Reg Newell

I am a New Zealander and live in Upper Hutt,a small city to the north of our capital city ,Wellington.I am a lawyer by profession but military history has always been my passion.I can't explain it-there is no military backgound in my family & when my father was called up in 1942 he hated every minute of his time in the NZ Army.Maybe it is simply a spirit of rebellion against your parent's values.

I did a Master of Arts degree through the American Military University long before the internet became fashionable.One of the courses was on amphibious warfare in the Pacific in WW2.A book by John Lorelli referred to some New Zealand amphibious operations I had never heard of.This piqued my interest & ultimately I ended up doing my doctoral degree through Massey University on 3 NZ Division in the South Pacific in WW2.I soon came to the realisation that this was a"hard luck outfit" and was largely forgotten.

My book on Operation Goodtime,the invasion of The Treasury Islands in October 1943, was an outgrowth of my doctoral research.There were interesting human stories that my doctoral supervisors considered could not be told in the context of my doctoral thesis but were too good to be discarded.One character I had the privilege of meeting was Bert Cowan ,one of the central figures of my Goodtime book.He really inspired me to write the story of Goodtime.

McFarlands published my book "The Battle for Vella Lavella" in late 2015.Originally, I had intended to focus on the New Zealand soldiers but I rapidly became aware of other aspects such as the shipwrecked crew of USS Helena who washed up on the shores of Vella Lavella,the Islanders who rescued them,the pivotal role of the Coastwatchers,and the forgotten contributions made by American soldiers,Seabees,sailors & airmen.Vella Lavella was the first "Island Hop" in the South Pacific and Admiral Halsey's masterstroke.

Exisle Press published "Pacific Star" in 2015 .This is a general history of 3NZ Division.This covers the contributions made by these forgotten men and women to the war in the South Pacific and the horrendous conditions they faced.

My most current book is "Operation Squarepeg",a long forgotten invasion of the Green Islands by units of 3NZ Division in February 1944.This features a Commando Raid,followed by the largest amphibious invasion undertaken by the New Zealand Army in WW2,the casualties suffered by USS St Louis from Japanese air attack,the use of Valentine tanks,and a cast of thousands including a person who rose to be a President of the United States.McFarlands are the publisher.

I am now working on a book based on the veterans I interviewed together with archival material.I am tentatively calling this "New Zealand Voices of Solomons Campaign in World War 2"