Laraine Sole (left) and Jacq Dwyer are launching their books at Waverley Baptist Church, 63 Weraroa Rd, Waverley, on Saturday, November 27 at 10.30am. Photo / Paul Brooks
Laraine Sole's latest book Called to Colours will have a colourful cover: a reproduction of a painting of James McGregor Elmslie and his horse Red Wing, painted by his great-niece Prue Hyland.
Her book is about the men from Waverley and districts who went to World War I. Her research has turned up all sorts of interesting facts, some of which would not have been aired in polite conversation in drawing rooms of the time. Suffice it to say those particular facts encompass men, morality and medicine. But the book is about a lot more than that.
Laraine has divided the book into two parts by region, with the first part covering Waitotara, part of Moumahaki and Kohi; and the second covering men from the rest of Moumahaki, Waitotara and Nukumaru.
"They either had to be born there, gone to school there, worked there or enlisted from there," says Laraine.
It covers about 400 people. "Every person is named."
She says she hasn't written about the war, because that's covered in so many other books.
"I've written about the men and their service."
That includes promotions and demotions, where they were deployed, injuries or illness, where they might have been hospitalised.
"I haven't written about their units because they changed units so frequently."
Laraine has been working on the book since last November.
Her research material has included war records, family histories, Papers Past, and any other resource she can find, including material Jacq Dwyer collated for her book, Patea RSA 100 Years 1919-2019. Jacq and Laraine will get together for a combined book launch later this month.
When the two get together, Laraine defers to Jacq, the work she has done as president of the Patea Historical Society and her own writing.
"I started writing for the Patea Waverley Press and each month, almost, I was writing about a different war memorial," says Jacq.
"I did from as far north as Meremere, and that's got an amazing story, and as far south as Waitotara. They're just an initial and a surname, and I wanted to find out their stories. So many have names missed off, so I found those that should be there."
She also found names misspelt or the wrong way around.
Jacq's writing led to her writing a history of the Patea RSA, filling the book with the RSA story and details about the men whose names should be forever remembered. With photographs, letters, telegrams and well-researched text, Jacq has faithfully preserved the memories of the men of the district, including those whose names were left off the war memorials.
The book was meant to be an RSA Centennial project but the event had to be cancelled when Covid-19 alert levels precluded a celebration.
"And I naturally assumed," adds Laraine, "that the Waverley RSA would be doing something similar with their centennial. Then I thought it's a shame that Waverley should not be represented so Jacq gave me all her research to start me off on doing this book [Called to Colours]. It's quite different in that mine is the personal history of all the men."
"You've taken it and run with it, Laraine," says Jacq.
Everything Laraine has written is evidence-based, which sometimes conflicts with treasured family stories.
"What's really changed from my perspective is that nobody went to the war and came back the same.
"There are things they could never unsee and unhear. These men all came back with some degree of psychological trauma."
Not to mention physical trauma, as so many returned with permanent disfigurement and disabilities.
"A lot went to Rotorua Convalescent Home," says Laraine. Many came home to hospital in Whanganui. "One guy lost both his arms."
The late Bill Hone provided a treasure trove of historical resources for Jacq and Laraine.
The way these two historians regard the men they've written about, there is a definite connection, as if they're all old friends. The time spent researching, talking to families, looking at their photographs, has left an indelible impression on Jacq and Laraine.
"Often I'm writing at night and you feel their presence," says Laraine.
Jacq mentioned a man who had his leg blown off at the Battle of the River Po, except the damage was done by Americans missing their bombing target.
"He came home and milked cows for the rest of his life."
"I think it changed everybody's life," says Laraine. "The effect of men coming back from the war, and what they'd been through, and then the Depression, and then some volunteered again for World War II. And then those men [but not all] coming back, so really, from 1914 to 1954, 40 years of psychological trauma."
She says she was impressed to discover that prisoners of war on both sides were treated very well during World War I. "Which was quite different to the Second World War."
Laraine and Jacq have learned quite a lot about the wars and they love to impart their knowledge.
"Most people are fascinated by it, and the numbers of men that went. From Patea I think I've got almost 300 who went to World War I," says Jacq.
"In 1914 and 1915 they volunteered and a lot of our men went to Gallipoli," says Laraine. "When the first soldiers started coming back maimed and with missing limbs, men did not want to volunteer, so they brought in conscription in 1916."
Laraine and Jacq can still talk about all they've learned, mentioning men from the district, their letters home, the graphic, uncensored descriptions of what they endured. It's no wonder they want these men remembered. Other letters were so optimistic, Laraine assumes they were shielding their families from the reality of the war.
They mentioned Rangi Hiroti, a local bugler who died of pneumonia.
"Three men from this area became pilots and flew in World War I," says Laraine. "And a handful became cameliers and joined the Camel Corps ... and did I mention the Bicycle Brigade?
"And another handful joined the Veterinary Corps."
Some things Laraine has not given much space: just saying they happened, without going into detail. Such things as field punishments which were incredibly brutal. They happened: there's no need to dwell on them.
"I had to be very careful to keep writing about the men, and not the war."
Jacq and Laraine both discussed the fact that many men died of illnesses contracted while overseas. Permanent bronchial damage was typical among those fighting in the cold and damp.
One of the things the two authors had to deal with were the myths perpetuated since the first war. Their duty, as historians, was to find the truth.
"It just shows you how we're shaped by the stories that are repeated over and over again," says Laraine, like the story that World War I horses were all shot before the troops came home. The truth is different.
"It's not just a book for people about Waverley and Patea," says Laraine, about Called to Colours. "A lot of those men, after the war, moved to other places and set up. You'll find people from Northland, Palmerston North, the South Island ...
"Some of them failed their physicals in New Zealand so went to England, passed their physicals there — they were taking them as young as 16 over there — but we don't have their war records," says Laraine.
She has sent emails around the world to find out how New Zealanders fighting with other countries' armed forces are remembered.
Jacq says we do have access to the Australia war records, as some New Zealanders enlisted with the Australian forces.
"They all deserve to be remembered, these men," says Laraine. "I don't know how I would have coped, having to go to war.
"I just feel so passionate about filling in the gaps in our public consciousness."
"It's a record, isn't it," says Jacq, "For future generations to have a book like this. Neither Patea nor Waverley had a list of those who returned. Just the ones who died, and their names are on the war memorials."
She says it has become an obsession to find them all.
Laraine and Jacq are having a dual launch of their books at Waverley Baptist Church, 63 Weraroa Rd, Waverley, on Saturday, November 27 at 10.30am.