Writer inspired by war diaries
Alick Trafford was brutally honest about the horrors of his life on the Western Front during World War I.
A literate man with a love of words, the young New Zealand soldier captured his thoughts and feelings in a series of diaries. He took it almost everywhere, even writing entries in dugouts near or at the front. They detail attacks he endured, the names of friends, how they died and where they were buried. He paints a clear picture of the rain, the mud and the fear that permeated the Battle of Passchendaele.
Alick was also at the battles of Messines, along with Armentieres and Le Quesnoy.
WWI was no ‘‘great’’ war in Alick’s eyes – and his grandson, Ian Trafford, wants to share the young soldier’s thoughts by turning the diaries into a book.
‘‘Alick’s words have taken me on an evocative journey from the trenches to wartime romance, from death and suffering to love and friendship,’’ Ian said.
‘‘The diaries took many readings to decipher his ‘code’ and words of the era. It is one of the most honest retellings of the war and its effects I have seen.’’
He said he had crafted his story, written in the first person, over his grandfather’s narrative.
‘‘He was detailed, but the diaries were often hurriedly written in rough situations, and sometimes events were remembered a few days later.’’
Ian decided to write the book because of Alick’s honesty about his feelings and the events he was part of during WWI.
‘‘I would like New Zealanders to hear a story from a man who was a proud Kiwi but didn’t lie or use joviality to make things seem better. He identifies with the hardship of non-ranking ‘Huns’ in the trenches 100 metres away from him. He also really cares about ‘his men’ and feels everyone’s pain. He is a literate, thinking man who speaks out against the futile war.’’
Alick suffered from depression and was prone to sulking and outbursts of anger.
‘‘The book rounds off with his return home, suffering from PTSI [post-traumatic stress injury, known then as shell shock] in his very challenging civilian farm life, often paralleling wartime experiences, in the rugged New Zealand backblocks,’’ Ian said. ‘‘His postwar wife, Ivy Newman, is his rock who supports him through the years but absorbs much of the stress of his shell-shocked behaviour.’’
Alick’s wartime friends later said they believed he was ‘‘far too sensitive for war’’.
‘‘For me, Alick’s story answers the question why many of our Anzac grandfathers and greatgrandfathers were grumpy men and difficult to live with,’’ Ian said. ‘‘Just one of his many trials would have toppled me.’’
Serving mostly with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, Alick ‘‘did what he had to do but very quickly formed a loathing for war’’.
Alick’s diaries came to light in the 1970s when he urged his son, Harvey, to find a secret package in the attic of his house, near Gisborne, and burn it. Harvey did not destroy the diaries, and later gave them to Ian.
Based in Ma¯ rahau, Ian started work on the book in May 2018. The first draft is written but research, editing and rewriting are continuing. Ian has started a Givealittle page to help fund the final stages, which includes getting the book published.
‘‘He is a literate, thinking man who speaks out against the futile war.’’