The Horses. While the public supplied funds for motorcars and motorcycles to be bought for the Main Body - and many people donated their bicycles (there was a New Zealand cyclists unit in France) - the army relied on horses for transport.
Percy Lowndes and another veteran recall the shipping of the horse with the Main Body and an extract from the diary of Colonel Charles Reakes describes the sad situation at the end of the war:
"Before the home-coming from Egypt, there was many a sad parting between man and horse - mates in the hard years of war. The ill-usage of some horses that had been sold to callous Egyptians had convinced the New Zealanders that a merciful death was a better fate for a faithful horse than bondage to a pitiless taskmaster, and numbers, for which kind owners were not available, were given a painless death."
Music extracts:
Artist: Arthur Boyton
Song: Are We Downhearted?
Composer: n/s
Album: Oh, It's a Lovely War Vol 2
Label: CD41 486309
Artist: Stanley Kirby
Song: We Didn't Want to Fight
Composer: n/s
Album: Oh, It's a Lovely War Vol 2
Label: CD41 486309.
