Age no barrier for Jayforce veteran

Alaric (Whitty) Whitmore will be 99 on Christmas Eve, and in October of this year he travelled to Japan, for the first time in 80 years.

Whitty served in the New Zealand Army during WW2 as part of the 27th Machine Gun Battalion, 2 NZEF. He spent three years in Europe before heading to Japan with NZEF. He arrived in Hiroshima as part of Jayforce just six weeks after the city was struck by an atomic bomb in August 1945.

He was a part of the initial contingent who was sent to find areas and buildings suitable for the 27th Battalion which were to be based in Yamaguchi and at Hagi, until a special occupation force could be created.

We couldn’t get a truck down the street in Yamaguchi without hitting power poles or telephone poles.

Whitty also represented New Zealand in Tokyo at the war crimes trials and was a guard at the Emperor's Palace. He said he got a yearning to go back and decided he should while he had the chance.

On his return to Japan — after 80 years — he found the whole place had changed.

I didn't recognise Yamaguchi. Two-lane highways where the main street was

Whitty's trip to Japan was supported by the Veterans' Affairs Commemorative Travel Contribution. You can find out more this fund on our website:www.va.mil.nz/commemorative-travel