[7] A memo sent to the Prime Minister's office said that New Zealanders should "be friendly and sympathetic towards the coloured American troops—but remember that they are not accustomed in their own country to close and intimate relationships with white people".

[8] The Allied Services Club was set up in the former Waldorf Restaurant in Manners Street in July 1942, as a place where soldiers could socialise and get a meal.

The club was staffed by volunteers and featured a buffet counter, a dance floor, a lounge and an inquiries office.

Around 6pm on the evening of 3 April 1943, fighting broke out between US servicemen and New Zealand soldiers and civilians outside the Allied Services Club.

[11] Civilian and military police attempted to break up the fights, but they only finally subsided as the US soldiers left town on trains back to their camps.

[13] The Commissioner of Police downplayed the riots at the time, telling the Evening Post that although "there was certainly a bit of a skirmish" by a "small crowd", nobody had been injured, hospitalised or killed.

This report states that four civilians were arrested[12] News of the riot was censored at the time, leading to a kind of mythology around the event.

Recent research has not shown any evidence that over a thousand people were involved or that the brawl was racially motivated, and it's possible that this incident was conflated with other similar disturbances.