A namesake of mine was a New Zealander serving in Africa and Europe in World War II

In the Manukau Courier, Jim Perry tells the story of Maurice Edward Odlin O’Connor, who served in the New Zealand Artillery in World War II. O’Connor and his battery crew were captured by the Germans in North Africa and handed over to the Italians. He was a POW for two years in Greece and Italy, in very bad conditions. When Italy surrended in 1943, O’Connor and a few friends escaped into the mountains before the Germans arrived to take control.

In November 1943, Maurice, Larry Auster, Wally Williams and Aubrey Cooper slipped through the German lines and made their way south to the famous English “Buff” Regiment, which had captured a small town and cut off the Germans….

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 25, 2009 11:17 AM | Send