The Bandsman's Story

by JG Buchanan

The voyage to Japan on the "Empire Pride" in 1946 was fairly uneventful after the first week in which I, along with many others, were very seasick. This wasn't helped by sleeping below decks in hammocks along with a menu of porridge, smoked cod and plum duff.

We made a one day stop at Suva, Fiji, where I recall being amazed at the size of the Fijian men hawking bananas on the wharf. We spent most of the day exploring Suva, which in those days was quite a small town.

The "Empire Pride" left Wellington on May 29 1946. The trip to Japan took two or three weeks. I had joined up with some of my friends in Wellington - Bill Wollerman, Rob Gentry and Trevor Ebbett. I was 18 years of age, I must have been fairly innocent.

The sunken boats in the Inland Sea left a great impression on me. Japan looked so green, we were eager to dismebark. I arrived in Kure with the mumps and was transferred to a base hospital somewhere near Kure in what appeared to be a leafy jungle with mosquito nets over our stretcher beds. After a week I was sent down to Chofu to rejoin my company. The instruments to form the brigade band had not yet arrived so we had to do other duties.

After a week of guard duty usually in the middle of the night, I heard there was a learner cook's job in the cookhouse. This seemed a better option while waiting for the band to be formed. The sergeant cook was a big man who I think had come from Italy. His name was "Tiny" White and he was huge. I was very nervous, 18 years old with no cooking experience. In fact he must have had more faith in my cooking than I did, as I recall he went off one day, telling me to make the dessert for dinner that night, a favourite of the men - short pastry spread with jam. Well I really made a mess of this, by leaving out the baking powder. After baking and spreading with jam, we tried to cut it into squares but is was hard as rock, we chopped it into pieces and covered it with custard. My memory is blank on what remarks were made.

After a month in the cookhouse, learner cooks had to be initiated. My fellow cooks grabbed me, pulled my trousers down, and liberally pasted me with flour and treacle, all in good humour as it was standard practice (I think).

Soon after the Brigade Band was formed we felt we were pretty special. All the band members were great musicians. After a couple of months together we sounded and looked very professional. I was one of five drummers led by Rex Thorstensen, who was the only one who knew anything about military band drumming. He achieved a miracle by turning us into a professional sounding line.

I had played drums in jazz bands so had some idea. My friends: Bill Wollerman played piano, Rob Gentry double bass, and Lucky Jamieson, a raw recruit who just wanted to play drums - what a character he turned out to be as all abnd members will remember. We formed a jazz combo to play at dances in the Officers' and Sergeants' Mess; we also played at a dance hall in Tokyo. Bill Wollerman - piano, Trevor Ebbett - trombone, Bob Moir - cornet, and myself on drums.

I had my nineteenth birthday in Tokyo October 1947, and left New Zealand after marrying in 1953. It is only now that I am making contact with some of my fellow band members and it's a great thrill to hear from them after 50-plus years.

This article first appeared in the NZ J Force and BCOF Newsletter February 2000