Pages tagged with: maori battalion

Mai Te Kapoterangi (holding child) and Turei Karaka (with cigarette) farewell Tei Tihi (second from left) and Kumeroa Te Kapoterangi (third from left) as reinforcements for the Maori Battalion depart from Rotorua in January 1944.

Maori leaders offered men for both home defence and overseas service, and Maori requests for their own military unit followed, although not all wanted a Maori battalion.

Eruera Tirikatene (wearing a traditional feather cloak) walks in front of the Maori Battalion on its return from the Second World War.

A group of 28 (Maori) Battalion soldiers drive along a street in Sora, June 1944.

View of the summit of Takrouna in Tunisia, 1943.

Soldiers from 28th (Maori) Battalion leap over barbed wire during training manoeuvres in Egypt, circa 1940-1941.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill watches soldiers from the 28th Maori Battalion march past in England, 1940.

Beretta Model 1915-19 pistol taken from a captured Italian by Sergeant Pekama Hunia, C Company, 28th (Maori) Battalion.

Women perform a waiata during the hui in Ruatoria to award the Victoria Cross to Te Moananui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu, October 1943.

Members of the Maori Battalion who had fought in Greece perform a haka for the King of Greece at Helwan, Egypt in June 1941.

Image of Victoria Cross winner Te Moananui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu

The 28th (Maori) Battalion established a formidable reputation as one of New Zealand’s finest fighting forces.

New Zealand soldiers gather around a member of the 28th (Maori) Battalion who proudly displays a German Iron Cross souvenired during the Battle for Crete

Sonny Sewell (1924-2008) stands in front of the 28th Maori Battalion display at the Maritime Museum in Chania (Canea)