On Sunday morning we drove to the village of Codford in Wiltshire. Codford was on the western edge of the Salisbury military training area in WW1. The New Zealanders established a military hospital here and it was for the treatment of those who would not be sent back to the front. Many who died at Codford died of disease; flu, meningitis, TB, infection, etc. There is a small ANZAC cemetery in a shaded area near St Mary’s Church in Codford. A majority of the dead are kiwis with the rest Aussies. It is a very peaceful and sobering place. Walking among the grave stones on a Sunday midday in the English countryside with the sun peeking out from behind the clouds, dappled light on white markers and green grass; birds chirping in the trees, and the silence of the dead young men.

More than 24,000 ANZACs came through the Codford camps, many to never return to the antipodes.

In 1918 it was the Americans who came through the Codford camps before going to France. In October 1918 one such “doughboy” was a Corporal Joseph McConnell, of Battery B, 139th Field Artillery Regiment, American Expeditionary Force (AEF). My grandfather. They spent a couple of weeks in Codford before moving onto Brittany.

We stopped at the pub in Codford and had a drink for the ANZACs and the AEF.