World War One

It is the 100 year commemoration today of the start of the Great War.

The total number of New Zealand troops and nurses to serve overseas between 1914–1918 was 100,444, from a population of just over a million.

Forty-two percent of men of age served in the NZEF or New Zealand Expeditionary Force. 16,697 of those were killed and 41,317 were wounded during the war – a casualty rate of nearly 60 percent meaning New Zealand had one of the highest casualty and death rates of any country involved in the war.

As a man, a father and an employer of young men I cannot begin to imagine the impact this event would have had.

We cannot ever forget their sacrifice.

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