As I previewed at the end of my prior post, we had another wonderful Independence Day reception yesterday evening to commemorate both the 236th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence and the 70th anniversary of the arrival of U.S. servicemen and women in New Zealand after the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific. This time we celebrated at the Royal New Zealand Air Force Museum in the Wigram district of Christchurch.

The Marine Band played. I discreetly entered the hall in a vintage American jeep. We sang the national anthems and acknowledged the World War II veterans among us. Mayor Bob Parker and I offered remarks on the warm and vibrant state of relations between the people of New Zealand and America. And more than 200 guests enjoyed an evening of fine wine, good food, great conversation, and swing dancing.

The grand hall at the Royal NZ Air Force Museum as the reception just starts.

The Marine Band swing unit entertains our guests.

We decorated the hall with photos of American servicemen in NZ in the 1940s.

Present-day Marines talking with WWII Marine Harry Oliver, now living in Christchurch.

Riding into the hall and to the podium in a vintage American jeep.

The singing of the Star-Spangled Banner.

During the singing of God Defend New Zealand.

Minister Gerry Brownlee (center) and other guests listen as I address the crowd.

Mayor Bob Parker offers remarks on behalf of the People of Christchurch.

The Mayor and I are joined by World War II vets (left to right) Dr Alan Roberts (NZ), Harry Oliver (USMC), and Claude Bohn (USMC) for the toasts.

University students enjoying the reception.

Two Marines charm a guest.

A photo of American servicemen enjoying a night at Majestic Cabaret in 1942 Wellington.

Like our prior two Independence Day receptions this year in Wellington and Auckland, it was a wonderful night of spirited conversation, warm memories of prior service and sacrifice, and forward-looking appreciation of the dynamic, warm, impactful, expanding partnership between our people and our countries. I wasn’t at all surprised. Family gatherings are always special occasions.

Mondays are turning into very festive days for us at the Embassy and Consulate General. This past Monday we again threw a party, welcoming more than 400 guests to the stunning Events Centre on the top floor of the Auckland War Memorial Museum.  Once again we were celebrating the 236^th Independence Day of the United States of America as well as the 70^th anniversary of the arrival of American armed forces to help defend New Zealand during World War II.

It was not an accident that we chose the Museum as the site of our reception. Auckland Domain, in which the Auckland War Memorial Museum sits, was home to two U.S. camps during the war — Inner-Camp Hale (which housed more than 1,000 U.S. Navy shore staff and patients recovering from wounds suffered in combat in Pacific island battles against the invaders) and Outer-Camp Hale (consisting of 15 buildings on the slope directly in front of the Museum and used as a U.S. Army hospital complex with 750 beds).

Auckland War Memorial Museum as it looked in 1943 when Auckland Domain was home to Camp Hale.

As in Wellington a week earlier, it was a wonderful evening filled with music, conversation, dance, shared memories, and warm appreciation for ongoing friendship and collaboration. We maintained the 1942 theme and brought with us the same vintage photo posters, video reel, and music that we used in Town Hall in Wellington. We had some trouble, though, getting a vehicle up to the top floor of the Museum, so we parked three 1940′s American jeeps on the outside steps to greet guests and ease them into the mood of the evening.

As they reached the roof-top venue guests were met by the sounds of Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, and other 1940′s masters, played by the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific Band. Many more people than in Wellington took the opportunity to dance, and the floor in front of the stage was filled with jiving, spinning couples. Perhaps the most popular of the dancing duos was national treasure Lucy Lawless and my star-struck colleague Jeremy.

Lucy and Jeremy leading the way on the dance floor.

Our other guests included friends from academic, NGO, cultural, faith, business, medical, legal, and media circles as well as military veterans and many of my students. As in Wellington, I had some difficulty getting around the room, but I did get to say hello briefly to most of the attendees including Lady June Hillary, Jools Topp, AWMM Board Chairman Dr. William Randall, Aliya Danzeisen (founder of  Women’s Organization of the Waikato Muslim Association), Pacific Cooperation Foundation chief executive Meg Poutasi …

… Rev. Uesifili Unasa (chair of Auckland’s Pacific Peoples Advisory Panel), Bevan Chuang  (of Auckland’s Ethnic Peoples Advisory Panel), Pasifika Festival director Ole Maiava, worldclass sportswoman and educator Beatrice Faumuina, Auckland Art Gallery director Chris Saines, Professor Sergei Gulyaev (director of AUT’s Radio Astronomy Institute), Spasifik Magazine editor Innes Logan, Westpac private banking head Simon Power, MIT’s Dr. Stuart Middleton, James Pinker (of Mangere Arts Centre), Kiwibots’ Chris Hamling, Computer Clubhouse’s Mike Usmar, among others.

