MAJOR- GENERAL MEAD
Have you ever wondered who the Mead Road in Nabua was named after?
Mead Road was named after the Commander of the 3rd New Zealand Division, Major-General Owen Herbert Mead. Major-General Mead was the highest-ranking officer killed on active service during the war. In March 1942, he was promoted to major general and made commander of the Pacific Section, 2NZEF, replacing its former commander, Major-General William Cunningham.
Major-General Mead’s new command consisted of two brigades, the 8th and 14th Infantry Brigades, which at the time were responsible for the defence of Fiji. His new role also entailed his appointment to the Executive Council of the Colony of Fiji.
In July 1942, the American 37th Division relieved the New Zealand forces in Fiji and assumed responsibility for the defence of the islands. The bulk of the two New Zealand brigades began returning to New Zealand on that same month.
Major-General Mead stayed in Fiji to observe the American preparations for the Guadalcanal landings before leaving on 25 July in a Royal New Zealand Air Force Hudson aircraft for a final inspection trip to Tonga.
The Hudson went missing en route. Despite extensive searches, no wreckage or trace of any survivors was found and it was presumed to have been lost at sea. Major-General Mead’s date of death is recorded as 25 July 1942 and he is memorialised on the New Zealand War Memorial at Bourail, New Caledonia.
Pictured are Major-General Mead and Major-General Beightler, Commander, 37th US Division on the steps of Borron House, Suva, circa July 1942. (Photo: Archives, New Zealand, Wellington Office)
Major-General Beightler was first entrusted with the defences of Fiji and had operational control of all military forces in Fiji and Tonga, except the US Navy.
He then shifted the 37th Divison HQ to Naboutini, in the West, to concentrate on defence tasks and training the division for future operations.
Information Source: Fortress Fiji: Holding the Line in the Pacific Way and Fiji Museum