Leaving for the Front

摘要

On Wednesday 13 August 2014 residents of Masterton held a re-enactment of the departure from that town of the first recruits to leave for the Great War, 100 years to the day previously. On both occasions there were farewell speeches in the town square, following which the recruits marched to the railway station and then boarded a special train heading north. In 1914 the recruits were going to a training camp at Awapuni, near Palmerston North, and most were away for a considerable time, while the 2014 'recruits' only went as far as Mauriceville, and were then bussed back to Masterton in time for tea.