An intriguing mystery at Taipa

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES: Alex Henderson and his sisters posing in front of the fondly-remembered pou at Taipa in the 1950s.

Mention in the Northland Age about a wooden pou that once stood at Taipa, but has since been removed (What became of the pou? June 11), has sparked interest from Heritage New Zealand.

The country's leading heritage agency recently completed a heritage inventory project identifying and collecting information on war memorials in Northland, and is keen to learn more about the pou and its history.

"Looking closely at the picture in the Age, it would appear that the pou was part of Taipa's war memorial, and was replaced by the current marker, a waka set on top of a curving wave," Heritage New Zealand's Northland manager Bill Edwards said.

"The fact that there appears to have been a pou there, up until the 1950s at least, is really interesting, and we'd like to learn a bit more about it and the story behind it."

The Taipa memorial, he said, was unusual in that it acknowledged Kupe and the waka Mamaru, as well as the 30 men from the district who were killed in World War II.

"One of the men commemorated by the memorial is decorated war hero Flying Officer Lloyd Trigg, who was born at Houhora in 1914. Trigg was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, and later the Victoria Cross, after a daring attack on a U-boat off the West African Coast," he said.

"Interestingly, the VC was awarded on the 'recommendation' of his enemy."

The action took place on August 11, 1943, when Trigg, piloting a B24 Liberator bomber for the first time, spotted U-468 and went in for the kill. Despite shells from the U-boat ripping through the fuselage of the Liberator, and the plane catching fire, he persevered with his attack, dropping six depth charges before crashing into the ocean.

The 29-year-old and his crew of six were killed, but achieved their objective, the submarine sinking within minutes. Twenty of the 46 crew escaped, although 13 of them were taken by sharks and barracuda. The remaining survivors found a rubber life raft, ironically from the downed Liberator, and were picked up by a British corvette the next day.

Oberleutant Clemens Schamong, skipper of the U-boat, told his rescuers about the daring attack, praising Trigg's bravery and saying that in Germany such a courageous fighter would have been decorated with the highest honour.

"The British High Command must have taken note, because Trigg was awarded the Victoria Cross a little over two months later," Bill said.

Meanwhile the heritage inventory project, carried out by researcher Stuart Park, had enabled information about war memorials in Northland to be brought together from different sources and collated into one database.

"The World War I commemorations occurring around the country have made this a particularly timely project," he added.

"The project has also highlighted some things we didn't know, and the pou that once stood at Taipa is certainly one of them. We'd love to hear from anybody who might be able to shed some light on it."

-Anyone with information or stories about the Taipa pou was welcome to contact Bill Edwards on (09) 407-0471 or bedwards@heritage.org.nz