Today in History

1943 'Battle of Manners Street'

The most famous of several wartime skirmishes between New Zealanders and American servicemen, the so-called Battle of Manners Street saw hundreds of soldiers and civilians slugging it out on the streets of Wellington.

Men supposedly on the same side fighting in the streets of Wellington was not a good look and news of the three-hour brawl was hushed up at the time. The fight may have begun after Southern United States servicemen insulted local Maori. American sailors and New Zealand merchant seamen were also involved.

At any one time between June 1942 and mid-1944 there were between 15,000 and 45,000 American servicemen in camp in New Zealand. For US personnel, this country was a stop off either before or immediately after the horror of war on a Pacific island.

The 'American invasion' (as New Zealanders affectionately called the event) brought a considerable clash of cultures. Though Kiwis and Yanks spoke the same language, they did so with different accents. Romantic liaisons between American servicemen and New Zealand women inevitably developed. The soldiers were starved of female company, and Kiwi women often found the American men brought good manners and exciting new habits like taxi rides, ice-cream sodas and gifts of flowers. Some 1500 New Zealand women married American servicemen in these years. These liaisons were not universally welcomed, especially by Kiwi soldiers serving overseas. Apart from the Battle of Manners Street, there were a number of fights and plenty of mutterings about the invading 'bedroom commandos'.

Image: US troops arrive in Wellington, 1942