UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS IN NEW ZEALAND 1942-43. ARMY TRUCKS AND LVTA’S ON PAEKAKARIKI BEACH

This is unedited raw film footage, shot by Academy Award winning US Marine cinematographer Norman T. Hatch for a US newsreel that was never completed, provisionally titled 'Meet New Zealand'. Around 21,000 Marines were stationed in camps around the Wellington region from June 1942 until November 1943. Most of their time was spent training hard preparing for the war in the Southwest Pacific against the Japanese.

A line of US military trucks, many pulling artillery trailers, move in convoy along the Paekākāriki coastline, Wellington. Multiple LVTAs (Landed Vehicle Tracked and Armoured) also called amphibious tanks, are put through their paces on the beach. Laden with Marines, Howitzer guns and other cargo, they can be seen driving into the surf and traversing steep sand dunes.