But while their jobs were on the surface, there were times when they had to venture underground to replace the shoes on the horses used in the mine.
"We got an extra half-crown for going underground, which was a lot of money," said Russell.
Horses stayed underground for almost the whole year, only seeing daylight at Christmas.
When he was 17 Monk went underground and recalled working with Jack Anderson who was nicknamed the "human horse" because of his ability to push two trucks at a time.
After leaving Waihi at the end of the war, Russell never worked at a mine again. He now lives in Tauranga.
Monk, however, still lives in Waihi.
"It wasn't really a hard life -- but I was a lot younger then," he reflected. "And it was a better life than today -- we had much more freedom than the kids of today."
Monk went to Waihi's Convent School and Russell to Waihi East -- and there was a lot of rivalry between the two schools.
One of Russell's earlier memories of working at the mine was -- as he was still only 14 -- being small enough to do one of the worst jobs, bailing out the water collected in the receivers from the constantly-running compressors.
"It had to be done at 5am using a cocoa tin. Imagine doing that in Waihi in middle of winter, it was freezing -- it was almost cruel."
On his first day he was given a 14lb hammer he couldn't even lift.
With four pubs -- five including the Waikino Tavern - plus billiard rooms there was plenty to do after work.
"Friday night was the time everyone went out in town -- you didn't have to lock your car," said Mock. "And the post office still had a hitching rail in front."
Mock and Russell sometimes cycled out to the Waikino Tavern and Russell admits to not always being the best time keeper.
"We sneaked off early one day, about ten to four, and went across the railway and straight into the hands of the mine manager," he said.
There were no repercussions.
"Maybe he had given up on us by that stage."
Joseph Rare was another who only worked at the mine for a short time.
He worked as a crusher and for a time had a job "on the cyanide" -- a crucial component of the extraction process.
"A lot of us were manpowered here during the war," he said.
He left at the first opportunity.
"I didn't really like it."
But that wasn't the end of his links with the mine as he was working at Bartholomew's Timber in Te Whetu near Putaruru when it supplied the last ever consignment of mine props to Martha Mine.
This year's reunion was the first that included a visit to the Waihi Gold Discovery Centre.
