How war left its mark on those at home
‘‘Cambridge citizens reacted to the reports of carnage in Turkey with shock and disbelief.’’
A concrete bunker at a depression in the ground remain as signs of how World War II touched Cambridge.
Stories surrounding the site suggest it was a bomb shelter and underneath there was a maze of secret tunnels.
The bunker, at the Cambridge Domain, was a 60-foot (18 metres) deep air fuel reserve which held 600,000 gallons (2,271,654 litres).
About 20,000 yards (18,288m) of earth was cut out, and the concrete lined tunnel led out to the concrete pump house on the face of the hillside.
There were no obvious marks of World War I left on Cambridge’s landscape but the conflict left an impression on the minds and hearts of people living in the town at the time.
It’s just one of the reasons why Anzac Day continues to be an important time to commemorate.
Cambridge was no less patriotic than any other Waikato town when war was declared in 1914.
Months before the declaration, 5000 territorial soldiers from Auckland assembled at Hautapu with mounted rifles, signals, ambulance corps and infantry.
Cambridge residents travelled to Hautapu on horseback and on foot to watch the soldiers gallop, halt, take cover and advance on ‘‘hidden’’ enemies.
At the time it was all make believe, but from April 25, 1915, the games stopped and Cambridge men were lying on the beaches in Gallipoli.
Back home, Cambridge citizens reacted to the reports of carnage in Turkey with shock and disbelief.
On the cenotaph outside the Cambridge Town Hall, built in 1923, the names of the 86 men who died serving in World War I are engraved.
During the war, soldiers were posted to the care of the Waikato