For King and Other Countries

Book excerpt: When war was declared in August 1914, many New Zealanders were travelling or living abroad. In the rush to sign up to defend the Empire, it was often easier to enlist locally than travel back to New Zealand to join the NZEF. That's one of the reasons that more than ten thousand New Zealanders fought the First World War under other flags, in the military forces of other nations. If they are added to the total number of New Zealanders currently understood to have served, then New Zealand's contribution to the war effort becomes even more remarkable, but to date they have not been correctly enumerated, let alone included. These New Zealanders served with the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), with British Army units, the Indian Army, the Canadian Expeditionary Force and the French Foreign Legion, and they include the considerable number of women who served with other nations' medical organisations. Leading military historian Glyn Harper has scoured archives and museums worldwide to show where and when these New Zealanders served, and to tell their remarkable - and sometimes surprising and tragic - stories for the first time. For King and Other Countries makes a unique contribution to our understanding of our military history.