New Zealand - Featherston - Barracks at Featherston Camp - An elevated view of huts at Featherston Military Camp, looking east - 1916-1918 Featherston Military Training Camp and the First World War, 1915–27 - Featherston Camp was New Zealand’s largest training camp during the First World War, where around 60,000 young men trained for military service on European battlefields between 1916 and 1918. - At its peak, Featherston Camp could sleep and feed more than 9000 men, and train them to be infantrymen, artillerymen, mounted riflemen, and machine gunners. The government used the camp as a German prisoner of war camp and military hospital in 1918-19, and as a storage facility from 1919-26. (Reference; read more at https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/featherston-camp) Featherston - A town in the South Wairarapa District - At the eastern foothills of Remutaka Range - The town of Featherston was first known as Burlings, after Henry Burling, who opened an accommodation house near the Māori settlement 1847. - In 1856 the provincial government surveyed the spot for a town, naming it after its superintendent, Isaac Featherston. - The Featherston Military Camp was a major training camp in World War I - Established in 1916 and housing up to 8000 men - The camp was larger than the town and included 16 dining halls, six cookhouses, 17 shops, a picture theatre, hospital, and post office. - During World War II, in 1942 it became the Featherston prisoner of war camp, holding 800 Japanese POWs captured in the South Pacific. - On February 25, 1943 an incident occurred where 122 Japanese Prisoners of War in the camp were shot (48 dead, 74 wounded). - Tension had been building for weeks before a group of recently arrived prisoners staged a sit-down strike and refused to work. - Guards fired a warning shot, wounding Lieutenant Adachi Toshio. - The prisoners then rose and the guards opened fire. Wartime censors kept details of the incident quiet to prevent Japanese reprisals against Allied POWs. - After the war, the first POW to return to Featherston burned incense at the site in 1974 and a joint New Zealand–Japanese project established a memorial ground. (Reference: Wikipedia) -------------------- Image source: Item from Collection: Featherston Military Camp: Photographs (00-38) https://masterton.spydus.co.nz/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/WPAC/ARCENQ?SETLVL=&RNI=557670