On this day in 1943, 48 Japanese prisoners of war and one New Zealand guard were killed at the POW Camp just outside the Wairarapa town of Featherston.
The Featherston POW incident, as it has come to be known, started after some prisoners refused to work, staging a sit-down strike. In the confusion, a guard fired a warning shot which may have wounded a prisoner. When the other prisoners rose to their feet, the guards opened fire.
Details of the incident were censored, and the government has never made a formal apology.
Wairarapa Archive historian and archivist Mark Pacey has spent years researching the camp and joins Emile Donovan to reflect.
Fatigue squad on the way to work, at the Japanese prisoner of war camp near Featherston in 1943 Photo: Ref: 1/4-000776-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23082641
