Waiouru gains Malta gift

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 8, Issue 378, 19 March 1991, Page 3

Waiouru gains Malta gift

Memories of ' the North African campaign and the Mediterranean theatre of operations in World War II were revived . last week when the QEII War Memorial Museum in Waiouru was presented with a sterling silver model of a 'Gozo' boat.

A Gozo boat is a small 2-masted gaff-rigged fishing boat used around the island of Malta, and this model was pre- . sented to the NZ Armys' Kiwi Concert Party in 1943 as a token of gratitude from the children of Malta. The model measured

12 centimetres in length by 14 centimetres in height. The Kiwi Concert Party had entertained thousands of Maltese children on their island during and after the heavy bombing they had been subjected to from German and Italian planes. The 30 or so members of the Kiwi Concert Party - formed by GenTurnpage 5

Malta gift

From page 3 eral Freyberg in 1941 from troops serving in the North Africa - kept the Gozo boat during their travels throughout New Zealand and Australia for eight years after the war. This included a performance by the Kiwi Concert Party with the 'Forces Sweetheart' Vera Lynn in Dunedin in the 1960's. They then passed it

around between them each retaining the model for a year at a time until this year, 50 years after the Kiwi Concert Party was formed, to hand it over to the Waiouru Army Museum. The presentation was made by Terry Vaughan on behalf of the Kiwi Concert Party to Brigadier Birch at the QEII Army War Memorial Museum last Wednesday.