Gisborne soldiers remembered

A Wētā Workshop staffer adds the finishing touches to a larger-than-life replica of a Kiwi soldier, at the new museum in the French village of Le Quesnoy. Picture supplied

Early last month in the small French town of Le Quesnoy the  New Zealand Liberation Museum – Te Arawhata (The Ladder) was officially opened.

The  museum takes its name from the resourceful way Kiwi soldiers used a ladder to scale the walls of the town on November 4, 1918, a week before World War 1 ended, and 105 years ago today.

There were no civilian fatalities as Le Quesnoy was liberated but 122 New Zealand soldiers were killed.

Peter Jackson’s Wētā Workshop created  three major exhibits that reflect themes of freedom, friendship, and the future  for the new museum.

A giant soldier holding winter flowers from Northern France depicts freedom; a remembrance wall inspired by tukutuku panels signifies friendship;  and Te Arawhata, which translates to The Ladder, is a stunning, large-scale centrepiece of the museum highlighting the future.

In recent years The Gisborne Herald has reported on two Gisborne men who fought at Le Quesnoy (pronounced Le ken wah).

George How Chow, a Chinese-New Zealander, was in B Company of 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry (Rifle) Brigade.

The soldier survived the battle for Le Quesnoy, but his family believed his war-time experiences affected him for the rest of his life.

He enlisted on February 8, 1917.

Army records describe him as being aged 21, height 5ft. 5½ inches, complexion dark, eyes brown, hair black, with his occupation listed as a farmer.

He was attached to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, 19th Reinforcement, in the second draft of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade.

On July 16, 1917, he boarded the troop carrier HMNZT 88 Athenic at Wellington.

How Chow left England in October and was posted to his battalion where he saw active service as a rifleman including in the Third Battle of Ypres and the Battle of Bapaume where the rifle brigade suffered heavy losses.

Between March and May 1918 he was out of the front line for nearly eight weeks, first with a sprained ankle incurred while watching an army rugby match featuring two teams from B Company and later with influenza.

He served in Cologne after the war on occupational duties before being posted to Sling Camp at Bulford, near Stonehenge.

It was there the New Zealanders, angry, bored and impatient to be shipped home, carved out a 127-metre kiwi on Beacon Hill.

How Chow did not set foot back in New Zealand until October 2, 1919, when Cordoba sailed into Wellington.

The huge Kiwi still exists in England today with the British Army maintaining it as a legacy “to old soldiers in the new country from the young soldiers in the old country”.

How Chow was not the only Chinese-New Zealander among the 6000 troops at Camp Sling, but his family was a prominent one in Gisborne.

His father, a naturalised New Zealander, owned the Central Bakery in Gladstone Road later known as the Empire Dining Rooms.

The Empire Dining Rooms, located on the site where the Odeon stands today, was damaged in a major fire in 1893.

The dining rooms were rebuilt and sold in 1901 when George (Senior) and Sophia brought the Te Karaka Tavern.

Inter-racial marriages involving Chinese were frowned on in the larger centres of New Zealand in those times.

But researchers have told George’s descendants that smaller centres were more accepting of Chinese if they were hard-working and social.

Little is known of How Chow after the war, but he died in Pukekohe in 1971.

Matawhero coach builder Charlie Hills was killed in Le Quesnoy. He was a 24-year-old rifleman.

Lieutenant Francis Soler wrote to Charles’ parents Charles and Rose and said: “I was with them when he was killed by a machine gun bullet on the edge of the moat round Le Quesnoy yesterday.

“He was bravely using his gun, covering a section of his platoon, which was scaling the ancient ramparts across the moat.”

The soldier is buried in the Le Quesnoy Communal Cemetery Extension just outside the town.

The memorial card honouring the soldier is a precious family heirloom which today belongs to descendant Colin Seymour.