John Mitchell
Ladies’ Machine Gun Cops on Fiji Day. Picture: fiji.webs.com/C.LIAVA’A
Men were not the only ones who defended Fiji’s borders during World War I and WWII.
Women also played a role, not so much in combat but in other safer “less active” roles.
War history records contend that it was not until late 1940 that a Women’s War Service Auxiliary (WWSA) was formed in this part of the world to co-ordinate women’s employment and deployment during WWII.
In New Zealand, this led to the formation of a female auxiliary service.
NZ women’s engagement in the war allowed their men, hundreds of whom were in Fiji, to do other active service and work in essential industries.