Colin Little was on a trip to England when war was declared and he joined the Royal Army Service Corps as a 2nd Lieutenant. He served in France and was present at the evacuation of Dunkirk. In late 1940 he went as a volunteer to India and transferred to the India Branch Transport. Here he was Officer Commanding.47 General Purposes Transport Company, Royal Indian Army Service Corps, 14th Army. During the Japanese advance he worked on the Burma road coordinating supplies and the movement of refugees. He returned to Britain when the war ended in August 1945 and was subsequently repatriated to New Zealand.

Dr Edward Colin Selby QSO MBE FNZIAS MSc DPhil.

Born in China and educated in England Colin Little came to New Zealand circa 1934 to work for his grandfather Edward Selby Little, (who founded ICI in China and headed the Australian Trade Commission to China). Edward Selby Little had retired to Kerikeri where he had citrus orchards and became known as the "father of Kerikeri'. Colin, aged 21 when he came to New Zealand, had a degree in horticulture and for four years managed his grandfather's Kerikeri estate.

In 1939 Colin had returned to England on a trip and when war was declared joined up with the Royal Army Service Corps which, at the time, was the only unit accepting volunteer officer cadets (the only NZ force then in the UK was a machinegun battalion which had a full complement). He got a commission as 2nd Lieutenant and served in France, being present at the evacuation of Dunkirk, and subsequently went as a volunteer to India (late 1940). In India he gained the rank of Lt. Colonel and in 1941 transferred to the India Branch Transport and became OC 47 General Transport Company, Royal Indian Army Service Corps, 14th Army in Burma. During the Japanese advance he worked on the Burma road coordinating supplies and the movement of refugees. He was mentioned in despatches several times and was made a Member of the Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1945 (gazetted 8th February 1945) in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Burma and on the Eastern Frontier of India. The gazette notice recorded his details as: Captain (temporary Major) (acting Lieutenant Colonel) Edward Colin Selby Little (113140), Royal Army Service Corps (attd. Royal Indian Army Service Corps).

Colin returned to England when the war ended in August 1945, and later made his way back to New Zealand. Following his return Colin studied at Auckland University and graduated in science then worked for eight years as a technical officer with Imperial Chemical Industries; graduated with a PhD from Oxford followed by three years working with the UN International Atomic Energy Agency creating laboratories in Burma and East Pakistan. Dr Little then worked for the British Government publicising UK research on aquatic weed control followed by a series of placements with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in various parts of the world, and had a brief assignment for the World Bank on the utilisation of coconut timber in Indonesia. Dr Little retired back to New Zealand in the mid-1970s returning initially to the Bay of Islands where he and his wife Margaret established an environmental trust.

Colin and his wife Margaret later moved to Auckland where Colin continued to work and write articles on a number of projects. In 1994 he was made a fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural Science and in 1996 was made a Companion of the Queen’s Service Order for Public Services (NZ Gazette 19.1.1996). He died in Auckland in 2014 at the age of 101.