That motivated Dr Pearless, working with the support of the only surviving World War 2 veteran of 28 (Maori) Battalion, Ta Robert Gillies, to design the Te Hokowhitu a Tū/New Zealand Māori (Pioneer) Battalion Campaign and Battle Honours flag.
“We have got to do this,” Sir Robert told him.
Dr Pearless said, "we did this kaupapa, Māori by Māori for Māori, following tikanga.”
The “colours” flew proudly in the public arena for the first time at Gisborne’s Combined Services Day service last Sunday.
Dr Pearless was asked if the establishment of the campaign and battle honours flag made him proud.
“You know, it’s 105 years in the waiting.
“It’s about bringing the men back.
“We hope to restore the dignity to our forefathers.”
It was about maumahara — remembrance.
“These are the campaign and battle honours they were entitled to.”
Asked if the exclusion of the Pioneer Battalion from being awarded “colours” could be attributed to racism, Dr Pearless replied, “some of my whanaunga get passionate about it.
“I say we are moving forward.”
Dr Pearless and Sir Robert have lodged a claim with the Waitangi Tribunal that the Crown failed to protect the mauri, mana, mātauranga Maaori, embedded kōrero and taonga of Te Hokowhitu A Tū/The Māori (Pioneer) Battalion.
The flag of Te Hokowhitu A Tū is set in blood red.
Dr Pearless said all campaign and battle honours wre in red for “the blood spilled in battle”.
In the centre are the logos of Te Hokowhitu a Tū and the New Zealand Māori (Pioneer) Battalion.
Under the two unit logos is printed Te Hokowhitu a Tū.
On each side of the logos are the 22 theatre of war and battle honours that Te Hokowhitu a Tū/ NZ Māori (Pioneer) Battalion were entitled to but were not accorded.
Those battle honours are: Sari Bair, Suvla, Hill 60 (ANZAC), Gallipoli 1915-16, France and Flanders 1914-1918, Delville Wood, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Le Transloy, Messines 1917, Ypres 1917, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Passchendaele, Arras 1918, Bapaume 1918, Ancre 1918, Albert 1918, Canal du Nord, Cambrai 1918, Selle and Sambre.
The campaign and battle honours flag of the World War 2 28 (Maori) Battalion is in 28 (Maori) Battalion House in Waitangi.
Dr Pearless said the “colours” of both battalions will be marched to the RSA in Kororareka (Russell) which has offered to house them.
But Dr Pearless aims to “march the colours in and march them out” to a new location every six months.
The Pioneer Battalion, formed in early 1916, worked on engineering duties, digging trenches and building roads and railways. They often worked under fire.
Two of the Pioneer Battalion’s original four companies were made up of the former Maori Contingent, with the other two drawn largely from the Otago Mounted Rifles.
The Pioneer Battalion served with the New Zealand forces on the Western Front from April 1916, and in September 1917 was redesignated the New Zealand Maori (Pioneer) Battalion when all its companies were filled by Māori.
Dr Pearless said 400 Pacific Islanders also served in the battalion.
Te Hokowhitu a Tū was originally the name of the the first Maori Contingent who sailed to war in 1915.
But the name can also apply to successor units, New Zealand Pioneer Battalion (February 1916 to August 1917) and New Zealand Māori (Pioneer) Battalion. (September 1917 to March 1919.)
