Good mechanical grounding in Pacific Theatre
Pilot, mechanic
DUNEDIN man Colin Challis was a veteran of New Zealand’s Pacific Islands campaign and the last World War 2 member of the Dunedin RSA Choir.
He died on August 18, aged 97. Mr Challis, who always wanted to be a motor mechanic, began an apprenticeship with Napier Motors in the late 1930s, the start of a
48year career.
Two years into his apprenticeship, war was declared but because he was then too young to go overseas, he was assigned to the Army Reserve (the Territorials).
‘‘Then the Japanese came into the war and we never got out of the Territorials as promised,’’ he said in a 2017 interview.
Those who, like Mr Challis, had the necessary skills were transferred to the RNZAF and given additional training in preparation for going overseas.
‘‘They certainly taught things that as a trade mechanic I never would have learned otherwise. It was just magnificent for knowledge,’’ he said.
Then it was off overseas for a year, something he said he viewed as ‘‘an adventure’’.
It didn’t start well. His flight from Auckland encountered a storm and had to land in New Caledonia.
Mr Challis said that Noumea was paradise compared with Nissan (or Green) Island, in eastern Papua New Guinea. The atoll, taken by the New Zealand 3rd Division in February 1944, was an important air and PT boat base.
Mr Challis’ job on the island was repairing trucks, cranes and small engines.
‘‘It was a terrible place,’’ he said, a far cry from the popular notion of Pacific War troops lounging under coconut palms.
There was no fresh water, so they drank coconut milk; something Mr Challis said resulted in a longlasting skin allergy, made worse working in the sun wearing only his underpants.
Mosquitoes and rats added to the nightmare.
‘‘The rats used to get under our mosquito nets and bite us. One chap got bitten on the backside and had a great hunk taken out,’’ Mr Challis recalled.
Sea snakes were another pest and were a great incentive for him to learn to swim.
But his worst memory of Nissan was of the smell.
‘‘They buried a lot of bodies on Nissan but very shallow and then they were exhumed. Oh, the stench,’’ he said, looking back, in 2017.
When the Solomon Islands’ main island, Guadalcanal, was cleared of Japanese, Mr Challis was transferred to Henderson Airfield, near the present capital, Honiara.
The New Zealanders envied the Americans, who had better food and nightly film shows ‘‘but we had better beer rations’’.
He and several friends put that advantage to good use, saving their beer and then swapping it for a jeep needing repairs. They fixed it and then had their own transport.
Mr Challis returned to Dunedin and his old job just after the Japanese surrender, bringing with him a pair of American boots that he wore for most of his remaining time at Napier Motors, from which he retired at 65.
After his return, Mr Challis married Kath and they had five children.
‘‘When Dad was 70, Mum died,’’ said his daughter, Shirley Challis Kenworthy.
‘‘Several years later, he married Betty Fogarty and they had an extremely fun eight years together before Betty’s death.’’
In 2013, Mr Challis was one of three Dunedin veterans who attended an Anzac Day service in New Caledonia to commemorate the 70th anniversary of New Zealand’s entry into the Pacific War.
As well as singing in the bass section of the RSA Choir for almost 50 years, Mr Challis was a keen bowler, active in the South Dunedin Catholic parishes of St Bernadette’s and St Patrick’s, and an enthusiastic vegetable gardener.
‘‘He had a fantastic quality of life, keeping driving, independent and active,’’ Mrs Kenworthy said.
Mr Challis’ gardening activities were recognised at his Requiem Mass: instead of flowers, the family placed on the casket his gardening fork and a basket of vegetables he had grown.
Colin Edmund Challis is survived by his daughters, Shirley and Monica; and two of his three sons, John and Gerard.
— Gillian Vine