1. James T Hamilton My Great Grandfather

2. Oldest son of a farmer His family came to NZ from Scotland 1 st Generation Kiwi

3. Farmer Worked on the family farm at Awhitu He was married to Eleanor

4. Soldier In 1917, he joined the NZ Expeditionary Force (army) and was sent to France to fight in WWI

5. Training He spent several months in Featherston learning to be a soldier – getting fit, learning how to use a rifle and bayonet

6. Getting there TSS Ulimaroa troop ship. He helped in the kitchen. They went through Panama Canal and stopped in NYC.

7. More training In England, the soldiers did more training with rifles, bayonets, marching, and getting fit (drills) Grandad James was a very good shooter

8. Gas masks They were given gas masks to protect them from poisonous gases the enemy used.

9. More training After 2 months, they were sent to France He learned how to use a machine gun and did more practice with rifle and bayonet

10. Friends On his day off, Grandad James went to a village and had his photo taken with his friend William Heffron Heffron was killed a few weeks later at the Battle of Le Quesnoy

11. Going “up the line” He fought in Battle of Somme In the trenches Digging, filling sandbags, lookout duty, carrying water and duckboards, getting firewood

12. Lewis gun instructor Because he was very good a shooting, he taught other soldiers how to use the machine gun He helped carry dead and wounded soldiers and avoided bullets and shells himself Mostly very cold and wet in trenches

13. Last battle – Le Quesnoy NZ soldiers helped to take walled village of LeQuesnoy back from Germans Grandad’s friend Heffron was wounded then died

14. The war is over After peace signed, they walked through France, Belgium to Germany It took 3 weeks They saw all the ruined villages Stayed with local people Stayed in Germany for 2 months before going home

15. A farmer again After war, Grandad bought his own farm and had four children He never forgot the friends he lost