Awhile ago I posted about the fact that there are two "home guard" stations that date back to WW2 at Struan Farm. One is easier to access than the other, but there are obvious trenches that were constructed. (John's brother Carrick made little copper signs years ago as well.)
We recently learned that our friend Aaron's grandfather was one of the people who built them. Mr. Bevege, who is now in his mid-eighties, was in school in Piopio, and local boys were enlisted for this purpose.
Aaron will bring him out to Struan Farm for a visit at some point soon, but I wanted to learn more about the history of these firsthand. So I baked an Orange Lightening Cake from Annabel Langbein's The Free Range Cook: Simple Pleasures and went calling in Piopio village to introduce myself. (In the country this is what you do.)
Turns out there is one other person still around the area, Stan Neal, who was involved in digging the trenches, so I'll also track him down to talk about what he remembers. While there weren't patrols, they did drill with rifles and a mortar. The concern was that the enemy would land to the south, take out the power station, and continue up the main road. And at the time, this was a very real concern in both New Zealand and Australia.
Fortunately this never happened, but the trenches and this history remain. It's quite special for us to connect with someone who was involved directly with the home guard trenches on the farm. And this was well before John's dad Maurie owned the farm, he purchased it as a returning serviceman after WW2.
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