During the last few weeks, I’ve been doing some research into the New Zealand soldiers and the roles that they had during the Battle of the Somme.

While uncovering the story of my great grandfather, I became fascinated with the detail of the various war records - whether they be the enlistment forms or the day-to-day journals written from the field. Here are some interesting bits and pieces I came across on my travels...

The cover photo shows my great grandfather's original attestation for general service when he would have signed up to go over to Samoa within the first few days of war breaking out. This is the second form he would have...

Salut!

Thank you to everyone who has helped out with fundraising, especially the Whakatane West Rotary and Harvey Norman Whakatane.    

My project is based on a few of the soldiers from the Whakatane area and also sharing some information about the pioneer battalion at the Somme. Thank you to the Whakatane research centre, Sonia Edwards and Sarndra Lees from Auckland war memorial museum for assisting me with finding information.   

However In this post i’m going to share the story of a...

I’ve known bits and pieces of my great grandfather’s story but yesterday I had the opportunity to sit down with my grandmother and her brother to uncover the full truth. My great-uncle undertook his own research in France a few years ago, following in the footsteps of his father, including the exact spot where he was wounded, according to field reports. He travelled to many of the places which I too will visit in fewer than two weeks’ time! Here is the story of my great-grandfather which I have...