War time prank rings out again

JOEL MAXWELL
- Kapiti Observer

A rail bell pinched from Paekakariki and carried through wartorn Africa and Italy has returned - again - to its home at the town's old station.

The return of the bell, taken by two Kiwi soldiers in 1941 en- route to Africa, was marked by a special ceremony at the station museum on Sunday.

Kapiti historian Anthony Dreaver said the bell started its adventure after the soldiers, Alex Paterson and Jack Nash, were cheated out of one of life's necessities at the Paekakariki station.

"They missed out on their cup of tea when the station master rang the bell for everybody to get on board. They were a bit p..... off so they snuck off, lifted it off the bracket, and stole it."

The pair smuggled the bell on board their troopship, bound for North Africa, and hid it in air ducts after NZ Rail complained to the army in a bid to get its property back.

Once in Egypt, the pair took the bell everywhere they went - burying it in the sand during the day, to dodge the persistent NZ Rail, then digging it up and ringing it at night to boost soldiers' morale.

The soldiers took the bell with them when they travelled to Italy - but in the final days of the war in Europe, Paterson was wounded by machine gun fire.

Paterson survived, but it was his friend Nash who upon return to New Zealand, personally delivered the bell back to the stationmaster at Paekakariki, where it was restored to active service.

Dreaver said the bell stayed at the station till 1987, when it was shut down, no longer selling tickets, with automatic signalling taking over from the signal box.

A "lot of stuff" was being pinched when the station closed - even including the large Kauri refreshment counter.

So when the man in charge of the closure John Lockyer found the bell in a drawer at the station, he took it for safekeeping.

The station gradually became derelict and was threatened with demolition.

However the Paekakariki Station Precinct Trust was formed, now chaired by Dreaver, and turned it into a museum, which opened in 1995.

Meanwhile, Dreaver said Lockyer, and family members of the late ex-soldiers, got together and decided to return the bell again to the station.

The second return on Sunday closed the story of two soldiers who Dreaver said demonstrated the Kiwi traits of fun and mischief, even in a time of risk.

"They brought the bell back and returned it, like good lads, to the station, and then led blameless lives in Feilding . . . they were good chaps."

- Kapiti Observer