Fought the Japs
pp. 131-133 · Read in the full issue
Where NZ Soldiers Fought the Japs
When the New Zealand Bth Army brigade withdrew from Mono Island, Treasury Group (south of Bougainville) in mid-1944, it left behind a church built of local material, as a gift to a few score Methodist natives there. This re placed a native church which went up in flames in October, 1943, when a small Japanese garrison was ejected by the New Zealanders.
This year the NZ-built church has been replaced by one built by the Islanders. It contains furnish ings from the servicemen’s church, and notably brass tablets carrying the names of NZ soldiers who died at Mono. The bodies of the latter eventually were re-interred at the NZ war cemetery near Bourail, New Caledonia.
About 50 New Zealanders and
ericans were killed at Mono, r men were helped by the Mono nders. a 1943, when Allied forces were king towards Rabaul and Truk, little-known Treasury group imed strategic importance. After Allied occupation of Mono in ober, 1943. the sheltered Blanche ’hour, between Mono and Stirl- Islands, was used as a base for erican naval craft to cover the ling on Bougainville. A hastily structed airfield on Stirling nd was used by aircraft bomb- Rabaul early in 1944.