C the reluctant hero

By Paul Little with John Lockyer.

When Willie was seven years old his Mum and Dad split up.after a short stay in whangarei

the children and their mum moved to Awakoko at Te Kaha ,a small town on the North Island

of New Zealand's beaututiful East Coast. Sometime later Willie's father also movedto the coast

so for much of his younger years Willie shuttled back and forth between his parents. Often he travelled between homes by hitchhiking. He thumbed his first lift when