Bert’s War

When Bert Barnes came home after four years’ WWI service, he was one of a lucky minority. More than half of the men who served in the Middle East did not return.
Bert’s letters home were carefully preserved, but lay unread for more than eighty years, until his grandson, Jeff, began to explore where Bert went and what he did.
Transcribed and circulated, these letters have brought together a wide group of Bert’s descendants. The accompanying historical commentary illustrates the reality of war, as well as Bert’s life on a North Canterbury farm in the first half of last century.