The Years Back - 8, Making Do (Episode Eight)

The Japanese had been talking freely and their messages had been intercepted here and most of the people knew what they were talking about. They laughed at us and explained that New Zealand was lying open and ready to be taken when it suited them to take it.

– Robert Urquhart, Home Guard

You had a number of one-man farms in New Zealand where if the man left, and many of them wanted to leave and some of them did in fact leave for the armed services, it was most difficult to keep the show going. But it was amazing really the way people rose to the occasion.

– Arnold Nordmeyer, former Labour MP

I think invasion was in the background all the time and you would often wonder how you were going to react if a landing craft came in on the sand hills there and an invading army came across the sand. It would have been very frightening, I think, because New Zealand wasn’t prepared to wage war. She had nothing, didn’t even have a decent rifle to give us.

– Colin McLeod, Home Guard