

"We didn't have enough money to pay for our OE in those days, so the Government provided it," quipped Aucklander Phil Ward, a carpenter who at 24 had already served in Japan with the British Commonwealth Occupation Force.

Former university student John Ray ended up at 21 as a technical assistant making artillery fire-range calculations with 16 Field Regiment, New Zealand's main contribution.

His father had served throughout World War I, from Gallipoli to the Somme, "so when the Korean War broke out I thought I'd have a whack at it, just to be in the war".

If there was any ideological motive, it was fairly basic.

"It smelled like communism, and we were against it, nothing more complicated than that," said Mr Ray, an accountant who now lives in Te Aroha.

Short-handed employers had a right of appeal, and a Herald report mentions the success of 12 parents in foiling their sons' escape by telling the authorities they were under the minimum age of 20.

Apprentice cabinet-maker Fenton Smith's employer let the 22-year-old Aucklander interrupt his training to become a gun sergeant with Mr Ward and Mr Ray in Baker Troop.

Some older men tried lowering their ages for a break from family routine.

"I enlisted and tried to get away because I hate communists," a 46-year-old man told the Military Service Postponement Committee, after his wife dobbed him in.



Herald Feature: Anzac Day

Highlights of the 2002 Anzac photo exhibition: