Gordon E. Banfield died of war-related injuries when he was 38 years old. I (Linda) was a month off from being five years old. What we do know is that he was a healthy young man employed as a butcher in a country town called Te Kuiti in NZ when he was called up to war. He was 22 years old when he entered the camp in NZ on 15 May 1940; he sailed on 27 August 1940 for Egypt and arrived there on 1 October 1940. He was part of the NZ Expeditionary Forces (NZEF). We are aware that his Platoon was transferred to Athens and onto Crete, where the Battle of Crete took place. My mother, who is 98 years old with an excellent memory and lives independently, says he did discuss being chased across the White Mts from Chania to Hora Skafion by the Germans; he hid in caves surrounding the town’s cliffs for many days when he arrived in Hora Skafion attempting to be taken out to the Allied forces warships. He tried negotiating with a local fisherman but, unfortunately, was arrested and taken as a prisoner of war. They were marched back to Chania and transferred to Athens before being placed in different prison camps in Austria. He was reported missing on 22 June 1941 to his mother, Mrs Banfield. It was not until 15 June 1945 that he was reported to be alive and safe in Italy. In keeping his memory alive, both of my children have attended the Battle of Crete services with me at different times. The Cretans are and continue to be very grateful that the Allied forces helped them. Over the years, many stories have been of families hiding soldiers as their family. We also attend the service here in Sydney annually, which my grandsons have been interested in. We were very surprised to discover last year, through the British archives that my son James accessed, that Gordon had been in Maribor, Slovenia. Given that the museum has survived, it was a great incentive for me to visit after the Battle of Crete services in June. According to his History sheet, he was moved through several prison camps. However, he did spend some time in Maribor. He also worked on a farm and slept in the barn, which must have been freezing in winter. We are not sure where this was. My mother tells me that she and Gordon sent the lady who owned the farm food parcels for many years after the war as she was starving; she had been kind to him. Mum always thought the farm was in Austria. Gordon did not discuss the war with her; he had a small circle of friends who had been at war with him, and they drank together regularly; he was never totally intoxicated but just had enough alcohol on board to keep the nightmares at bay. Mum met him in Waikato Hospital while training to be a registered nurse. He had suffered from tuberculosis, a lung collapse and “nerves”, which we now treat as PTSP. He was discharged on a War pension in NZ in 1946 and died in 1956.