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Synopsis
War and Pieces is an autobiographical third-person account of one man's experiences in the Navy during the Second World War. John Pilgrim enlists for the Navy because "If the world was about to end he wanted to go out with his guns blazing". His training, first at Devonport naval base, later near Wellington, is interspersed with stories of mateship, chasing "sheilas", getting drunk for the first time, discovering jazz, sketching, and generally grabbing fun where he can, because in wartime, who knows if it will be the last time. Pilgrim is posted to New Georgia in the Pacific via New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands. There he comes under attack from the Japanese and mosquitos, meets jazz-savvy American servicemen and becomes known among them for his sketching. After contracting malaria and being sent on recovery leave back to New Zealand, Pilgrim buys a clarinet and teaches himself to play. Shipped off again to Sydney and then New Guinea, he is seconded to the British Pacific Fleet, supplying back-up for the American Fifth Fleet who are battling it out at Okinawa. On the surrender of Japan, Pilgrim returns to New Zealand via Sydney, where he manages to have his war sketches exhibited. Rehabilitation back to civvy street is hard and not always happy. War and Pieces dramatically captures the life and times of New Zealand and those who served during World War II.
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À propos de l'auteur
Acclaimed musician, exhibited artist, now published author, Miles Spence was born in Christchurch in 1922 and educated at Christchurch Boys' High School. On leaving school he worked as a clerk, then on a farm, before joining the Royal New Zealand Navy in 1942 aged 18. He was seconded to the Royal Navy and served on H.M.S. Victorious, recording contingencies with quick-fire pencil sketches during this time. While recuperating from malaria he mastered the clarinet, which led to the opportunity to tour the west coast of the United States with an all-negro band. After the war he worked as an artist for an advertising agency then studied part-time at Canterbury University, supporting himself by working as a postman and handyman. In 1948 he began his professional music career (which continues to the present day), becoming an acclaimed jazz clarinet musician playing at jazz festivals around the North Island. As well as playing music, Miles Spence was an intermediate schoolteacher then Deputy Principal in Auckland until his retirement in 1981. He continued working as gardener / handyman in the Auckland area until a fall from a roof in 1988 after which he spent 18 months in a wheelchair. As recovery therapy he wrote War and Pieces. He moved to Nelson in 1999 where he plays tenor and alto sax, clarinet and flute in the local jazz band Milez-A-Jazz.
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