Voices from the past

Discover the real war stories of our Kiwi soldiers as they served New Zealand around the world, including World War I and II. From tales of heroic battles and daring escapes to remembering those that made the ultimate sacrifice, learn more about our military history with voices from the past.

• A Poem for Anzac Day

  Their names shall live for ever, In the Halls of Memory. They gave their lives as ransom, That we who live be free.
  They bought us peace and freedom, Nor grudged the utmost price. God grant that we prove worthy, Of their great sacrifice.

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• Invercargill Nurse Decorated for Duty to the Sick

  Alice nursed men from Gallipoli and with the arrival of big convoys of casualties from the peninsula, it meant doing up to 190 dressings a day as the gunshot and shrapnel wounds were terrible. Alice and the other nurses also treated soldiers who had contracted diseases. Dysentery, diarrhoea and typhoid fever were common, and there was also the problem of venereal disease which had spread amongst many of the men.

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• Alexander Beddington of Christchurch served with the Canterbury Infantry Battalion at Gallipoli. Recognised early for his leadership qualities he was quickly promoted to Sergeant just ten days after joining the Army. On June 1st 1915 after over a month of fighting he was shot in the head, probably by a Turkish sniper although was not killed instantly.

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• Motueka Jeweller Dies at the Daisy Patch

  The story of Alexander Forsythe, a jeweller and optician from Motueka who served with the Canterbury Infantry Battalion at Galliopli. Lieutenant Alexander Forsythe went ashore at Gallipoli on 25 April with the rest of the Canterbury men. They were all ashore by 12.30pm and came under Turkish fire. They moved inland, dug in and fought small battles over the next few days.

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• Quiet Farmer Lies in a Foreign Field

  The story of Whakatane farmer Philip Soutar, who with a strong sense of duty joins the war effort in 1917 at age 37, and sees action on the battlefields of Flanders Fields.

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• The Amazing Life of Gladys Sandford

  Not all of our Anzac wartime heroes were men in khaki. A true pioneer of her time, Gladys Sandford was a woman who achieved more firsts than many could imagine.

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• Gunner

  Gunner the dog was adopted in Afghanistan by the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team.

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• Freda

  Freda the dog was a mascot for the New Zealand Rifle Brigade at Brocton Camp near Cannock Chase in Staffordshire during World War One.

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• Floss

  Floss the much-loved mascot of the World War I Army rugby team when they were touring England in 1917.

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• A Man’s Best Friend

  Animals have long been ‘recruited’ into the armed forces as military mascots and have served their masters with loyalty and distinction.

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• Caesar

  Caesar was an English bulldog that became the mascot of A Company, 4th Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade during World War I.

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• 4/1232 Lieutenant John McKee

  John McKee was born on 3 July 1876 in Thames and on leaving school, completed his apprenticeship as a carpenter before working in Te Aroha.

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• Whanganui Teacher Wounded at Messines

  Roland Blennerhassett was born in Auroa, Hawera on 3 May 1897. Coming from a large family of two girls and seven boys, six of the Blennerhassett brothers would find themselves enlisting for service before the end of WWI.

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• 16/757 Private Tamati Te Patu MM

  Tamati (also known as Thomas) Te Patu was born on 19 December 1895 at Karioi, near Waiouru. At the outbreak of World War One, Tamati was farming at Karioi with his father Tirepa. He enlisted on 1 July 1915 and began his training with the Māori Contingent at Narrowneck Camp on the North Shore of […]

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• A Young Man Disappears

  Rupert Sydney Taucher was born in Masterton on 21 September 1895 and lived his early life in Carterton. Moving to Te Kuiti to work, he completed two years’ Territorial service with the 16th Waikato Regiment and when World War One started, Rupert was working as a labourer in the Te Kuiti area. Rupert Taucher enlisted […]

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• The Legend of Arthur Porritt – WWII Veteran and Olympic Medallist

  Story of former New Zealand track star Arthur Porritt, an Olympic bronze medallist who served during World War II.

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• Boosting Morale on the Western Front: The Digger Pierrots

  Digger Pierrots were a collection of like-minded soldiers from New Zealand who established themselves as a performance group in the northern French base camp of Etaples in 1917.

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• A Kiwi – One of the finest in the French Foreign Legion

  The remarkable story of Kiwi James Waddell whose glittering military career spanned 20 years in France’s Foreign Legion.

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• An Anzac receives France’s Croix de Guerre

  The Croix de Guerre, a French military decoration, was one of the most common medals issued by a foreign government to British and Commonwealth personnel during WWI. Translated as Cross of War or Military Cross, the medal was rewarded to acknowledge heroic deeds in the face of the enemy. Foreigners chosen to receive the medal were recognized for their […]

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• Gallipoli Stories

  Of the approximately 3,000 “Kiwis” who landed at ANZAC Cove on 25 April, about 20 percent had become casualties by the end of the day, signalling the beginning of a bitter and fierce campaign that would not see the Anzac’s leave until nine months later. The campaign cost the New Zealand Expeditionary Force some 7,500 […]

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• Brigadier Frank Leslie Hunt OBE

