JAYFORCE TIMES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 39, 18 October 1946, Page 3

JAYFORCE TIMES

LOCAL JOURNALIST’S PROMOTION

CAPT. HEATLEY’S NEW POST

Captain H. L. Heatley, of Wellington, and formerly of Whakatane, has been appointed editor of “Jayforce Times,” a weekly newspaper produced in Wellington and transported to Japan by the R.N.Z.A.F. Captain Heatley will be remembered as a member of the Beacon literary staff (1939-40). He enlisted in 1940, and entered camp with the Fifth Reinforcements in January, 1941. After serving with the infantry in the Middle East he was seconded to the new Public Relations Service as assistant-editor of “N.Z.E.F. Times,” then in the early stages of establishment. He was appointed acting-editor in March, 1943, while the editor, Mr E. G. Webber, of Rotorua (now special correspondent for the N.Z. Press Association in London), was serving as a war correspondent with the 2nd N.Z. Division in Tripolitania and Tunisia. In September, 1943 Captain Heatley was appointed editor of “N.Z.E.F. Times” and a war correspondent. When the Division was moved to Italy late in 1943, Captain Heatley found the difficulties of distribution from the'Middle East too great and in January, 1944, he transferred “N.Z.E.F. Times” to Italy, a t-ask he accomplished without breaking continuity of publication. Captain Heatley was with the Division for some time, covering several important operations, including the battle for Cassino. He flew with the United States Army Air Force on operations and reported the record eruption of Vesuvius in March, 1944. In May, 1944, Captain Heatley was appointed first New Zealand field press censor and Public Relations Officer at advanced Allied Force Headquarters, and in that post was responsible for organising publicity for 2nd N.Z.E.F. through British, American, and allied war corespondents in the Mediterranean theatre. Returning to New Zealand in April of last year, Captain Heatley served for some months with Army Education Welfare Service. For the past 12 months he has been on the editorial staff of “Freedom.”