Podcast: Thanked Once a Year: An Anzac Day Conversation with Bob Davies
Dr Oliver Hartwich
24 April, 2026
Bob Davies joined the New Zealand Army at 16 and served 31 years, rising to Sergeant Major of the Army. He deployed to Vietnam in 1968, took shrapnel wounds, caught malaria twice, and was exposed to Agent Orange.
His infant son Geoffrey, born with spina bifida linked to that exposure, lived three days. Bob used his compensation to establish the Geoffrey Davies Memorial Prize at Victoria University of Wellington.
On Anzac Day, Bob talks to Oliver Hartwich about what service cost him and why New Zealand's honours system fails its soldiers. Bob makes the case that New Zealand recognises its military personnel far less than comparable nations, and the numbers he cites are damning.