Museum staff at the Billy Connell's War exhibition, from left, Louisa Hormann, Kathy Greensides, Trish Nugent-Lyne, and Sandi Black. Photo/Devyn Staines
Museum staff at the Billy Connell's War exhibition, from left, Louisa Hormann, Kathy Greensides, Trish Nugent-Lyne, and Sandi Black. Photo/Devyn Staines
A collection of photos taken illegally during World War I forms the basis of a very personal exhibition at the Whanganui Regional Museum.
Billy Connell's War tells what the museum's curator of cultural heritage Libby Sharpe describes as "a very Wanganui story of World War I."
Billy Connell was bornin Palmerston North in 1893 and moved to Wanganui in 1911.
He was a 21-year-old motor mechanic when war broke out in 1914. The next day he enlisted in the army.
He took a camera with him as he went off to war and, although the soldiers were not allowed cameras, Billy managed to bring back his photos.
"The photos aren't that great, but they are very personal and they are the vehicle for telling Billy's story," Ms Sharpe said.
"He was an ordinary serviceman who lived during extraordinary times."
The photos are displayed throughout the exhibition along with World War I memorabilia sourced from the museum's collection and other museums including the National Army Museum in Waiouru and Aotea Utanganui in Patea.
"Billy's was a very sad little story," Ms Sharpe said.
He saw plenty of fighting action, and received a medal for rescuing an officer under fire. But he was evacuated to England for medical reasons, with his records stating he was "slightly sick" - a euphemism, Ms Sharpe said, for shellshock, or post-traumatic stress disorder.
He made a good recovery in England and was preparing to return to the front when he had a serious motorbike accident, which left him with major leg and head injuries, and he was sent back to New Zealand.
Billy died on November 25, 1918, - just a couple of weeks after the war ended - of influenza. He was 25 years old. His grave is at Aramoho Cemetery.
