Roland Hill

Like so many other families, the Hills were torn to shreds by World War 1: Roland’s younger brother Harold was killed in October 1918 and two brothersinlaw were also killed.

Two sisters also died, one of the flu and one in an air raid, and Roland’s mother also died around this time: the strain saw Justus Hill stop painting and eventually be sent to an asylum, where he died in 1924.

Meanwhile in Dunedin, Catherine Hill received a letter from Mr Herron dated March 4, which explained her husband had been ‘‘shot dead by a mess cart driver who was clearly deranged’’.

The letter is very similar in places to the letter Mr Herron wrote to Duncan McLean’s parents — it was no doubt his sad duty to write hundreds of such letters.

‘‘The tragedy has cast a gloom over the whole battalion,’’ Mr Herron wrote.

‘‘As you may readily judge from the way in which he