WW2

Stag Spooner. A self taught artist who's left a remarkable record of his life in the bush and during the war. Neville (Stag) Spooner grew up in Carterton during the Great Depression. Wellington based… Audio

Major Bob Wood served with the 19th Wellington Battalion of the First Echelon during World War II, and spent time in prison-of-war camps. Audio

Seventy years today, US marines landed in Wellington in what was called a "friendly occupation" by the locals. This was six months after war broke out in the Pacific. They were stationed at camps… Audio

In November 1864, a group of men gathered at what is now the Wine Cellars Bar on Stafford Street in Dunedin, to form the Otago Mounted Rifles. This light horse troop of volunteers fought in the Boer… Audio

The story of John Pohe, Maori fighter pilot and war hero who was part of the Great Escape is now the subject of a graphic novel for children. Audio

Thousands of New Zealanders paid their respect to fallen soldiers and service people on ANZAC day, nearly one hundred years after the allies landed on the beaches of Gallipoli. Speaks to the Turkish… Audio

Alison Parr talks to Chris about her interviews with soldiers, airmen, nurses and members of the NZ Women's Auxiliary Corps about life in the enemy territory between 1946 and 1948 - and how wartime… Audio

The survival stories of many Polish orphans brought to New Zealand after World War Two are depicted in a new exhibition of paintings at Auckland's Polish Museum. Audio

Caroline Moorehead discusses with Carole Beu her book 'A Train in Winter', which tells the story of 230 women of the French Resistance sent to Auschwitz. Audio

The army camp established outside Featherston for training First World War recruits took on a very different nature in the Second World War when it was used as a Japanese POW camp. Audio

In his book Sleeping with the enemy : Coco Chanel, Nazi agent Hal Vaughan reveals her life as a secret agent; her long love affair with a Nazi master spy; her missions on behalf of German military… Audio

United States marines invaded Wellington's Kapiti coast in June 1942. Several camps housed about 20,000 marines who were undergoing training for assaults against the Japanese in the Pacific… Audio

Claude Stanley Choules, the last surviving First World War combatant, has died. He was the last known male survivor of the 70 million military personnel who fought World War I. Nicknamed Chuckles, he… Audio

The man who broke into Auschwitz; Dennis Avery tells his wartime story in his 95th year. Audio

Sixty eight years ago, a Dutch family in Amsterdam risked everything to hide an 18-month-old Jewish girl from the Nazis at the height of World War II. For two and a half years, the Hakkens family hid… Audio

Historian David Filer rates the conflict on Crete as the 'Gallipoli of the Second World War'. Audio

New Zealanders who risked their lives serving in the Merchant Navy during the two world wars have been honoured at the National War Memorial for the first time ever. Audio

Turning his back on journalism, Peter McIntyre became New Zealand's first official war artist after the Second World War. In this recording, he lends his two cents on wine, women and Wellington...and… Audio

One of the first Japanese to live in New Zealand after the Second World War. Audio

This week on the Asian report we meet Danny Lee and Ken Chan, two local born Chinese who served during the Second World War. Audio