Explosions

History rhymes. At the end of last month a boat exploded off Herald Island, lighting the sky & waking locals. In the same week 75 years earlier, an American plane on a secret mission crashed just off the island. The plane was flying Japanese & Thai women from NZ internment to freedom.

When they took off from Whenuapai airport, the pilot & crew of the Liberator Express were suffering that most serious mechanical problem, fatigue. They forgot to check their altimeter, & the wartime blackout & a storm meant they could steer by neither stars nor city lights.

Some of the Japanese civilians died in the wreck of the Liberator; others waded through the Waitemata, towards Herald Island. Islanders saw fire, & heard shouting in the enemy's language, & decided that the invasion must have begun. They hid from the bleeding & burnt women.