Doug Harvey

Capt. Henri Douglas (Doug) Harvey joined the Maori Battalion as its adjutant a fortnight before the Main Body left for overseas duty in May 1940. He left the Battalion in August while the Second Echelon was in England returning again in June 1941. He served as OC C Company from June to August 1941 and then as OC A Company during the Second Lybian Campaign where he was wounded and later captured in late November. He, along with Colonel Dittmer and other captured officers of the Maori Battalion, escaped and they drove 109 miles at night across the desert before crossing the Lybian border. It took another day to reach the hospital in Egypt.

This photograph was taken while at Sandhurst in 1940.

Before the outbreak of WWII Sandhurst was the Royal Military College (RMC), it began as a school for staff officers (of the British Army).  During WWII it was used as a Royal Armoured Corps Training Unit OCTU.  Along with Harvey, other Māori Battalion officers attended Sandhurst for training, including Jim Tuhiwai, Manu Pene, Henare Toka and Rangi Logan.  CO Rangi Logan described Sandhurst as "...the "Holiest of Hollies" [sic], the Mecca for officer cadets.  In Britain, if you are a "Sandhurst Man", socially you are made".[1]

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