W.J. Foote: Bread and Water

Philip Garside

$16.95

The "heroes of peace," writes Elsie Locke in her foreword to this slim little book, often go unrecognised, whereas the heroes of war are publicly honoured.

There are still many who would not understand the commitment to pacifism that led some men to become conscientious objectors during the Second World War.

Yet reading the stories of two of them, Chris Palmer and Merv Browne, one must respect a strength of belief that could resist extraordinary public and official pressure, even though their stand led them to spend years in tough and at times brutal conditions in military defaulters' camps in the central North Island.

In 1944 they escaped and made it to Wellington, where they intended to publicise the conditions in the camps, and bring attention to the highly unpopular pacifist cause.

This is their story - part of the invisible stitching of our nation's fabric.