by Glyn Harper
After he was shot down Len was sent to Stalag Luft III at Sagan in Northern Germany. On the night of 24–25 March 1944 the inmates of the British compound managed what has been called ‘the Great Escape’, through a tunnel they had dug under the wire. At 3.30 a.m. it was Len Trent’s turn and he was supposed to be the seventy-ninth man through the tunnel.
The tunnel came up just before the edge of the forest and there was a signal for the men to move when the guard wasn’t looking. As Len was crawling towards the trees a guard came towards the tunnel exit. When he was very close he saw another New Zealander, Mick Shand, lying near the woods and was about to shoot when another prisoner hiding in the trees yelled out and distracted him. The guard’s shot went wide and Shand escaped.
Three other prisoners nearby and the man at the tunnel mouth were forced to give themselves up. Seventy-six men managed to escape, but only three made it back to England while 50 of the escapees, including three New Zealanders, were executed after they were recaptured.
Len stayed in the POW camp until he was released in May 1945, after surviving a forced march as the Germans moved their prisoners as the Russian Army came closer. He was flown back to England and his family. It was only now that there could be a full debrief of Ramrod 17 and Len Trent was recommended for the VC. One night, when he returned from a flight, he was told to report immediately to the station commander at his house, where he was told he had been awarded the VC.
Submarine Hunter
FLYING OFFICER LLOYD TRIGG, RAF
Lloyd Allan Trigg was born at Houhora near Auckland on 5 May 1914. His father was English but his mother was a New Zealander. He went to school at Whangarei High School where he was a good student and sportsman. He had some military experience and was company sergeant major in the School Cadets and a non-commissioned officer in the Mounted Rifles. When war began he was working as a salesman and lived at Hamua, near Pahiatua, with his wife and two young sons. As a married man with children he didn’t join up until 1941.
Lloyd Trigg chose the air force because he had always been interested in flying. When he left for war he promised his wife he ‘wouldn’t go looking for decorations’. His squadron mates said he hated the Germans and wanted to get the job done and go home. He had good reports during his training, saying he was ‘an above average pilot, inclined to be slow absorbing knowledge, but working extremely hard to achieve very good results’.
Lloyd trained in New Zealand before he was sent to Branton, Manitoba, in Canada, for special training. By the time he left Canada to join RAF Coastal Command in October 1942, he had been promoted to flying officer and was captain of a Hudson crew.
Lloyd Trigg was posted to 200 Squadron on the West African coast and arrived there in January 1943. In March he attacked a U-boat, straddling its track with depth charges. Two days later he attacked and hit another one on its bow and he was awarded the DFC. His commanding officer reported: ‘During the course of a fine operational career this officer has set a conspicuously good example of keenness to fly under all conditions.’ As one of the squadron’s best commanders, Lloyd was one of the first pilots chosen to train on a new kind of plane, a Liberator, and he flew one out from America.
On 11 August 1943 at about 7.30 a.m., Flying Officer Lloyd Trigg was piloting one of the squadron’s two new Liberators on a search for a U-boat off the West African coast, 380 kilometres southwest of Dakar. They spotted a U-boat on the surface at 9.45 a.m.
To make a successful bombing or a depth-charge run on a submarine, the plane had to come in low and be straight over the target when it attacked. The Liberator’s size meant it could fly further before it needed to be refuelled, but it also made it harder to manoeuvre than a smaller plane. This made its attack slow and predictable. The German submarines had changed their tactics and instead of diving to avoid attacking planes, they were now armed with guns to disrupt an air attack and prevent a plane from making an accurate run.
U-468 was a small submarine of about 500 tonnes commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Klemens Schamong. It was his first command and it hadn’t gone well. He and his crew had reached their patrol area from France, but hadn’t made any attacks and were returning to base because their supply vessel had been sunk. Schamong’s crew saw the Liberator in plenty of time. Lloyd radioed to base that he was going in to attack and took the plane down from his patrol height of 1800 metres to the attack height of 45 metres, which took about four minutes. This was the last they heard from his plane.
