The war was nearly over and there was a prospect of freedom and happier days ahead. Meeting Jean was a wonderful change in my fortunes. How I met JeanIt was in the spring of 1945 that some of us from the camp were taken to the nearest dentist who would accept us. The Taumarunui dentist…

My story is unusual. It is about a secret link between two prison camps during World War Two. This wasn’t in Germany, but on the volcanic plateau south of Lake Taupo. The camps were the Hautu Defaulters’ Detention Camp and the Rangipo Prison Camp. We prisoners were called ‘military defaulters’, and we were imprisoned there…