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  1. #1
    Very quick off the mark.
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Crete, Greece
    Posts
    457

    Default New Zealand Searcher Party - Crete - 1945

    Whilst idly Googling the name of my village here in Crete I came upon this document

    "WHEN THE WAR IS OVER – LET THE BATTLE BEGIN"

    Prepared and Edited by Paul R London

    A post wartime narrative following the exploits of the three-man 1st New Zealand Searcher Party on Crete


    hich I thought may be of interest to anyone who had lost New Zealand relatives in Crete during WWII.

    The Personnel of the New Zealand Searcher Party (Crete) were:
    Office in Charge: Captain Ronald N Griggs Service No 81715 (formerly 2021)
    Driver-Batman: Private Colin W Smithy Smith Service No 443463
    Clerk: Trooper John Martin Service No 445490

    Various other service personnel are listed as being missing or dead.

    The document describes an aspect of the aftermath of war which, I admit, I had never really thought about - locating the bodies of service men who had died in battle.

    There are also some photographs of the Souda Bay War Cemetery taken in 1946 and 1981.

    There is no website for the document but you can find it by Googling

    "WHEN THE WAR IS OVER – LET THE BATTLE BEGIN"

    Regards,

    maggie

    Note to Moderators:
    I wasn't sure whether to put this under New Zealand Genealogy or WWII - please move it if you think it's necessary.

  2. #2
    Paul London
    Guest

    Default When The War Is Over Let The Battle Begin

    Dear Margarita,

    Well what a surprise to find someone who has actually read a copy of my research notes on the post war activities of the 1st NZ Searcher Party. I'm not sure how the document found it's way onto the Internet as I certainly do not have a website. However I'm most pleased that you have found it not only of interest but your reference to it may assist other researchers. I'm most happy to answer (where I can) any questions by readers of this website about my findings as there have been a number of small additions and changes to the original manuscript. My direct E-mail address is: paullondon {at} actrix.co.nz. As an aside, I and 100 other Kiwis will be back in Crete in May 2016 for the 75th Anniversary of the island's battle. You're most welcome to join us as we generally do the rounds visiting a number of villages, particularly those that assisted NZ'ers back in 1941-43.

    With kind regards

    Paul London
    (Vice President - NZ Battle of Crete Association)
    Last edited by Lesley Robertson; 29-04-2015 at 9:11 PM. Reason: email address deactivated as per AUP

  3. #3
    Very quick off the mark.
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Crete, Greece
    Posts
    457

    Default

    Gosh, Paul, what a blast from the past!

    As I said in my original post I came across your original document whist just idly Googling and I downloaded it because parts of it related to the area where we were living.

    A year or two ago someone locally was doing some research into WWII in Crete so I tried to follow the link to the website where I had found your paper but it had been removed. Your paper is available here: https://www.docstoc.com/docs/17740982...E-BATTLE-BEGIN

    presumable retained from the original website.

    I will try to see if I can find out who it was who was doing the research and put them in touch with you.

    The annual celebrations of the Battle of Crete are a big thing but of course there are fewer and fewer veterans available to return every year. There is always a wreath laying at the British War Cemetery at Souda.

    Maggie

  4. #4
    Paul London
    Guest

    Default The Battle of Crete

    Dear Maggie,

    Thank you for your prompt reply and kind words of encouragement. When I saw the date you originally posted that message for a moment there I thought you may have given up your interest in genealogy or matters of an historical nature. I’ve checked out that URL and the document is one of my earlier “editions”. As mentioned earlier, a number of changes have occurred, principally all the people who were associated with either the 21st / 22nd Australian War Graves Units and the three from New Zealand’s Searcher Party have all now died. The last being John Martin on the 11th October 2011, although I hasten to say his ex-wife, Barbara is still very much alive. In fact, and on reflection she’d be the very last person who could claim to have had a personal association with those units.

    As you say the veterans are getting fewer and fewer. Within our NZ Association I believe we have between 8 to 10 left. Although I hasten to say at each of our quarter yearly meetings we’re always surprised when a “new” veteran turns up. Currently the youngest is 95 and the oldest turns 100 in June. For the past 10 years our Association has made a five yearly pilgrimage to Crete, with individual members returning in May of each year.

    Arranging next year’s return visit has been plagued with nothing but problems. Starting with the airlines – while they are quite happy to have our members travel individually, the moment we ask for 100 seat group booking the individual price within that group goes up something horrendous by about $500 a seat! Now what’s that telling me? – “We don’t want your custom?” The same goes for the hotels in Greece and on Crete – again we’ve been turned away because of our numbers. Without wishing to appear sarcastic, I would have thought with all the austerity measures the country going through right now the hotels would have welcomed the new trade? Regardless, I do believe we have now worked out a winning formula that will see the party on the island next year.

    Given the public nature of this forum would you be comfortable in letting me know which village or town you are living in? Having visited the island on several occasions, we did avail ourselves of the opportunity to travel around the countryside, in particular the Western area of the island.

    In the meantime time thank you again for getting back to me, and if you do manage to trace the other researcher I’m most happy to assist them with their research, or if I’m not able to help there are a number of us (from around the world) researching WWII MI9 and SOE activities that took place in Greece and on Crete.

    One question always raised by the late John Martin was for me to attempt to trace what happen to their unit’s guide and translator. A man by the name of Constandinou Manelakakis, who was affectingly known as Gus and came from Hania. Albeit a long-shot, I was wondering if his name was known to you?

    Best wishes

    Paul

  5. #5
    Very quick off the mark.
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    Crete, Greece
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    457

    Default

    Paul,

    I write an English language newsletter for our local area. I sent out the latest issue today and asked for help in tracing the person I sent information about your research to. I will keep you posted.

    We used to live in a small village in Apokoronas called Tsivaras but we now live in a larger tourist village, Kalyves (presumably this is the village referred to as Kalivia in your document).

    With regards to your problems in booking your trip, sadly it doesn't surprise me. A few years ago an English friend here was involved with the Battle of Crete celebrations. He was trying to hire a mini bus to take some UK veterans to visit various sites. I was astonished that none of the local car hire companies was prepared to give any sort of discount and so the outings had to be abandoned as too expensive.

    I do not know of Constandinou Manelakakis. I suspect the Manelakakis surname may be very common, but I will ask around amongst our friends in Hania.

    Maggie

  6. #6

    Default

    Paul, I suspect that it's not so much not wanting your custom as spying a special event that they think they can slap surcharges onto.... You could try booking your folk in several smaller groups, and don't mention anniversaries.

    I'd like to draw both your attentions to our personal messaging (PM) system which are intended for swapping info on (potentially) living people and other matters you don't want to post on the open forum (including live email addresses). Of course, anything that you CAN post on the open forum might help someone else.

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