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Pipiwharauroa Ngā Pakanga Hui Te Ao
10 May: Carthage - Rome En route to airport we visit Carthage ruins and markets at Sidi Bou Said village. 5.30pm we fly to Rome and at dinner we are joined by the rest of our bus party. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57.
Soutar/Tina Mrs Soutar/Aohuna (6yrs) Ms Mill/Ruby Mrs Mill/Libby Ms Raihania/Noel Mr Raihania/Moana Lee Ms
Gisborne Gisborne Te Araroa Te Araroa Tokomaru Bay Napier
The C Company Secondary Schools group have also arrived in Rome. 58. Nikora/Hana TKKM o Whangaparaoa 59. Wharepapa/Te Rangimarie TKKM o Whangaparaoa 60. Te Moana/Tuterangi TKKM o Whangaparaoa 61. Pook/Tuihana TKKM o Whangaparaoa (principal) 62. Wanoa/Latasha Te Waha o Rerekohu 63. Te Kani/Shianm Te Waha o Rerekohu 64. Katipa/Richard Te Waha o Rerekohu (principal) 65. Katipa/Hera Te Waha o Rerekohu (whanau supporter) 66. McClutchie/Alex Ngata Memorial College 67. Dell-Keelan/Turuhira Ngata Memorial College 68. Milner/Jade Ngata Memorial College 69. Taingahue/Hoera Ngata Memorial College 70. Tuhura Walsh/Rutawa Ngata Memorial College 71. McClutchie/Karen Ngata Memorial College (principal) 72. Poutu/Charlie Ngata Memorial College (board member) 73. Sykes-Martin/Taylah TKKM o te Waiu o Ngati Porou 74. Moses/Ana TKKM o te Waiu o Ngati Porou 75. Pewhairangi/Kahutia TKKM o te Waiu o Ngati Porou 76. Paenga/Carlos TKKM o te Waiu o Ngati Porou 77. Dalton-Reedy/Hariata TKKM o te Waiu o Ngati Porou 78. Aupouri/Tawhai TKKM o te Waiu o Ngati Porou 79. Heeney/Phil TKKM o te Waiu o Ngati Porou (principal) 80. Aupouri/Lena TKKM o te Waiu o Ngati Porou (teacher) 81. Priestly/Malik Tolaga Bay Area School & Kuranui 82. Tamihana-Brown/Zaley Tolaga Bay Area School & Kuranui 83. Patrick/Adaniah Tolaga Bay Area School & Kuranui 84. Kirikiri/Teina Tolaga Bay Area School & Kuranui 85. Kutia-Ngata/ Te Aotaihi Tolaga Bay Area School & Kuranui 86. Parata/Nori Tolaga Bay Area School & Kuranui (principal) 87. Takurua /Pele Tolaga Bay Area School & Kuranui (teacher)
11 May: Rome Downtime in Rome. Some of the whanau catche the express train to Naples to visit relative Bill McClutchie’s gravesite. 12 May: Florence At Florence War Cemetery the pilgrimage party grows to 87 when we are joined by the C Company Secondary Schools group. Service conducted with Italian hosts from Tarvanelle who are there to greet us. Hosts join us on bus trip to our hotels in Florence and give us guided tour. Group receives a formal welcome from regional, provincial and municipal representatives in the Plazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence. Secondary Schools Kapa Haka group gives the first of several performances in Italy. Very proud. Florence, the artistic and cultural centre of this part of Italy is very busy. Cars are small to fit down the narrow streets and scooters are to be seen everywhere weaving through the traffic without any sign of road rules. 13 May: Tarvanelle, San Michelle, Florence, Faenza Visit Tarvanelle, a town in the Chianti region of
Tuscanny. The Māori Battalion liberated it. Formal service and among several highlights the mayor and Uncle Noel sing ‘Mama’ together in the town hall. We meet Italian elders who were children when the war was on and who met our Māori soldiers in 1944. Next, buses go up to Pratale to see site of massacre of Italian civilians. Moving service held with a family member and locals. Lovely lunch afforded us at Pratale residence before visit to San Michelle a Torri where there is a memorial to New Zealand soldiers written in Italian, English and Māori. Joined by mayor and surviving Italian partisans. Secondary Schools group returns to Florence while our bus heads to Faenza.
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participants told us about their backgrounds (an exercise we began in Tunisia and ended in Greece). A small group take the train via Pisa. 17 May: Rome I spend the morning in Cassino on a battlefield tour with our Governor General. Pilgrimage group visits the Vatican.