Lady Hillary chatting with friends at the reception.

Government, public service, and diplomatic circles were also well represented. I chatted with His Worship the Mayor of Auckland Len Brown, Labour Foreign Affairs spokesman Phil Goff, Te Ariki Tamaroa Whatumoana (representing his father Kingi Tuheitia), Minister Maurice Williamson, and MPs including Jacinda Ardern, Paul Hutchison, and Shane Jones …

… as well as several City Councilors, MFAT Auckland office director Warwick Hawker, and Chairman Peter Kiely of the Pacific Cooperation Foundation. Most of the Auckland diplomatic corps turned out including my good friends Rodney Walshe (New Zealand’s most prominent Irishman, honorary or otherwise) and Samoan Consul General Pogi Reupena.

Helen Kotua and Te Ariki Tamaroa Whatumoana.

As usual, we poured fine American wines and Coca Cola products. My staff vetoed my request for pizza and hot dogs so we offered guests an assortment of American fusion hors d’œuvres including avocado-salsa-espelette-cilantro tortilla wafers, polenta-blue-cheese-pomegranate-caramelized-onion filo tartlets, pancetta-wrapped scallops, smoked-chicken-mango-cilantro-chili-pepper tortilla crisps, and spiced lamb burgers with tomato chutney, feta, and mint.

We started the formal proceedings with the two national anthems. The Star-Spangled Banner was again sung by Chief Warrant Officer Michael Smith of the Marine Band. God Defend New Zealand was sung by NZ Defence Force veteran Grant Armishaw. I then spoke briefly about the 70th anniversary of the arrival of U.S. forces and what I consider to be the true meaning of friendship, service, and independence.

Mayor Len Brown offered spirited remarks about Auckland’s historically strong and increasingly vibrant relationship with the United States including with sister city Los Angeles (and with Waitakere’s sister city Huntington Beach). He made a few rugby comments that riled the crowd, so I responded in kind.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown offers remarks on behalf of the people of Auckland.

The Mayor and I then asked three World War II veterans — U.S. Marine Jack Long and N.Z. Army infantrymen Doug Ross and Rangi Ryan — to join us on stage to toast the People, Heads of State, and veterans of our two countries. Led to the stage by active-duty U.S. Marines, the three veterans were enthusiastically applauded by attendees for their service.

Mr. Long volunteered for the Marine Corps before Pearl Harbor and fought as a Flying Sergeant in two of the most hellish battles of the Pacific war, Guadalcanal and Bougainville. He was twice evacuated to New Zealand where he spent lengthy periods recovering in hospital, first from jaundice and then from wounds suffered when his airplane crashed during a mission.

Doug Ross and Rangi Ryan served in the 37th Infantry Brigade, NZ 3rd Division both in the Pacific and Europe during World War II. Mr. Ross saw action on Guadalcanal, Vella Lavella (in the Solomons), Nissan (in the Green Island group), and Italy. Mr. Ryan’s most memorable combat experience was in the Solomons and New Caledonia.

Introducing WWII veterans (left to right) Rangi Ryan, Doug Ross, and Jack Long.

Just as with our event in Wellington, a lot of hard work and effort went into planning and executing the reception. I would like to thank our friends at the Auckland War Memorial Museum including Director Roy Clare, Kim Poole, and Rachel Prebble, as well as our corporate partners without whom the evening would not have been possible …

… Boeing Australia & South Pacific, Christchurch Engine Centre (Pratt & Whitney), Cubic Defence NZ, GE Corporate, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft New Zealand Limited, Motion Picture Association of America, NZFACT, UPS (United Parcel Service), Ceres New Zealand, MagTek, Visa, and Distilled Spirits Association of New Zealand (and its CEO Thomas Chin).

Mayor Brown, Chris Hamling (national manager of Kiwibots NZ), and Sean Topham (Northern Regional Chair of Young Nats).

Kim Daly, Hon. Phil Goff, and Stuart Middleton sampling the food.

Guests viewing images of wartime New Zealand.

Visiting U.S. Army Major General Roger Mathews greets WWII veterans.

We aren’t done yet, though. Believe it or not, I’ve just dropped into a third city in time for a third Independence Day celebration. I flew to Christchurch from Wellington yesterday afternoon to meet the Marine Band, which had flown directly from Auckland the day before.

