National Patriotic Apple Show 1918 Poster

Poster for National Patriotic Apple Show held in Auckland, May 1918.

You needed more than a case of apples to maintain your health on the battlefields of the Somme, Ypres, Verdun and the like. You were too worried about a fatal case of lead poisoning to give a fig (mixed metaphor) about an apple a day keeping the doctor away. Besides, a fresh apple was likely nowhere to be found.

Troops Marching Through Upper Hutt, 1915

 Troops Marching Through Upper Hutt, Wellington, 1915.

click on image for larger view.

This image of troops marching through Upper Hutt haunted me through the month of December as it was that month's offering on a calendar that had as its theme New Zealand history.

A long column, seemingly endless, freshly minted at the nearby Trentham army camp, marching off to God knows what on the other side of the world as part of the Great War, the War to End All Wars (sic). Young lads running alongside the brass band heading up the column, the commanding officer on his steed, the stray dogs, and a few passers-by stopping to watch the parade.

Of the 103, 000 New Zealand troops who served overseas, 18,500 died in combat or as a result of the war, with 50,000 more wounded.

Little did they know what they were marching into.

 

Infantry from the 2nd Battalion, Auckland Regiment, New Zealand Division in the Switch Line near Flers, taken some time in September 1916, after the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. 

Source: Wikipedia using a photo from the Imperial War Museum Collections.

Invalided Returned Servicemen Parade at the Bottleneck, Christchurch 1918c

Returned Servicemen of World War (Invalided) in Motorcade, circa 1918, at "the Bottleneck", intersection of High, Hereford, and Colombo Streets, Christchurch. Press photographer. Alexander Turnbull Library.

Thomson Soda Caxton Co Dunedin World War One

An advertising postcard for Thomson Soda, Caxton Company of Dunedin, New Zealand, showing a First World War New Zealand army soldier musing over his discovery of a Thomson Soda bottle in the Egyptian sands.