  By Alison Jones Three future generations of Brigadier Frank Leslie Hunt came to view his story recently in the latest Gallipoli exhibition “Ripping Yarns from the Peninsula“. Brig Hunt was a career soldier and his service with the New Zealand Army would span some 30 plus years – seeing active service during both World War […]

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• Bugler George Bissett

  The ‘battle scarred’ bugle and medal group of the young George Bissett who was killed during the early fighting at Gallipoli are among 20 special stories of ordinary New Zealanders in extraordinary circumstances currently on display in the museum’s latest exhibition “Gallipoli: Ripping Yarns from the Peninsula“. Bissett was only 20 years old when he […]

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• Missing Believed Killed at the Daisy Patch

  Thomas Eyles, originally from Blenheim, was working as a motor mechanic for E.H.Best at the outbreak of WWI. Thomas had prior service with the Blenheim Rifle Volunteers and enlisted age 23 with the 12th (Nelson) Company, Canterbury Infantry Battalion on 14 August 1914. Thomas embarked from Lyttleton on 16 October 1914 aboard the Athenic, bound […]

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• Bravery at Gallipoli

  Sergeant Harry Barlow was presented with this pocket watch in recognition of his bravery at Gallipoli which saw him awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM). Harry Barlow, originally a Miner from the South Island, enlisted with the Canterbury Infantry Battalion on 17 August 1914. He left for Egypt on 15 October 1914 and saw service at […]

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• A Gallipoli Soldier Remembered

  Captain Pirimi Pererika Tahiwi The 25th of April is a date still deep-rooted in the memory of all New Zealanders. It symbolises the start of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign but also the enduring day in history, known as Anzac Day. It was a campaign with a casualty rate of 7500 Kiwi troops injured, and 2721 killed. Amongst […]

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• A Prisoner of War Medic

  Life as a medic in the 6th Field Ambulance was fraught with danger and for William Wilson of the Wairarapa, his role as a Medic on Crete may have contributed to his fate of spending much of the war as a prisoner in Stalag VIIIB. His signature can be found on display in the National […]

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• The Fox

  Contributed by Grant Hays, Custodian Sergeant Errol Sampson Allison or Bill as he liked to be known, began World War II serving with the 20th Battalion 2NZEF (New Zealand Expeditionary Force) in both Greece and Crete before being captured by the Germans in North Africa, at Belhamed in December 1941. He ended up in Stalag […]

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• World War II Coastwatchers Remembered

    Contributed by Grant Hays, Custodian New Zealand Coastwatchers who served in the Pacific during World War II were commemorated this October with the laying of a wreath at the National War Memorial in Wellington. The 15th October marks a day to remember when in 1942 on Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands, 17 New Zealand […]

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• Lieutenant Colonel Vida Eliza Jowett OBE

  By Adam Moriarty, Assistant Curator Heraldry When Japan entered World War II, one of the immediate effects was the increased threat level to New Zealand – no longer were we at the “utmost ends of the world” – our country was now a front line target. With so many Kiwi men still serving with the […]

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• Sergeant Dave Gallaher (32513)

  18,000 New Zealanders lost their lives fighting on the Western Front during World War One. One of those who made the ultimate sacrifice, was Sergeant Dave Gallaher captain of the 1905 “Original All Blacks.” “Dave was a man of sterling worth … girded by great self-determination and self control. He was a valuable friend and […]

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• Brigadier Reginald Miles, CBE, DSO & Bar, MC

  Reginald Miles served with distinction in both world wars. He began his service in Gallipoli as a forward observation officer and was wounded, but returned to duty just before evacuation in December 1915. Following his marriage in Egypt, he served on the Somme in 1916 in command of 15 Howitzer Battery and was awarded a […]

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• Sergeant Harry Barlow, DCM

  Kiwi soldier Harry Barlow landed at Gallipoli on the day that gave us the origin of ANZAC Day, 25 April 1915. Almost two months later while fighting at Quinn’s Post, one of the most advanced and dangerous ANZAC posts in Gallipoli, Barlow was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions. Quinns Post was the […]

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• Rugby player, soldier, All black

  Sgt Charles Brown was one of only a few rugby players and soldiers who played for the All Blacks both before and after World War I, and his prized All Black cap is part of the National Army Museum’s collection. Like many rugby greats of his era, Brown interchanged his rugby jersey with a soldier’s […]

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• Private Patrick Sheerin, Killed in Action

  Patrick ‘Pat’ Sheerin was born in Palmerston North in 1891 and at the outbreak of World War One, was working as a Printer for the Wellington based company Ferguson and Mitchell. Pat left for Egypt in October 1914 and in a letter to his mother, wrote. “We had a good run over and no sign […]

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• Brothers in Arms

  by Tessa Smallwood The night had been a long one. They had ridden in the darkness of the desert landscape for 45 kilometres. They needed to rest and they needed water but there was a mission laid out ahead of them; a mission that would determine the fate of many. Some of the people beside […]

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• A Soldier and a Rugby Player

  World War One, All Black Rugby Roll of Honour, 11/448 Sergeant Henry Dewar. All Black wing forward or flanker in 1913, killed in the attack on Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli, 1915.

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