Welfare Vehicles

[Peter Mossong]

This next one managed to survive all that was thrown at it in both the desert and Italy and returned to New Zealand after the war! Good old Ford V8 van.

For many years it was displayed in a shed at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in Northland, but is now in residence as an exhibit at the QEII Army Museum at Waiouru.

Text and most photos below borrowed with thanks from the 28th Maori Battalion website:

28th Maori Battalion Canteen Truck
Te Rau Aroha
During World War II Te Rau Aroha was driven and looked after throughout the North African and Italian Campaigns by the legendary canteen keeper Charlie Bennet MBE. Charlie, a Pakeha serviceman, was affectionately known by the soldiers as “Charlie Y.M.” (The Y.M. coming from the initials YMCA).

The truck was a gift to the 28th Maori Battalion from children of the Native Schools of New Zealand. When the Maori community decided to send their men to war with a special gift, an appeal for funds went around the schools. The target was 850 pounds, (about $1700 at the time). The response was magnificent. In just six months the schools grew vegetables for sale and ran concerts and stalls; children also dug into their moneyboxes. The final total was 1000 pounds ($2000 at the time), a lot of money in those days.

To the soldiers of the 28th (Maori) Battalion, Te Rau Aroha was more than a canteen. They had hastened to its assistance when it was in trouble on the desert; they had protected it, they had shown concern for its safety when it was overdue; they had sought it out in the night just to satisfy themselves that it was still there in the convoy. It had represented to them everything they held dear to home; and the inscription on the side, “Presented to the Maori Battalion as a token of love by the Children of Native Schools of New Zealand” was written on the hearts of the brave men of the 28th (Maori) Battalion.

https://28maoribattalion.org.nz/memory/te-rau-aroha

The truck appears to have had a few repaints over time (naturally, just check out the shrapnel damage in the first photo) and unfortunately, no photos I have found of it are dated! I have found none of it during it's Italian campaign when I suspect it was repainted in the darker colour.
On the offside door, the Italian campaign place names were listed, but I can't now find a photo of this!

Those with the white additions on the nose appear to have been taken post war, when the truck did a tour of all the native schools who help to fund-raise for it. The last couple are as it is now displayed at the museum.

[Matthew P]

Peter,

Thank you for sharing those. I was just writing a short little blurb article for a project for my wife and describing the 'Mobile' canteen as "more than a tea wagon".

"Writing paper and envelopes are provided for sending letters home, comforts are distributed. Music and news are broadcast, uniforms mended, ball games hosted and musical instruments provided for the men to hold concerts."

The affection and concern shown the 'Mobile' and it's drivers has come up time and again in my research. Your post though has additional elements. Those men knew from whom the funds for the truck came. It meant even more to them, then just any old canteen with tea and tobacco.

Thank you.
Matthew

[David Herbert]

Peter,

Thank you for posting about this truck but looking at the photos it seems that either it has been re-bodied or that the first photo (the one with the shrapnel damage) is showing a different truck. In the first photo the body sides extend down to level with the cab steps, There is something (fuel tank ?) with two horizontal ribs on it behind the cab step, the gap between the cab and the body is filled in and the body is extended over the cab roof. None of these features show in the other photos

I can see that when the shrapnel damage was repaired, that area of the body could well have been changed but there would have been no need to remove the section above the cab.
Looking harder I think that the cab door handle is much higher up relative to the cab window in the first photo so I definitely see these as two different trucks.

Also there is what looks like a pressed rib in the cab door about a foot up from the bottom but this is actually a mark in the photograph and extends all the way across the photo including across two men !

David

[Peter Mossong]

Hi David. Yes, I did notice the differences when re-doing those photos for posting. Unfortunately, that one with the Maori troops is the only wartime photo I've found of the vehicle. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a cunning swap over at some time!

Cheers,
Pete M.

[Matthew P]

The Imperial War Museum recently published a new collection of photographs from the No. 5 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit They appear to be mostly from Holland, Belgium and Germany in late 44 through late 45. I found photos of Salvation Army, YMCA and NAAFI/EFI mobile canteens as well as a mobile library and mobile church truck.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/s...c%20Unit%5D=on

Here are some of the canteen photos. I'd like to identify these truck chassis as these couple of types have appeared routinely. I know the Bedford OXC was to be a standard canteen truck there are a number of these that have appeared in my research. So it would appear that this was another "standard" type(s) employed.

I also note that on the NAAFI canteens described in the captions as "First across the Rhine" have the Allied star applied to the sides of the coachwork not on the cab door as is more typically seen.

Matt

[jack neville]

I haven’t seen this thread before Lang.
This one Jake got from John Belfield not long ago. Fordson WOT 8.
Australian Comfort Funds clearly marked on the doors

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Matthew P

Here are some of the canteen photos. I'd like to identify these truck chassis as these couple of types have appeared routinely. I know the Bedford OXC was to be a standard canteen truck there are a number of these that have appeared in my research. So it would appear that this was another "standard" type(s) employed.

I also note that on the NAAFI canteens described in the captions as "First across the Rhine" have the Allied star applied to the sides of the coachwork not on the cab door as is more typically seen.

Matt

Hi Matt,
These trucks are Fordson 7V, a British built.

[Lang]

Jack

Good rare find. Is it in the queue after your current restoration?

I think a lot of those orphan trucks would have been passed to the various volunteer and support groups to clean out the army main fleet and give them transport without reducing the mainstream vehicle stocks.

Lang

[Matthew P]

Originally Posted by Richard Farrant

Hi Matt,
These trucks are Fordson 7V, a British built.

Thanks a bunch! Can you point me to a good source of information about Fordson and the 7V model? I found a questionable source online that claims they continued civilian production throughout the war (https://classiccars.fandom.com/wiki/Fordson_Thames_7V) But of course I have to doubt any site that has 'wiki" in it's name without also footnotes.

Matt

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Peter Mossong

Hi David. Yes, I did notice the differences when re-doing those photos for posting. Unfortunately, that one with the Maori troops is the only wartime photo I've found of the vehicle. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a cunning swap over at some time!

Looking at the photos here https://www.armymuseum.co.nz/te-rau-aroha/ I can only conclude there was a Te Rau Aroha I and II. The first one was built on an earlier Ford chassis (1940 or 1941 model?) with a body with an overhang over the cab. The second one is a 1942 model Ford. It seems the latter survived, to remember the feats of the former.

094B763A-C8F0-4650-8E45-1D41C82D63A3.jpeg 2842F6A7-10CA-4CBA-B102-F03FA6664464.jpeg

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Dave Hardway stated “the shrapnel damage that appears on the body with the early Cab/Chassis can be matched to the photo's with the later Cab/Chassis and to the Truck as it is today”.
So it seems the original body was converted and then transplanted onto the later chassis. A true Trigger’s Broom…

[lynx42]

This photo just popped up on F/book. Is it the original or a copy. Says it was restored but school apprentices after being found in a scrap yard in NZ.
275170521_1974126896100728_8655304198720286389_n.jpg

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Nice 1940 Chevrolet in Red Cross service.

"[Truck bearing red cross at Puckapunyal] [ca. 1940]"

FL15777587.jpg
Source: https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalin...17072583607636

[Mike K]

Tasmania WW2, Brighton army camp.

Source: Tasmanian history page Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/8459...8453429559902/