An aerial search next morning saw seven men in the Liberator’s rubber dinghy. A day later a British destroyer picked them up, but they were the captain and some crewmembers of the U-boat.
They were the only ones left to describe the attack. Schamong reported: ‘It required courage I never thought I would see.’ Because they had spotted the plane before it made its attack, they were ready to fire when the Liberator came into range. Their fire was accurate and they made hits along the plane’s wing and tail. The fuselage burst into flames and one port engine was set ablaze. The Germans saw their tracer rounds passing straight through the airframe. Blazing from hull to tail, the plane kept coming straight for them. Then, when it was 50 metres overhead, the Liberator released its load before flying straight on for a short distance and crashing into the sea. Lloyd could have tried to get away, or he could have ditched the plane at sea once it was hit. Instead he kept on attacking, regardless of the danger.
Oberleutnant Schamong and six of his crew were thrown into the sea and escaped the rapidly sinking U-boat. When they surfaced they found the Liberator’s rescue dinghy, which had broken loose when the plane crashed.
Lloyd Trigg’s VC is both unusual and important for several reasons. It is unusual because it is the only time an award has been based on evidence from the enemy (Oberleutnant Schamong and his first lieutenant, Lieutnant Heimannsberg), who provided eyewitness statements.
While Lloyd Trigg’s VC was the second received by a New Zealander for sinking a submarine, it was the first for doing it from the air, and he was the last New Zealander to be given a VC in the Second World War.
Lloyd Trigg’s was also the last British VC a member of the New Zealand armed forces will ever be awarded. Whenever New Zealand service personnel face the enemy in future wars or conflicts, they will be eligible for awards that are specific to New Zealand, headed by the Victoria Cross for New Zealand.
Lloyd Trigg is therefore the last of the gallant list of brave New Zealanders recognised by the British with the award of the Victoria Cross ‘For Valour’.
THE WAR ON TERROR
In the last two decades, nations around the world have been fighting a global war on terror. The high point for terrorists occurred on 11 September 2001, when four hijacked airliners were used as weapons. Two were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. Another crashed into the Pentagon Building in Washington DC. The fourth crashed in a field before it could reach the White House in Washington DC. These attacks had been planned by an organisation known as al-Qaeda, which was based in Afghanistan and lived under the protection of the ruling group there, known as the Taliban.
The United States declared war against both the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. The Americans requested help from their friends and allies in this war. The US forces especially needed Special Forces soldiers, trained to operate in small groups in very hostile environments. From December 2001 New Zealand committed its Special Forces soldiers to Afghanistan, and from 2003 New Zealand sent a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) to help rebuild the country. It stayed in Afghanistan for more than 10 years.
AFGHANISTAN
Saving Life: Full Circle
LANCE CORPORAL WILLIE APIATA
Bill Henry Apiata was born at Mangakino on 28 June 1972, the third of four children and only boy in his family. He is Ngapuhi on his father’s side and his mother is Pakeha. Following his parents’ separation, his mother took the family to Te Kaha, where Willie grew up and went to school. As a c
hild Willie was a keen sportsman, especially enjoying rugby. He was not so enthusiastic about school and left as early as he could. However, he has always been an outdoorsman, enjoying hunting and guns, as well as horse riding. He also has a passion for cars and motorbikes. Several of his jobs, such as working on a crayfishing boat, were outdoors, but he is also an effective people person who was successful as a vacuum-cleaner salesman. One of his attributes is that he is willing to observe closely, to learn from those he respects, and to carefully apply what he has learnt.
Willie originally joined the 6 Hauraki Battalion of the New Zealand Army Territorial Force in October 1989, when he was 17. He became more deeply involved when he deployed as part of New Zealand’s peacekeeping mission to East Timor for six months in 2000–2001, as a member of his battalion’s Reconnaissance. At the end of 2001 Willie was successful in selection for the New Zealand Special Air Service (SAS). Almost as soon as he had completed his training he went to serve in Afghanistan, where for six months he was with the SAS in the long-range vehicle patrolling programme.
