Auckland RSA

VALE Nancy ‘Pat’ Clothier (1920 – 2026) and thank you for your service.

We will remember them.

We sadly acknowledge the passing of Nancy ‘Pat’ Clothier at the age of 106.

Nancy was born in Christchurch on 11 April 1920. In 1942 on her 22nd birthday, the establishment of the WRNZNS was approved by the War Cabinet.

Nancy was amongst the first group of women to be enlisted into the WRNZNS and entered service as a Probationary Wren at HMNZS Philomel on 15 July 1942 and issued service number 11.

She would serve as a Shorthand Typist and then Telegraphist.

She was first based in Wellington at the Naval Office as a typist but then was transferred to the naval radio station in Waiouru as a Telegraphist. She was confirmed as an Able Wren then promoted to Petty Officer Wren.

With the demobilising of the RNZN she remained in service in the immediate postwar period until her service engagement ended on15 April 1946. She was one of the first and one of the longest serving Wrens in the Second World War.

20 May 1941
THE BATTLE OF CRETE

"When the parachutists came down, there was ammunition and arms, food, everything — they were in big, round cylinders. Someone told me . . . they got a canister of hot coffee and sandwiches!" — Peter Wildey, 7th (NZ) Field Company, inteviewed in 2000.

It began just after dawn on 20 May 1941. Many of the 7700 New Zealand soldiers stationed on the Mediterranean island of Crete were finishing breakfast when hundreds of German transport aircraft — some towing gliders — appeared over the island and suddenly the sky was filled with thousands of elite German paratroopers.

This was the start of the Battle of Crete — 12 dramatic days when New Zealanders together with other Allied troops and Cretan civilians attempted to repel a massive German airborne assault. They almost succeeded.

Many New Zealanders were evacuated from Crete but thousands did not: 671 dead and 2000 taken prisoner. Among those evacuated were Charles Upham and Alfred Hulme, both of whom were awarded the Victoria Cross for their actions on Crete. A few New Zealanders took to the hills, sheltered by Cretan families at great risk, and some fought with the Cretan resistance, most famously Dudley Perkins who became known as Vasili: The Lion of Crete and was killed in a German ambush in 1944.

Today, New Zealand’s role in the battle continues to be remembered by Cretans.

Photo from page 03 of unidentified WWII Photograph Album – Egypt, Crete & North Africa. Acc. No. 1994.2827 National Army Museum Auckland New Zealand Army

Today is International Nurses Day. Celebrated around the world every May 12, for the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth. To celebrate this day, we thought we would share some history about our nurses.

Since the First World War, the Army’s Nursing Officers have served in every major conflict New Zealand has been involved in. More than 500 nurses served in the First World War and more than 600 joined the Second World War effort, serving in the Pacific, Egypt, England, Greece, Crete, Syria, Tunisia and Italy. Back then they were called the New Zealand Army Nursing Service (NZANS). In 1953 the NZANS became the Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps (RNZNC), and the first RNZNC officer was later sent to Vietnam to work with the Australians at Vung Tau.

📷 This badge is worn today by nurses of the Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps