Bill Chun: from fruitshop worker to war photographer

In 1942 William (Bill) Chun was 18. Against the wishes of his parents, Bill enlisted in the army.  Like many young men, joining up was as much about adventure and seeing the world as it was about patriotism.

"I had a boring job at that time," he said in 1995, "and I just thought, 'there must be better things to do in life than this. . . .' All your friends were joining up and going into the forces, and suddenly you felt a bit alone."

Born in Wellington in 1923, Bill was the first son of Chun Yee Hop and Van Chu Lin who arrived in Aotearoa in 1895 and 1915 respectively. The family owned a series of fruit shops in different parts of Wellington, and like his brothers and sisters, Bill Chun was pulled out of school at 15 to help support the family. In 1942, he was working at his family’s shop and in a box factory in Kilbirnie making wooden boxes for kerosene tins. It was not the most stimulating job.

Bill did his "bootcamp" at Waiouru before becoming an infantry driver. A year later, in 1943, he switched to the Air Force.

"It was better conditions—and more glamorous," he said. He also realised that being an official photographer was a much more interesting job than being an ordinary LAC (Leading Aircraft Cadet). He applied for the job and through sheer bluff, never having done photography in his life, he got the job. This meant a shift to Wigram airbase in Christchurch.

"We were allowed out about two or three nights a week," he says. "I went out looking for Chinese food—because they only served European food in the barracks. I just made friends with a Chinese fruiterer down there." Bill recalls about 25 Chinese when he was in the air force. The potential was to feel isolated but, "funnily enough," he says, ". . .the crowd I was in never made you feel like that, there was no such thing as racism."  

Ever in search of adventure, Bill volunteered for service in the Pacific in 1945. The fighting was over by then, but the air force took him to Guadalcanal, Bougainville, and Emirau Island in the Admiralty Islands, just north of Papua New Guinea. "That's where all the action was so I just wanted to go to where the action was," he laughs.

He was actually on Emirau on the original VJ day. "It came over the speaker systems," he says. "There were all the troops of the different countries who arranged an evening, and they had speeches. I represented China because I was the only Chinese on the island even though I was Kiwi. All I know was I just about fainted from fright [at having to make a speech]. Whatever I said only took about two minutes. I had to drink cans of beer before I went up."

Interestingly, Bill did not inform his parents about his transfer overseas, thinking they would worry too much if he did. His parents’ attitudes changed from not wanting him to join up, to beaming with pride whenever he returned home looking glamorous and smart in his pressed Air Force uniform.

Bill also remembered the role of Chinese New Zealand women during the war. His older sister Mavis worked in the New Zealand Army’s Base Records in Wellington, and, among others, he recalled the two Whanganui sisters, Eileen and Theresa Fore, who served in the Wellington Women's Auxiliary Corps.