Are Australian soldiers the only Diggers?
There is a growing misconception in Australia that the term “Digger” applies only to Australians and that New Zealand soldiers are “Kiwis”. That might be true in the slang of the Vietnam War because in that war for the first time ever troops from both countries were intermingled in small units. (RNZIR Companies in RAR Battalions to create 2 RAR/NZ (ANZAC), for one example) Before that in WW1 and WW2 although we served side by side we did not have small unit integration. This book, dated 1940, shows that New Zealanders (NZ’ers, Enzeders, Kiwis) considered themselves to be Diggers.