18 May: Cassino Visit Monte Cassino Abbey which was destroyed during the war and rebuilt in the 1950's. There are too many The youngest and eldest members of 14 May: Faenza, Forli the pilgrimage group, Aohuna Soutar buses already at the abbey Visit Senio River and its museum. The Mayor (6 years) and Nolan Raihania lay a so we have to be ferried up. Service at the Cassino railway and staff welcome us and we leave them in wreath at Forli Cemetery, Italy station where many men of A tears after speeches and singing to them. Secondary Schools Group arrive from Florence, freshen and B Coys of the Māori Battalion lost their lives. up and changed into the pilgrimage dress shirts. 3:00pm attend the NZ Commemorative service at The whole party is reunited at Forli War Cemetery. Cassino Commonwealth War Cemetery begins. About There we run into a visiting group from Auckland 40 New Zealand WW2 veterans present as well as also on a 28th Māori Battalion pilgrimage. Mihi from our Governor-General and Prince Harry. Haka and their spokesman, Ronald Baker, to which Uncle Noel waiata ring out again! responds. 19 May: Rome - Crete Fly to Crete. The Secondary Schools group has the 15 May: Faenza Visited Faenza to unveil memorial to New Zealanders more enjoyable trip by overnight ferry from Athens, for their role in liberating Faenza. Mayor and I give but encounter a few heart-stopping moments when speeches and Uncle Noel sings ‘Mama’. Our students a passport goes missing and some almost miss the unveil the memorial which includes a photographic departure gate. We are located in the capital of sequence: the battle, destruction, liberation and Crete, called Chania (pronounced Hun-yaa). recovery. The bagpipes sounded out again as we were welcomed into the courtyard of the council chambers 20 May: Chania, Galatas for lunch. The art in the building is just stunning. Crete is where the Māori Battalion won undying fame After lunch our students engage with Italian students, in May 1941 as the best bayonet fighters anyone then altogether we meet local residents at a service had ever seen. 20 May signals the start of a week’s commemorative events on the island that marks the in the Faenza War Cemetery. 73rd anniversary of the Battle of Crete. We attend a The students are from a nearby school that every year commemoration service at village of Galatas where lays flowers on the graves of allied servicemen. “The Kiwi soldiers and Cretans fought side by side. We are bag pipes ring out yet again, its melody so alluring, in force with two buses and our students perform and so we move on and merge towards the monument. for them. Up into the sky it towers. Into the open air it stands tall, a monument to those who have fallen.” We finish 21 May: Souda Bay, Tskilarlia, Maleme Airfield the day with a visit to the houses - Della Cura and We visit British Commonwealth war cemetery, Casa Bianca - and explain to the group what happened which overlooks the picturesque Souda Bay, and there in December 1944. C Company soldiers were then the olive grove at 42nd Street. We participate killed at Della Cura. They had named their start in a ‘smoke ceremony’ instigated by an indigenous line for the night attack Ruatōria. At Casa Bianca Australian whanau who are here on behalf of their D Company men had captured several Germans and father who took part in the charge. Our haka saved an Italian family, who still live there. Met the wahine and re-enactment of ‘Ka Mate’ is charged old man who was a teenager on the night 2/Lt Aussie and very emotional, but frightens the neighborhood and soon local police are investigating. We invite Huata and 16 Platoon arrived. them to the memorial service at Tskilarlia village to see another performance. The Australian and Kiwi 16 May: Rome 8.30am buses drive five hours from Faenza to Rome. contingents present a plaque to the village. The Trip went quicker because Uncle Noel recounted plaque recounts the 42nd St bayonet charge which his experiences in Italy during the war and some the Māori Battalion instigated with the haka ‘Ka Mate’. A special moment for Ruby Mill, of Te Araroa, when she is introduced as the daughter of the soldier who instigated the haka - Hemara Aupouri. Kosta takes us back to olive grove and shows us where he followed the charge. He was about 14 years and was in a Bren Gun carrier behind the charge. Shows us the direction of the charge and where he saw dead bodies. He is now 88. In the late afternoon we attend a reenactment of German paratrooper drop and air show at the Maleme airfield. 22 May: Chora Sfakia Our buses take us via the route the soldiers marched over the White Mountains to Sfakia. Many missed the rescue ships and the Germans marched them back to Chania. We gain an appreciation of the distance and terrain they marched over. Lunch and swim in the ocean. Return to Chania and we all take the overnight ferry to Athens. His Excellency the Governor General with three of our students: Hana Nikora (TKKM o Whangaparaoa), Rutawa Tuhura-Walsh (Ngata Memorial College), Keita Wharepapa ( TKKM o Whangaparaoa).
23 May: Athens, Paralia Disembark at Piraeus right where C Company soldiers