CAPTURE OF SAMOA

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 49, 26 August 1938, Page 5

CAPTURE OF SAMOA

WAR DAYS RECALLED

Twenty-four years ago today there was at sea, making its way to what was then an unknown destination, the Advance Party of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, which was responsible for the seizure, on August 29, 1914, of the German possessions of Western Samoa. This body, numbering approximately 1500, left Wellington on August 15, 1914, in the transports Moeraki and Monowai, having been recruited mainly from this city, with a strong detachment from Auckland and others from various parts of the Dominion.

The landing at Apia was effected without opposition, and the force remained on the island for about eight months, its members eventually returning to New Zealand to proceed to other theatres of war.

A strong spirit of comradeship was developed during the sojourn on the islands, and members of the expedition forgather annually in Wellington on a date near the anniversary of the landing in Samoa. This year's reunion takes place in the Dominion Farmers' Institute tomorrow evening, and additional interest is lent to this function by the fact that the chairman will be Colonel R. B. Neill, of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, who accompanied the Advance Party as adjutant of the sth Wellington Regiment. Colonel Neill is now farming near Ashburton, and is making the trip to Wellington specially for this gathering.