The Duke of York attended the 2007 ceremony to honour Lance Sergeant Haane Manahi. With him is Maori Battalion veteran Arthur Midwood, holding the Te Awara sword of gallantry.
The Duke of York attended the 2007 ceremony to honour Lance Sergeant Haane Manahi. With him is Maori Battalion veteran Arthur Midwood, holding the Te Awara sword of gallantry.
Our New Zealander of the Year award is shared by five brave men, three of whom were awarded the Victoria Cross, one who should have been and a fifth who received the George Cross.
Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu of the Maori Battalion led C Company on a crucial mission to take a strategically important hill as part of the assault at Tebaga Gap in Tunisia. He was killed in action the next day.
"All New Zealand acclaims his gallantry," said the Herald which noted that Ngarimu's action was not a single exploit in the heat of the moment but "a story of heroism long sustained, of dauntless courage in the face of odds, of inspiring leadership in the fullest and best sense of the term".
The Herald saw in Ngarimu, of Ngati Porou, the personification of all that was great about the Maori Battalion.
"The name made famous on Gallipoli and the Western Front has now been given an imperishable place in the story of the African campaign," it said.
Squadron leader Leonard Trent was awarded the VC for his actions during a daylight bombing raid on an Amsterdam power station.
By the time he reached the target, all but two of the planes in his squadron had been shot down, but Trent defied heavy anti-aircraft fire to complete his bombing run.
Flying officer Lloyd Trigg was awarded the VC posthumously for pressing the attack against a U-boat off West Africa even though his Liberator bomber had been badly damaged by anti-aircraft fire.
The Liberator crashed with the loss of everyone on board but the U-boat crew were rescued and their praise of Trigg's conduct led to him being award a posthumous VC.
Second Lieutenant Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu and Flying Officer Lloyd Trigg. (NZ Herald Archive)
The award was made for Manahi's conspicuous bravery in the capture of a hill at Takrouna in North Africa.
Manahi, of Te Arawa, died in 1986 and his sons were later presented with a special citation from the Queen and a sword.
Our fifth New Zealander of the Year is David Russell - a soldier in the 2nd New Zealand Division who was captured at Ruweisat Ridge in 1942.
He was held in an Italian prisoner-of-war camp until he escaped in 1943 and joined up with the Italian resistance, helping other POWs to escape through Italy.
He was captured but refused to say anything about the escape network even though he was tortured for three days and then shot.
Russell was posthumously awarded the George Cross - the highest award possible for brave conduct outside the battlefield.
On the 50th anniversary of his death, the RSA and the people of the commune of Ponte de Piave erected a permanent memorial to him on his original grave site spelling out in English and Italian the details of his extraordinary courage.
