Dannevirke: Bay man recognises his dad in WWI photo

THE WAR YEARS: The staff of Aotea Convalescent Home, Heliopolis, Cairo. Back, from left: Sister M McDonald, gunner, John Stuart NZFA, Captain R Gerrard, Sergeant G Sleight and Sister L McLaren. Front, from left: Sisters R Cameron, N Hughes and M McDonnel, Matron M Early, Sister B McDonald and Sister K Booth. Gordon Stuart is trying to contact the families of the nursing staff in this photo. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

A search by volunteers at Dannevirke Gallery of History for information about the Aotea Convalescent Home in Egypt has rekindled memories for a Hawke's Bay man. Havelock North's John Stuart saw the photo of the home in the Dannevirke News on September 16 and recognised his father, John James Stuart, sitting in the front row.

"There he was, the cook sitting cross-legged, forward of the front, with the soldiers at the back and a row of white-uniformed nurses behind him," he said.

"I recognised my father because the cap he was wearing gave him away."

When Mr Stuart returned from the war Aotea wasn't forgotten. He opened a restaurant and bakery in Whanganui, the Aotea Buffet.

"He married a waitress and he and mum had eight children," John said. "Dad never spoke about the war, but I can remember in the late 1940s going with him to the Anzac Day parades at the Wellington Cenotaph."

John's youngest brother, Gordon, who lives in Auckland, told the Dannevirke News he has been trying to find descendants of the nursing sisters and matron at Aotea.

"Dad was in the landing at Gallipoli with the NZEF and on his return to Egypt was involved at the Port Said home as cook. He then spent more than two years at Aotea. I have a book, Te Korero Aotea, which is a collection of articles contributed by staff and patients at Aotea. My dad was the sub-editor and the book gives an account of the establishment of Aotea by nurses of the Wanganui, Rangitikei and Wairarapa districts. Much of the financing for the maintenance of the home came from those districts but to quote from the book, 'Recently a substantial contribution was received from the Waipukurau Patriotic Society so the work of the institution is becoming more widely known and appreciated among the New Zealand public'."

Five years ago Gordon visited Heliopolis in Cairo.

"The Aotea building still stands and is now the headquarters of the Egyptian military so we could not get very close to it," he said.

Both John and Gordon will be at Gallipoli next year, after John won a place in the ballot just one of 16 from the Hawke's Bay.

"On April 25 we'll be at Chunuk Bair," John said. "I'm in full training for the trip because I'll be 83."