Kevin Everitt with his father's service medals. Photo / Dean Purcell
Kevin Everitt with his father's service medals. Photo / Dean Purcell
Three years ago, Kevin Everitt started the detective work of piecing together his father's experiences in the Korean War by trawling through the photographs he took as a soldier.
Today, the father of two is helping others like him decode similar images, some of which will be shown to the public for the very first time in a commemorative exhibition.
Kevin's father Les Everitt was in the Royal New Zealand Dental Corps in Korea from 1952 to 1954, after serving in the Pacific and Japan during and after World War II.
The two-war veteran died in 1990.
"I wish I'd asked him questions when I had the chance, but I didn't," says Kevin, a public servant.
"Now I want to know, why did Dad go to war? What did he do there? It's been called the Forgotten War, and I feel that some families just don't know what happened."
Photograph of veteran Les Everitt during his time in Korea. Photo / Les Everitt Collection
Some of these questions may never find answers.
But with painstaking research and analysis of the photographs and other material, Kevin has been able to get a sense of what his father's life was like during the war.
"My son and daughter were born after Dad died, so I owe it to them to create as complete a picture as possible to pass it on."
Les' interest in photography began in his war years with a Japanese camera, bought in transit on the way to Korea, says Kevin.
The amateur photographer captured the daily life and work of New Zealand troops in Korea, but he also took portraits of civilians, including children.
Images in Les' Korea photo album. Photo / Les Everitt Collection
"Dad had an interest in social issues, and he made many friends from Korea and other parts of Asia after the war."
"My sister remembers Dad talking vividly about the cold, him saying 'When you spat in winter, it would be frozen before it hit the ground'," he told the Herald.
Some 6,000 New Zealanders served in the Korean War and its aftermath from 1950 to 1957.
Forty five of them lost their lives in service.
Kevin's search for answers has connected him with others like him, some of whom have sought his help to decode similar pictures taken by loved ones through the K Force New Zealand Facebook group he runs.
The text-searchability of social media has allowed others to find never-before seen images of their own family members who served in the war, shot by Les and uploaded by Kevin.
"I've had people message me saying, that's my dad! When and where was this photo taken?" says Kevin.
Kevin Everitt showing his father's photographs to Diane Lee and Tony Keam of the Korea-NZ Cultural Association. Photo / Dean Purcell
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of hostilities between North and South Korea.
In commemoration, photographs taken by Les and other K Force veterans will be shown to the public for the first time at the National Army Museum in Waiouru next month.
"If not for Covid, we would have been able to invite Korean communities around New Zealand and have a big ceremony, but for now we're keeping it small to protect our elderly veterans," says organiser Diane Lee, President of the Korea-New Zealand Cultural Association.
An estimated 150 to 200 surviving Korean War veterans remain, although the exact number is not known.
Wally Wyatt hasn't decided whether he will attend, but the 92-year-old veteran is glad the photographs will keep the story going for those who can no longer tell it.
"As it happens, everybody gets older and sicker. Much as we'd like to, we can't live forever," Wyatt says.
"Having been involved in one war, anybody who has been involved can see the futility of it, the wrong things about it."