He went back to Afghanistan again in early 2004, having been promoted to Lance Corporal. In the middle of the year Willie was part of a month-long SAS vehicle patrol, aimed at gathering information and increasing the Afghan people’s feeling of security in the lead-up to local elections. This particular patrol had been out for a couple of weeks and were making sure they were seen, so they travelled by day and adopted overnight positions that could be defended, but were not totally hidden.
One evening, after they had visited a village and arranged a meeting with local headmen for the next day, they moved to a selected defensive position, posted sentries and commenced their night routine. However, while the patrol was not being secretive, not all the vehicles had entered the village and nor could all of them be seen on the high ground selected for the night’s position. Fortunately for the patrol, several vehicles were placed behind and lower down that hill.
Early the next morning, the patrol was violently awakened by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) hitting Willie’s vehicle, nicknamed Almighty. Willie liked to sleep on the bonnet and he was blasted off and thrown out of his sleeping bag at the same time. He found himself standing without his equipment in front of the burning vehicle with enemy bullets landing all around him. Reacting as he’d been trained, Willie took cover behind the burning wreck and then tried to see where the attack was coming from. Both his mates from the crew of Almighty joined him there, but one was seriously wounded with a cut artery in his arm. Willie tried to staunch the wound, but when their fellow crew member attempted to get a first-aid dressing from the truck, his movement made the enemy shoot at them again.
Willie does not claim he was entirely cool, calm and collected, but he knew Almighty was between his comrades defending themselves and the attacking Afghans. Not knowing precisely where the enemy were or what might develop, he realised they couldn’t remain where they were. Taking charge Willie said, ‘We’re out of here — we gotta go.’ As soon as the movement and shooting from one of the other patrol trucks provided a distraction, he led the other two out from behind their burning vehicle. Initially, Willie was just helping his wounded mate get along, but after 10 metres the soldier collapsed from loss of blood. Willie then quickly lifted the man onto his shoulders and ran uphill towards the remainder of the SAS troop. After going 70 metres, where amazingly none of the three was hit again by the enemy shooting at them, they reached the first of the other vehicles. Willie knew all the trucks by heart, and he was able to take his wounded mate straight to the one where the patrol medic was. The wounded man could get first-aid help there.
In the meantime, the vehicles that had been partly hidden manoeuvred into position to drive off the attackers. Willie found a machine-gun and some ammunition, and along with the other unwounded man from Almighty went back towards the attackers and joined the firefight. US air support arrived at first light, but by then the enemy had departed. Shortly afterwards helicopters brought in stores and replacements for the two vehicles destroyed, and evacuated the two men who had been wounded. By 5 a.m. the patrol had searched the area, found the evidence of enemy killed, cleaned up and resumed their mission. Their patrol continued as normal for another 12 days before returning to base. The two wounded men were both successfully treated and eventually returned to the SAS in New Zealand.
On 2 July 2007 it was publicly announced that the first-ever award of the Victoria Cross for New Zealand was to be made to Bill Henry Apiata of the NZSAS for the rescue of his comrade and subsequent conduct on that night. Willie’s VC is additionally significant for being the first to a member of any Commonwealth SAS unit. Willie had by then been promoted to corporal and for a while he continued to serve in the SAS, including going back to Afghanistan a third time. However, by 2012 he knew that if he wanted to go any further in the army, he would have to leave the SAS, so he decided to retire. Willie Apiata is now involved in youth and whanau training development on the East Coast.
As New Zealand’s only living holder of the VC, Willie often attends official occasions or meets overseas dignitaries. He was involved with the All Blacks at both the 2011 and 2015 World Cups. On the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings on Anzac Day 2015, Willie Apiata, VC, represented all New Zealand veterans at the national commemorative wreath-laying in Wellington and again at Chunuk Bair on Gallipoli in August.
