Robert enlisted about Jan 1941 (?)

Robert Simpson notes that he was admitted to General Hospital Helwan, Egypt for 10 days to have inside of nose scraped so that he could wear a gas mask. Mr Simpson mentions that as the RNZ Ordnance Corps was a support unit he was not involved in any campaign as a front line fighting soldier.

Further notes giving details of some of his experiences while on active service are quoted below:

"I was balloted in to the Army in Dunedin to 2 Battalion,Scottish regiment. I served in the quartermaster store at various camps, Forbury Park, Ashburton Racecourses, Westfield, Burnham military camp, then on to Trentham military camp prior to going overseas from Paekakariki.

While at Trentham I was part of a large force of NZ Ordnance Corps soldiers who acted as tally clerks on Wellington wharf to load ships with supplies and vehicles etc for the Pacific theatre of the war.

In Maadi camp I was still in the Ordnance Corps working the the Main Depot where all the needs of the Division except vehicles and heavy weapons and ammo were handled. On posting to Italy I was attached to Rear Division HQ in a batman/driver role, which continued in Senigallia on the Adriatic Coast until my departure for New Zealand."

His experiences while being transported by sea are quoted below:

"Embarked at Wellington in early December 1942 on HMTS No. 55 Aquitania. The ship travelled down the Tasman Sea to well below Australia where it was so cold that overcoats had to be worn over battledress when on Top Deck in the open. A stop at Fremantle for 2-3 days? Then across the Indian Ocean to Tewfik in Egypt. Even at this stage we didn't know where we were bound for, such was the Army lack of news to troops.

The trip across the Indian Ocean was a long one on our own after the escort left us to our own speed. The ship was mind boggling with its number of decks and the number of troops on board. For its size, all services , meals, toilets, etc were well handled with troops being rostered to various duties.

Landfall was in January 1943 then by train and truck to Maadi Camp. About eighteen months later it was to Italy by a small troop ship as part of a reinforcement of unit troops. After service in Italy we returned to New Zealand in September 1945 on the Dominion Monarch as a direct run to New Zealand with NO stops. The only land we saw was when we sailed through Bass Strait. We berthed at Wellington on about 1 October 1945(?) then the next day sailed for Lyttelton to disembark the South Island troops for a night train journey to Dunedin, arriving at 0400 hours the next day."

"Prior to entry into the Army I was a member of the St Johns Ambulance Brigade and I thought I would like to be in the Medical Section but on being posted to the Unit Regimental Aid Post I didn't last long before applying to work at my peacetime occupation. I retired from St John in 1996, after 57 years' service."

Discharged from the army about 1946.

After the war he was a storeman for about a year and went into Rehabilitation Training as a carpenter working until retirement.

2 NZ Scottish Battalion Regimental number 4.7.492. Cenotaph record initially prepared with the serviceman in 1999 AWMM