We played two great concerts yesterday – to a full house of more than 600 folks at La Vida in Riccarton and then to a couple hundred Cantabrians at the Geodome in Hagley Park. Today, after morning tea with my friend (and starlight doyen) Margaret Austin, we returned to the Geodome for another concert to a packed house of 400 Christchurch primary school students. Tonight we will conclude the two-week U.S. Marine Band tour as well as our formal 70th anniversary commemorations with an Independence Day celebration at the Royal NZ Air Force Museum here in Christchurch.

I’m sorry about any typos in the text above, but I’m firing off this post quickly on my laptop while trying to change into a fresh shirt and suit for this evening’s reception. It’s certainly a bad look for a host to show up late for his own party, so I’ll problee nede too forego mi uzule prufereeding. Apollogeez.

This morning a National Commemoration ceremony was held at the National War Memorial on Buckle Street to mark the 70th anniversary of the arrival of U.S. Marines in New Zealand during World War II. At the proceedings the Governor-General, His Excellency Lieutenant General The Right Honorable Sir Jerry Mateparae, read an entry from the diary of U.S. Marine Private Bob Hatch. Penned 70 years ago today, the entry recounts young Private Hatch’s his first day in Wellington after stepping off the USS Wakefield :

*  *  *

“Most of us had heard the scuttlebutt and had a fair idea where we were going … New Zealand.  Of course we weren’t sure until we actually tied up to the wharf.  Tying up didn’t take long but there was no liberty.  In fact, we could not even get off the ship.  So there we were as usual, just standing around.

“We were awful sick of the sea so dry land was sure good to look at.  It reminded me of southern California with the mountains meeting the sea.  It made some of us a little bit homesick too.  It looked like a friendly country; there was a band down on the dock to meet us.  We’d seen their blue uniforms around some of our flying fields in the States so we knew it was the band of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

USS Wakefield arrives at King’s Wharf on June 14, 1942.

“At last we got a break – ‘all shore’.  Boy did real solid land feel good.  You can beat your bottom dollar it did.  War or no war we must have music, and our band was amongst the first ashore.  Officers and men, we all in the same boat or rather getting off the same boat, and all curious to see what kind of advanced base we had come to.  We had a lot of queer ideas as to what New Zealand would be like.

“Imagine our surprise when a milk wagon came around.  We hadn’t tasted fresh milk since we left the States.  Boy did it taste good.  It wasn’t long before our Sergeant was bellowing, ‘Fall in’, and we were off again, without even getting a good look at town.  We were heading for the railroad station.

US Marines in transit to Paekakariki by train after landing in Wellington.

“These New Zealanders certainly did things right.  When we got off the train there was a band again and we started our march to camp just like a big parade.  We were out in the country but of course the usual kids were present to look us over and yell a few words of welcome.  It was sort of nice too.  Soon we were into camp.  Yup, and old glory was there too, flying proudly overhead.  I guess there isn’t anything any of us wouldn’t do to keep it flying.”

*  *  *

Poignant in their simplicity, those were the words of an “ordinary” young man called upon to do extraordinary things halfway around the world from home. Shortly after arriving in New Zealand Private Hatch shipped out to combat in the South Pacific, where he was wounded.

In attendance at this morning’s ceremony in addition to the Governor-General were Prime Minister John Key, Leader of the Opposition David Shearer, Minister of Defence Dr. Jonathan Coleman, Secretary of Defence John McKinnon, Chief of the Defence Force Lt. General Rhys Jones, Chair of the Greater Wellington Regional Council Fran Wilde, Mayor of Kapiti Jenny Rowan, Deputy Mayor of Wellington Ian McKinnon, and other dignitaries.

I represented the United States along with Lieutenant General Duane D. Thiessen (Commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific), Major General Ronald Bailey (Commanding Officer of 1st Marine Division, the Division that landed in Wellington 70 years ago today), and World War II veteran Claude Bohn.

U.S. Marines from New Zealand storm ashore at Guadalcanal in the first Allied counter-offensive of the Pacific war. More than 7,000 Marines died there.

As always at memorials, I found particularly moving the recitation of The Ode, adapted from the fourth stanza of Lawrence Binyon’s poem, ”For the Fallen”:

E kore ratou e koroheketia
Penei i a tatou kua mahue nei
E kore hoki ratou e ngoikore
Ahakoa pehea i nga ahuatanga o te wa.
I te hekenga atu o te ra
Tae noa ki te aranga mai i te ata
Ka maumahara tonu tatou ki a ratou.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

In addition to the coins I mentioned yesterday, we also designed two commemorative stamps as part of our celebration of this year’s significant United States/New Zealand 70th anniversaries. We’ve been using the stamps on our outgoing mail at the Embassy and Consulate General for the past couple of weeks, but I thought I’d share them here (in larger than real-life form) in case we haven’t sent you a letter lately.