Willie’s award for rescuing a wounded comrade was very similar to some of the earliest New Zealand VC awards. Heaphy, D’Arcy and Hardham all earned their VCs for saving the life of a badly wounded comrade. The New Zealand Victoria Cross awards had come full circle.
CONCLUSION
A SPECIAL AWARD FOR THE BEST AND BRAVEST
The Victoria Cross is a very special gallantry decoration. It is very rarely awarded and even though the importance of the British Empire has gone, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, as well as Britain, have all retained the Victoria Cross as their most important gallantry award for deeds undertaken in direct contact with a hostile enemy. Also, the Sovereign must be consulted to see if a nomination for any Victoria Cross is worthy of award, and this ensures that the standard of exceptional bravery required is maintained for all those deemed worthy of award.
Many soldiers have undertaken brave deeds, including thousands who were killed doing them. However, the awarding of a Victoria Cross is rare, and over the years fewer and fewer have been awarded. This is because there is no simple entitlement to the award. The act must be seen, a recommendation must be made and that has to be supported all the way to the queen or king. That a huge number who probably should have been recognised were not is one of the fortunes of war. Those who are awarded certainly deserve their recognition and for this reason any award of a VC instantly becomes part of that nation’s military heritage.
All the New Zealanders who were awarded Victoria Crosses certainly deserved them. Looking at their feats of valour it is clear that these were extraordinary situations in which they acted with remarkable bravery, and it is interesting that those involved were otherwise just ordinary men. They were afraid about how they would react to combat, they felt the weight of responsibility and afterwards they had to deal with the expectations and attentions of the New Zealand public. However, those who survived mostly acknowledged that they were indeed the lucky ones, because they were recognised where so many were not.
These are New Zealand’s stories of the Victoria Cross. Whether the recipients were born here, lived here or simply had Kiwi parentage, they have been recognised as our best and bravest.
APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1
Victoria Cross Recipients
THE IMPERIAL WARS
Date of action Recipient Place
11 February 1864 Charles Heaphy Waikato, New Zealand
3 July 1879 Cecil D’Arcy South Africa
28 January 1901 William Hardham South Africa
THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Date of action Recipient Place
August 1915 Cyril Bassett Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli
September 1916 Donald Brown High Wood, the Somme, France
June 1917 Samuel Frickleton Messines, Belgium
31 July 1917 Leslie Andrew La Basse Ville, Belgium
3 December 1917 Henry Nicholas Polderhoek, Belgium
24 July 1918 Richard Travis Hébuterne, France
24 August 1918 Samuel Forsyth Grévillers, France
26 August 1918 Reginald Judson Bapaume, France
1 September 1918 John Grant Bancourt, France
12 September 1918 Henry Laurent Gouzeaucourt Wood, France
30 September 1918 James Crichton Crèvecoeur, France
NEW ZEALANDERS SERVING IN OTHER FORCES
Date of action Recipient Place Force
9 August 1915 Alfred Shout Lone Pine, Gallipoli AIF
24 July 1916 Thomas Cooke Pozières, France AIF
30 April 1917 William Sanders Irish Sea Royal Navy
7 April 1918 Percy Storkey The Somme, France AIF
2 September 1918 Lawrence Weathers The Somme, France AIF
SERVICEMEN WITH STRONG NEW ZEALAND CONNECTIONS
Date of action Recipient Place Force
26 April 1915 William Rhodes-Moorhouse Courtrai, Belgium RFC
THE SECOND WORLD WAR
Date of action Recipient Place
28–29 April 1941 Jack Hinton Greece
20–28 May 1941 Clive Hulme Crete
22–30 May 1941 Charles Upham Crete
5 July 1941 James Ward Over Germany
14–15 July 1942 Charles Upham North Africa
15 July 1942 Keith Elliott North Africa