'We dug our trenches behind rocky ground covered with ferns and bushes. Early next morning we jumped out to see gliders and bombers coming in from the sea. Paratroops filled the sky, the troops on the ground firing at them as they floated down.”

This is Tauranga's Alf Watt, ‘Wattie' to his mates, writing home during World War II. It was the morning of May 20, 1941. The battle for Crete had just begun.

'Gradually the enemy came our way. The place was littered with dead and wounded. We really haven't been trained for hand-to-hand fighting, but I had to use my bayonet to save my own skin.”

Twelve brutal days as New Zealand forces helped try repel a massive German airborne assault.

And when it was over, the Allies had suffered a humiliating defeat. Of the 7700 New Zealand soldiers on Crete, 671 were killed, another 2000 were taken prisoner and the rest were either evacuated or fled into the surrounding mountain villages.

Almost 82 years on

And this Sunday, May 21 – almost 82 years to the day after the bloodshed, David Watt – that's the late Alf ‘Wattie' Watt's son, will be at the Mount Maunganui RSA for the New Zealand Battle of Crete Association's 82nd Commemoration service. He will honour, remember and be thankful.

'Like a lot of kids, as we grew up, we just blocked our ears to Dad's war stories – we thought that was all before our time. I didn't show a skerrick of interest. And after my father died, I realised I had questions that wouldn't be answered.”

Then later in life, as David says, we kick ourselves.

'This association is picking up on those people who start thinking about things that have gone before them – like the Battle for Crete and the roles their family played.

"And if we don't step and do some research, get the information and history together, we are going to lose it.”

‘Wattie' – David Watt's father in the middle with his mates during World War II. Photo: Supplied.

David visited Greece with a church group.

'We were going to follow St Paul's journey but when I saw the endless rows of old, old olive trees, I thought these are the same trees that Dad would have seen. It woke me up.”

Cretan embrace

What tore at him, was the Cretan people approaching him and spontaneously embracing him.

David says there's a deep love, respect and gratitude for what New Zealanders did for them.

'Why should they do that? I wasn't even born. But our forefathers left a special mark on those people. We shouldn't forget it. The stories must live on.”

And with the association providing the platform, and the commemorations, that might just happen.

David recalls walking into a village hall on Crete and there was a display of children's projects on the invasion.

'The lesson is still being taught – unbelievable.”

There were kids' drawings of Cretan people armed with pitchforks and rocks ready to defend themselves against the full might of the Nazi war machine.

'They are still living it today.”

David felt he couldn't return home and blank it out.

'Or do I try to contribute something from this end?”

So he became a passionate members of the Crete Association. He continues the good work today.

‘Wattie' nearly died two-three times during WWII. This from his diary:

'As I moved off a bullet hit me. I felt a bit stunned but managed to stand again. I thought I could feel blood running down my back. Len (Wattie's mate) said: ‘Your back's covered in something wet'. He smelled my coat. ‘God man,' he cried. ‘It smells like rum. If that rum bottle hadn't taken the shot you would be a corpse right now'.”

It's a knowledge thing according to David, an awareness and an appreciation.

The NZ Battle of Crete Association's 82nd Commemoration Service is at the Mt Maunganui RSA this Sunday, May 21, at 10.30am. David Watt is bugler for the service.