Wairarapa’s locally owned community newspaper
WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 2020
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Ake! Ake! Kia Kaha E! Upwards, upwards, be strong! Lisa Urbani The 28th Māori Battalion, or the Māori Battalion, as it was more commonly known, was formed in 1939 and served during the Second World War as an infantry battalion of 2NZ Expeditionary Force. Dick Smith, community stalwart of Featherston, and an army veteran himself, is tasked with the great honour of recording the history of D Company of 28 Maori Battalion. Consisting of a headquarters company and four rifle companies, A,B,C, and D Company, it was organised along tribal lines. ‘A’ Company (Ngā Kiri Kapia – the Gumdiggers - because of the kauri forestation of their area) was recruited from the Northland to Auckland. ‘B’ Company ( Ngā Ruku Kapa – Penny Divers – for their propensity to dive
Dick Smith at his desk. PHOTO/LISA URBANI
from bridges to recover pennies for tourists) covered the region from Rotorua, the Bay of Plenty, Coromandel, Taupo and Tokoroa. ‘C’ Company ( Ngā kaupoi – The Cowboys – because they rode bareback) consisted of the East Coast from Gisborne to East Cape. ‘D’ Company (Ngāti Walkabout – selfexplanatory) spread out from South Auckland, Waikato, Maniapoto, Taranaki, Wanganui, Hawkes Bay, Wellington and the South Island, and included some Pacific Islands – The Cook islands, Samoa and Niue - and the Chatham and Stewart Islands. The histories of the other companies are nearly complete, and although some of the research had been done on D Company, due to a lack of funds it was languishing in someone’s garage when Dick volunteered to
try to complete this daunting project. He is focusing on certain regions, Wellington, Horowhenua, Wairarapa, Manawatu, Tamaiti- nui A Ruha and envisaged that it would involve roughly up to 400 Māori battalion soldiers. Currently, there are only two Maori Battalion survivors in New Zealand – 99year-old Epineha ‘Pine’ Ratapu of ‘C’ Company, living in Masterton, and Robert Gillies, from ‘B’ Company in Rotorua. Dick’s research requires him and his small team, to look through all the old records, watch the recorded interviews he acquired, get photographs, and contact family members, and he was hoping to finish by November 2020. Continued on page 5
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