For King And Country: Four Brothers, Four Crosses - Jock Vennell

This is the tragedy of World War I, which the latest book by Jock Vennell chronicles. He tells the story of an Invercargill family of five brothers – the Christophers. All but one served overseas atGallipoli and on the Western Front and none returned home.They were among the more than 18,000 young men who lost their lives fighting in the interests of the British Empire to which they and their country belonged.Countless others came home so physically and mentally damaged that they could play no useful part in post-war society.And their wives, sweethearts and families suffered because many of the men who returned were so changed by what they had seen and done that they were never able to live normal lives. They were the other casualties of war and their sufferings were not properly acknowledged by the government of the day.But the damage went deeper. The four-year conflict imposed a huge economic cost on our developing nation, creating a turmoil that continued even after the war. It disrupted nationally important industries and social services, and limited personal freedoms.Through the lives and deaths of the four Christophers brothers, military historian Jock Vennell throws fresh light on the impact of World War I on our small colonial society and its truecost in the destruction of so many – not only those killed but also those who survived. He looks at why so many answered the call to serve their King, country and Empire, even when other family members had been killed. And through For King and Country he looks at the hardships and horrors that so many of these soldiers had to endure.Jock Vennell is a former newspaper, radio and magazine journalist, and public affairs executive with the Ministry of Defence. He is the author of The Forgotten General, a biography of Major-General Sir Andrew Russell, commander of the New Zealand Division in France during World War I, and Man of Iron, a biography of Gallipoli hero Lieutenant Colonel William Malone.