War hero puts it all down in writing

Mel Stevens is as exhilarated about the launch of his autobiography as he was about dropping bombs over France at the end of World War II - if the grin on his face is anything to go by.
Mr Steven's book This Is My Life is a lovingly compiled chronicle that stretches from the 88-year-old's early years growing up on a Mauriceville farm to his escapades with the air force in North America, Europe, Africa and the UK during the war.
Mr Stevens is the second youngest - and last surviving member - of a clan of seven children and it seems almost certain he got some of his grit from his mother Laura "Eva" Stevens, a woman he describes as "strong and independent", who brought the siblings up alone after his father Walter died in 1923, when he was aged just 2.
The bereaved family had to move from the Mauriceville West dairy farm when it went bankrupt following the death and Mrs Stevens was determined her brood would all have a secondary education.
The family moved into a leased cottage in Oxford Street, Masterton, where part of the rent involved two of the siblings milking cows for the landlords.
As a teenager Mr Stevens studied at Masterton Technical School and began an apprenticeship with the Wairarapa Electric Power Board.
During this time he was "enlisted" by the other young men he was working with at the board and decided to join them in the war effort.
In 1942 the apprenticeship was over and the 21-year-old began his initial air force training with eight months of correspondence at Wairarapa College followed by three weeks of initial training at Rotorua.
Mr Stevens will always have a soft spot for his niece, Janet Cook (nee Tomlin) who accompanies him when the Times-Age visits because she was born the day he left for war around the time of the Fall of Singapore.
Setting sail for his eventual rendezvous with further air force training in Halifax, Canada, he remembers the troop ship that transported him there - and more specifically the fastidious captain.
The keen young men being shipped to battle learnt quickly of their captain's sartorial sensibility when they arrived to dinner in their summer uniforms of shorts and short-sleeved shirts.
"The captain insisted that we all wear ties."
So the soldiers all marched back to their quarters, dutifully changing into more appropriate attire - replete with the ordered necktie.
Mr Stevens said the captain's discipline later saved many lives when his squadron was trapped behind enemy lines in the Caribbean Sea - unsurprisingly, from that day forth, the veteran has taken pride in his appearance and said he wore a tie everyday throughout his long career with the power board after the war.
Mr Stevens said his most memorable mission was a daylight bombing salvo over France in 1944 when he helped batter the enemy into submission - as a wireless air gunner responsible for 14 guns in the B-28 aircraft.
But that's just part of the story - if you want to find out more you'll have to track down a copy of This Is My Life.
* Anyone wanting to acquire a copy of Mr Steven's colourful patchwork of memories and memorabilia can contact him on (06) 378-7147.