Bill Dobson Great War Story

The video for this story about prisoner of war Bill Dobson screened on Newshub on 22 April 2017.

William ‘Bill’ Dobson was fighting on the Western Front in April 1918 when the Germans captured him at Méteren, in northern France, during the Spring Offensive. He was one of 210 men captured that day — the largest group of New Zealanders taken prisoner at any one time — and spent the rest of the war in a German prisoner of war camp. Conditions were rough but Bill found solace in his sketchbook and in performing with the camp concert party. After the war, he returned home to work as a cabinetmaker. Like many men who had fought, he sought comfort in alcohol, but after meeting and marrying vaudeville performer Louise Morris, Bill gave up drinking and resumed his passion for performance. 

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