News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Epic Moments Remembered

Epic Moments Remembered

The world commemorated the 60th anniversary of D-Day on June 6, with war veterans and international leaders (including PM Helen Clark) gathering in France to pay their respects. NZ lost more soldiers proportionately than any other country…

Lest We Forget

Lest We Forget

Russell Crowe provided the narration for a “ground-breaking” documentary series on Anzac soldiers, recently aired on NZ television and screening in Australia later this year. The series celebrates the bond between NZ and Australian soldiers, from WW1 to…

Belated Honour for White Mouse

Belated Honour for White Mouse

3 March 2004 – Nancy Wake, the most decorated female veteran of WW2, was made a Companion of the Order of Australia on March 3. Born in NZ and raised in Australia, Wake was a leading…

Face Maker Brought to Screen

Face Maker Brought to Screen

The pioneering methods used by NZ facial surgeon, Sir Archibald McIndoe, and his Canadian partner, Dr Ross Tilley, during WW2 are the inspiration behind a new Canadian documentary, The Guinea Pig Club. McIndoe and Tilley used radical…

ANZACs Legend Lives On

ANZACs Legend Lives On

BBC series on the National Health Service profiles Harefield Hospital and its enduring ties with NZ and Australia. Now home to one of Britain’s leading heart surgery units, Harefield was initially established as a medical centre…

Brothers in Arms

Brothers in Arms

The Turkish government is seeking World Heritage listing for Anzac Cove – where the WW1 battle of Gallipoli took place. Turkey believes the site to be of lasting moral value, in that it embodies a unique bond…

Lest We Forget in Troubled Times

Lest We Forget in Troubled Times

Due to the current world climate, ANZAC services in Australian and NZ this year carried particular emotional resonance CNN remembers an event “marked by both countries as a tragic turning point in their national development.” The Age: “In…

Waking Up the Establishment

Waking Up the Establishment

Nancy Wake, NZ-born heroine of the WW2 resistance movement, interviewed in SMH, recovering after a heart attack in hospital. At 90 Wake has become an honoured permanent resident and “something of a tourist attraction” at the…

Dear Mr President…

Dear Mr President…

West Coast resident Margie Beamsley paid Wellington’s Dominion Post $5,000 to print her anti-war plea to President Bush. The open letter was passed on to the White House by the US ambassador to NZ and…

Long Time Coming

Long Time Coming

NZ military veterans have applauded a court ruling that a former French serviceman died of leukaemia as a direct result of exposure to radiation at Moruroa. France has consistently denied that any harm was caused by…

Bush Backlash Begins Down Under

Bush Backlash Begins Down Under

A global wave of protests against America’s proposed war on Iraq began in New Zealand, with thousands taking to the streets across the country. In Auckland, a Greenpeace plane with a banner reading “No war, peace now”…

Real-life Charlotte Gray

Real-life Charlotte Gray

“The exploits of Nancy Wake, who fought with the French Resistance, make the plot of the film Charlotte Gray look tame.” A new biography of NZ-born Wake by Peter Fitzsimons celebrates the life of the…

Lest We Forget

Lest We Forget

CNN reports on revivified NZ and Australian interest in the memorial of ANZAC Day and it’s importance to trans-Tasman relations: “Tens of thousands of Australian and New Zealanders arose before dawn on Thursday to pay their respects…

A Wired Army

A Wired Army

The NZ Army is the first in the world to recruit online, and expects to cut the process from 4 to 6 weeks to just 14 days. “If we can offer a way that is faster,…

On the Defensive

On the Defensive

The debate continues over scrapping the Air Force. Is it an example to the world or peacenik idealism?  

The Mouse Who Roared

The Mouse Who Roared

New biography on New Zealand-born WWII hero Nancy Wake (the White Mouse), who “although the most feminine of women, fought like five men”.  

Bravery Remembered

Bravery Remembered

Sixty years ago New Zealanders fought and died on Crete. Veterans and locals commemorate the battle. Also, Helen Clark pays tribute to the 671 New Zealand soldiers killed at Galatas.  

It’s Raining (Flying) Men

It’s Raining (Flying) Men

Britain’s RAF, looking to fill vacancies, sees the disbanding of the combat wing of the RNZAF may be a wind-fall.

Tests Blow Up

Tests Blow Up

Were New Zealand troops used as nuclear guinea pigs? Australian lawyer thinks yes, Government asks the tough questions. Also, New Zealand Government refused to allow testing on Kermadec Island.  

Anzac Spirit

Anzac Spirit

“In late April 1915, John Davis, a young New Zealander uncertain even of his own age, stepped off a small boat on the shores of Gallipoli. Moments later he slumped, apparently lifelessly, into the sea.” Two…

RNZAF to the Rescue

RNZAF to the Rescue

The Royal New Zealand Air Force wings its way to Antarctica to rescue sick workers.  

Anzac Memorial

Anzac Memorial

The New Zealand war memorial in Canberra was officially opened on 24 April by Australian Anzac veteran, 100-year old Charlie Mance.

The Tough Got Going

The Tough Got Going

“Tough New Zealanders, adept at navigating the desert by the stars-and-sun compass,” formed a key part of David Lloyd Owen’s Long Range Desert Group, “regarded by some as one of the most cost-effective special forces…

Vets’ Rights

Vets’ Rights

New Zealand’s Vietnam vets are to gain more recognition for their service.  

De-mining for Peace

De-mining for Peace

New Zealander Greg Lindstrom co-ordinates the de-mining operation in Lebanon. “There’s a peace dividend to all this,” he says. “Clearing minefields means that people can come back to their lands”.  

Peace Keeping On

Peace Keeping On

New Zealand peace keepers will remain in East Timor for an extra twelve months, until May 2002.

