On active service

de Owen Gatman, Martyn Thompson

This book commemorates, through the letters of one soldier, the contribution of those New Zealanders who volunteered to go to war in far-off lands because they believed their values and their country were worth fighting for. Owen Gatman's letters home provide a first-person perspective on how his initial feelings of adventure and excitment were gound down by boring routine, barely sufferable climatic conditions and the realities and horrors of modern warfare. Amazingly, despite everything he experienced, Owne still managed to retain his faith in the goodness of human nature and an ability to see beauty amidst the trials of battle.