Letters home

For most of her life, all 71-year-old Topsy Gardner had to connect herself to her father were old photos and the memories of people who knew him. William Wereta was killed in action at El Alamein in October 1942 while serving with the 28th Maori Battalion. Two years ago, Topsy discovered her aunt had collected letters sent by her father during the war, and never gave them to her mum.