'Battle of Manners Street'

In the most famous of several wartime skirmishes between New Zealanders and American servicemen, hundreds of soldiers and civilians slugged it out on the streets of Wellington.

Allies fighting each other was not a good look, and news of the three-hour brawl was hushed up at the time. The brawl may have begun after white soldiers from the southern United States insulted local Māori. American sailors and New Zealand merchant seamen also became involved.

During the two years after June 1942 between 15,000 and 45,000 American servicemen were in camp in New Zealand. US personnel spent time here either before or immediately after experiencing the horrors of war on a Pacific island.

The ‘American invasion’ (as New Zealanders called the influx, usually affectionately) led to a considerable clash of cultures. Though Kiwis and Yanks spoke the same language, they did so with different accents.

American servicemen inevitably developed romantic liaisons with New Zealand women. The soldiers were starved of female company, and many Kiwi women were charmed by the Americans’ good manners and ability to pay for taxi rides, ice-cream sodas and flowers. About 1500 New Zealand women married American servicemen in these years. These relationships were not universally welcomed, especially by Kiwi soldiers serving overseas. There were a number of other large-scale fights and lots of muttering about ‘bedroom commandos’.

Image: US troops arrive in Wellington, 1942