I went overseas to the war in 1941. I was in the North Island and working at the Te Ngutu Cheese Factory at Okiawa. I went to the Middle East and the following year in July, I was taken Prisoner of War so the war years were spent behind barbed wire. I was in several camps in Italy where we were first put to work digging drains by hand through the paddocks 6 feet wide at the top with sloping walls tapering down to a foot wide at the bottom and about 4 feet deep to enable crops to be grown. The land was particularly wet and in winter, the drains that we dug, were full. We played sport, when given the chance and I was in the New Zealand All Black team in camp.

Then we were we shifted to another camp, herded into cattle trucks until no more could be squeezed in, the door was closed and we were railed on. Italy capitulated in 1944, and the gates were opened and we prisoners let go. We could go where we liked. I had four days of freedom - some men had more, and a very few escaped completely.

However, we were picked up by the Germans and railed on to Austria. There, in one camp, we made concrete blocks. Sometimes, we would forget to put the cement into the concrete and sabotage the building construction. In another camp, near the end of the war, we were employed filling in bomb holes around the railway yards. Each night bombers would come over and blast the railway network. To keep the trains operating they had us working in three shifts, 24 hours a day. We took exception to this. The first night we refused and wouldn't leave the camp. The second night, we again refused and they threatened us with the S.S. On the third night, the S.S. came and it was a case of having to go. We weren't marched to the job but made to run. There was a heap of shovels and picks on the ground and as we took one, were hit with a rifle - those holes were filled in fast. Then, as the war got closer, we were put out on the road, and marched for about a fortnight. This gave us some fun as the guards would break ranks and some would disappear to a farm to get food. On one occasion, just as we were about half a mile from our camp for the night, we passed a chap planting spuds and asked him for some. He refused, so that night, went back and dug them up - he would be wondering later about his poor strike!

We were released by the Americans in May 1945 and flown to England where we had about six weeks before returning home to New Zealand.

I'd first had intentions of going farming in the South Island and to buy a farm through the Rehab. To get experience, I went on a dairy farm on McLean Road at Okaiara for a year. I however became a salesman with Newton King with my area Hawera to Waverley, and next was with MacEwans Machinery covering north to Opunake. Finally I worked for the National Dairy Association. Flo and I lived first at 80 Union Street and later Rananui Avenue in Hawera where I retired at 63 years.