Soldier Five

Soldier Five

New Zealand courts give ex-Bravo Two Zero patrol member Mike Coburn the OK to publish his memoir of the mission behind Iraqi lines.  

Flu in Freetown

Flu in Freetown

Sierra Leone was an important staging port on the long route home for WWI ANZAC troops. Freetown’s cemetery commemorates a handful of Australians and a lone New Zealander, their journeys cut short by influenza.

The Man Who Saved Britain

The Man Who Saved Britain

“If ever one man won the Battle of Britain, he did.” On the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Britain TheTimes remembers the New Zealander who was the key man in defending Britain and Malta during…

“Rebels Almost Skinned Me Alive”

“Rebels Almost Skinned Me Alive”

In a daring jungle escape, a Kiwi, Major David Lingard, and three British officers on peace-keeping duty in Sierra Leone, evaded capture by rebels, one of whom, clad in a stolen UN uniform taunted, “I have…

Kiwi Soldier in Adventurous Jungle Escape from Murderous Rebels

Kiwi Soldier in Adventurous Jungle Escape from Murderous Rebels

For three days and three nights, New Zealander, Major David Lingard and three British officers struggled through 50 miles of dense African jungle on the run from murderous rebels in a remote part of Sierra Leone.

Aussies Tell Flightless Kiwis: “You Can Be My Wing-man Anyday”

Aussies Tell Flightless Kiwis: “You Can Be My Wing-man Anyday”

If New Zealand looks to emulate Iceland or Costa Rica, and do away with its combat air-force and emphasise its peacekeeping role, its best pilots can rest safely in the knowledge that the Australian air-force will…

Flightless Kiwi

Flightless Kiwi

The Government’s defence refocus causes international comment: turning New Zealand into a province; cutbacks have firm basis says Jane’s Defense Weekly correspondent.

“And Did the Countenance Divine/ Shine Forth Upon Our Clouded Hills?” ANZAC Remembered in Jerusalem

“And Did the Countenance Divine/ Shine Forth Upon Our Clouded Hills?” ANZAC Remembered in Jerusalem

The memory of the New Zealand and Australian soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice in WWI was honoured at the annual ANZAC Day ceremony at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem.

The Battle That Broke Two Nations’ Hearts

The Battle That Broke Two Nations’ Hearts

85 years on, thousands gather before dawn to pay tribute to the thousands of Anzac troops who died fighting on the Gallipoli peninsula.

Thousands Pay Tribute to the Fallen of Gallipoli

Thousands Pay Tribute to the Fallen of Gallipoli

ANZAC Day was celebrated around the world yesterday to honour the 10,000 Australian and New Zealand servicemen who died in the Gallipoli landings 85 years ago.

Memorial for Gallipoli Dead

Memorial for Gallipoli Dead

The Prime Ministers of Australia and New Zealand have unveiled a new memorial on the Gallipoli peninsula in western Turkey to commemorate thousands of their countrymen who died fighting at Gallipoli against the Ottoman Empire during the…

New Generation Makes Pilgrimage to Gallipoli

New Generation Makes Pilgrimage to Gallipoli

A new dawn rose in Gallipoli as generation of young New Zealanders and Australians, mostly backpackers, (the first generation in either country’s history not to have seen war) came to ANZAC cove.

ANZAC Sacrifice

ANZAC Sacrifice

Times letter to editor: “The extraordinary courage and naive loyalty of those generations of Anzacs, who crossed the globe and fought for a “homeland” they had never seen, should not be forgotten or underestimated. It was not…

5000 Mourn ANZAC Deaths at Gallipoli

5000 Mourn ANZAC Deaths at Gallipoli

“We shared the calamity of war,” Helen Clark, the New Zealand Prime Minister, told the crowd. “Things that happened here tied us together for ever. We share the grief of our losses.” She was joined on the…

NzZ PM Backs Peacekeeping Amid Shadows of Gallipoli

NzZ PM Backs Peacekeeping Amid Shadows of Gallipoli

The soldiers left home as British colonial troops, those that returned came back as New Zealanders, she said. “Today, New Zealand is a country which is dedicated to bringing about a more peaceful world”.

Why is There an NZ in ANZAC?

Why is There an NZ in ANZAC?

“In Australia the word Anzac has slowly changed its meaning. The letters NZ – and the New Zealanders – have virtually been excised … It is worth recalling, occasionally, that at Gallipoli the smaller nation paid…

Peacekeepers Mourn Tragedy of War

Peacekeepers Mourn Tragedy of War

Indonesia: More than 1,000 United Nations peacekeepers from the Australian and New Zealand contingents attended the ANZAC service, with additional participants from Fiji, Singapore, Pakistan and the United States. Of added significance was a small uniformed delegation…

Annual Call of the Bugle Unites All

Annual Call of the Bugle Unites All

“This morning at dawn, perhaps 10,000 Australians and New Zealanders, probably thousands more, will stand above that beach, in the shadow of those cliffs, moved across the world by their nations’ deepest and most enduring shared myth, hypnotised…

White Mouse Roars Again

White Mouse Roars Again

New Zealand-born hero of the French Resistance during WWII, Nancy Wake, is considering moving to France or Britain, despite belated suggestions of recognition by the Australian government, “I am an Officer of the Legion of…

Famed Wartime Pilot Irving “Black” Smith

Famed Wartime Pilot Irving “Black” Smith

Invercargill born Group Captain Irving Smith, famed for his courage and low-level precision bombing raids during WWII, died on Feb 16. Irving Smith: May 21 1917 – February 16 2000

Deserters Honoured

Deserters Honoured

306 commonwealth soldiers, including 5 New Zealanders, are to be honoured at the National Memorial Arboretum in the English Midlands. The soldiers, many underage, were executed by their own side for desertion. “The youngsters were as much…