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The Returned and Services Association yesterday awarded its highest honour, the RSA Badge in Gold, to the country's Victoria Cross recipients.
Corporal Willie Apiata - the latest man to join the select group who have won the top medal available for acts of military valour - represented VC recipients at a ceremony at the Wellington RSA headquarters.
Twenty-one New Zealanders received the British Victoria Cross, and Corporal Apiata was the first soldier to receive the Victoria Cross For New Zealand.
The badge - a large, gold version of the original RSA badge - was first presented in 1920 to the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII.
Previous recipients include King George VI, Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Bernard Freyberg and resistance fighter Nancy Wake.
Corporal Apiata's VC, awarded this year, was the catalyst for the RSA's decision to honour all recipients of the famous medal, RSA president Air Vice-Marshal Robin Klitscher said.
The RSA was delighted that Corporal Apiata had agreed to receive the badge.
