Eighteen thousand New Zealander's died as a result of their service during the First World War. For their compatriots who survived, their journey of re-integration into the society they had left was a difficult and often lonely path, made even more so by the lack of wider recognition of the ongoing effects these men would suffer from, often for the rest of their lives.

Dr Stephen Clarke opens up this "Great Silence" in this discussion of New Zealand's response to the returning WWI soldiers. The closure of the official department for repatriation in 1922 combined with a struggling Returned Services Association meant that ongoing support for soldiers in the interwar period was limited.

Though many returned servicemen would reintegrate successfully including significant achievements in business and sport, there were those for whom war service took a high toll.

Digitised issues of the Returned Services Association publication "Quick March" are available through Auckland Libraries' website: https://bit.ly/2LnylXL

Recorded at the Auckland Central Library on 3 July 2019 Music credit: Scott Holmes - Missing; Scott Holmes - Together We Stand