The massive casualties of World War 1 were unparalleled but the rehabilitation of injured soldiers of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force created a significant challenge during the war and in the long term after their return home. Rehabilitation involved secondary orthopaedic surgery, physical and occupational rehabilitation, orthotics and prosthetics as well as vocational retraining. Military Hospitals were opened after the war in New Zealand where the birth of orthopaedic surgery took place alongside musculoskeletal physical therapy. This lecture was inspired by a book entitled “Military Physical Orthopaedics” written in 1918 by Arthur Stanley Herbert who was the Principal Medical Officer of the Rotorua Orthopaedic Hospital and Government Balneologist.