Merle Stephanie Farland

Forenames

Merle Stephanie AWMM

Surname

Farland AWMM

Service number

805365 AWMM

Gender

Female AWMM

Religion

Methodist, Christian AWMM

Birth

26 Feb 1906 AWMM

Address before enlistment

Pre 01 Mar 1943 AWMM 6 Cedar Road, Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand AWMM

Post war occupation

Nurse/Civilian AWMM
Nurse and nurse educator for World Health Organisation AWMM

Next of kin

Mrs E. E. Marriner (mother), 286 Kahuta Street, Gisborne, New Zealand AWMM

Relationship status

Unknown AWMM Single AWMM

War

World War II, 1939-1945 AWMM

Campaign

• New Caledonia AWMM
• 07 Aug 1942-09 Feb 1943 AWMM Guadalcanal AWMM

Armed force / branch

Army AWMM

Service number

805365 AWMM

Military service

• Trentham Military Camp AWMM
  Sister AWMM
• 4 New Zealand General Hospital AWMM
• 4 New Zealand General Hospital, Guadalcanal AWMM
• HS Maunganui AWMM

Medals and Awards

• Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) AWMM
  Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE). For personal courage and devotion to duty while a civilian nurse on Vella Lavella in the Soloman Islands during the Japanese occupation in the rescue of a United States bomber crew. AWMM
• 1939-1945 Star AWMM
• Pacific Star AWMM
• War Medal 1939-1945 AWMM
• New Zealand War Service Medal AWMM

Military training

1934 AWMM
Place of Nursing training and date of qualification / registration AWMM

Enlistment

WW2 01 Mar 1943 AWMM Nurse AWMM

Embarkation details

WW2 Sister AWMM New Zealand Army Nursing Service AWMM Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force AWMM

Last rank

WW2 18 Dec 1945 AWMM Matron/Military AWMM
New Zealand Army Nursing Service AWMM

Merle Farland trained at Christchurch and Auckland and became a State Registered Nurse in 1934.

Sister Trentham 27 April 1943

Charge Sister 18 December 1945

Returning to vella Lavella on holiday in 1962 she found one of her native nurses with a little girl named Merle.

Merle Stephanie Farland 805365 (1906-1988) MBE was a New Zealander who served as a nurse in the Solomon Islands during World War Two and was later a nurse educator for World Health Organisation. AWMM

Death

21 May 1988 AWMM
Age  82 AWMM

Cemetery

Purewa Cemetery and Crematorium, Meadowbank, Auckland, New Zealand AWMM Block M Row 27 Plot 000 AWMM

Related objects

External links

• McNabb, S. (2022, April). New Zealand Army Nursing Service – Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps. NZANS. Archived from the Wayback Machine on 26 January 2023.
  https://web.archive.org/web/20230126100532/https://www.nzans.org/
  Further Reference
• Sale, E. V. (n.d.). The first contingent of New Zealand nurses to serve in a forward Pacific area arriving at Guadalcanal on 5 March 1944 [Photograph]. In O. A. Gillespie (Ed.), Shovel, sword and scalpel: A record of service of medical units of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the Pacific. New Zealand Electronic Text Collection.
  https://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/webarchive/20210222174416/https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/WH2IP-Shov-fig-WH2IP-ShovP024a.html
  Further Reference
• New Zealand nurses arriving in Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, during World War 2. New Zealand. Department of Internal Affairs. War History Branch :Photographs relating to World War 1914-1918, World War 1939-1945, occupation of Japan, Korean War, and Malayan Emergency. Ref: PAColl-5547-032. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23174005
  https://natlib.govt.nz/records/23174005
  Further Reference

References

• New Zealand Military Nursing - A History of the R.N.Z.N.C. Boer War to Present Day
• Jackson, D. (1979). Notable New Zealanders : the pictorial Who's who. Auckland, N.Z.: Paul Hamlyn.
  Notable New Zealanders: A pictorial Who's Who (first edition) 1979 p149
• The New Zealand Herald
  Maxwell, S. [unknown story name]. (1978, 9 September). New Zealand Herald.
• Reference File. Women's Archive. Auckland War Memorial Museum.
  Merle Farland's story as copied from the Returned Servicewomen's newsletters October 1981 to November 1982... Unpublished paper.
• Service Women Project: Sponsorship to research this record was kindly provided by the Auckland Returned Services Association, Returned Servicewomen's Branch; Marjorie Traill, Dorothy Grant, Daphne Shaw and Margaret Woollett.
• McNabb, S. (2015). 100 years New Zealand military nursing : New Zealand Army nursing service : Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps, 1915-2015. Hawke's Bay, N.Z.: Sherayl McNabb.
• Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. (1945). Nominal Roll Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force No. 11 (Embarkations from 1st April, 1943 to 30th June, 1943). Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
  p.40
• Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. (1945). Nominal Roll Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force No. 14 (Embarkations from 1st April, 1944 to 31st December, 1944). Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
  p.30
• Rogers, A. (2003). While You're Away: New Zealand Nurses at War 1899-1948. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland University Press.