Eric Barnett was born in Dunedin in the year 1919. He is my Great Uncle on my Dad’s side. This biography will tell the untold stories of Eric’s life and the roles he played in the World War.

Eric spent his early life living in Dunedin. He signed up to take part in the war efforts as a 20 year old young man. He was first deployed to Italy to fight in World War Two.

Eric’s role was sergeant and his service number was 15390. He was captured and put in to a war camp. It was a German camp in italy. He was with five other men who were also New Zealanders. They had to work some pretty rough and tough jobs. Life in the camp was not very nice so they had a plan to espase the German camp.

They started to dig and eventually had created a tunnel in which they could espace. Then my Great Uncle and the other men ran away. He was a P.O.W in Torviscosa Udine in Italy. They had to run a long way without getting caught. They ended up travelling up to the north of Italy and to the Swiss boarder. They then caught up with the British Army and Great Uncle Eric got a citation from General Freyberg for bravery. He survived the war.

After the war, Great Uncle Eric made his way back to New Zealand. He set up in life in Auckland on the North Shore. Great Uncle Eric worked at Fisher and Paykel. In the years that followed he got married and had children of his own.

Great Uncle Eric passed away on October 9th 2008 at the age of 89. He will forever be remembered for his skill, bravery, honour and surviving World War Two. The people who knew him will also always remember his whistle (as he liked to whistle alot!).