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The outstanding bravery which earned Willy Apiata the rarely awarded Victoria Cross bore a remarkable resemblance to the first VC awarded to a New Zealander.
Corporal Apiata's citation said that in total disregard for his own safety, he carried his wounded comrade bodily across 70 metres of broken, rocky and fire-swept ground while he was serving with the Special Air Services in Afghanistan in 2004.
Once his charge was safe, he re-armed himself and rejoined the fight.
Corporal Apiata said he was only looking after his mate and doing his job.
Glyn Harper, the co-author of a book on New Zealand VC winners and a military historian, said Corporal Apiata's medal was won in remarkably similar circumstances to two others, including that of Major Charles Heaphy, the first to win a VC in New Zealand.
Major Heaphy won his VC on February 11, 1864, during the New Zealand Wars, in a skirmish on the banks of the Mangapiko River in the Waikato.
The citation said Major Heaphy helped a wounded soldier who had fallen into a hollow where several Maori warriors were concealed. "While so doing he became the target for a volley at a few feet distant."
Five musket balls pierced his clothes and cap and he was wounded three times but he continued to aid his wounded comrade.
Mr Harper said Corporal Apiata's bravery was also similar to that of another New Zealand soldier, who won the VC in South Africa on January 28, 1901.
Sergeant Major William James Hardham was involved in an intense engagement with about 20 Boers when one of his soldiers was wounded and his horse killed.
"Sergeant Major Hardham at once went, under a heavy fire, to his assistance, dismounted, and placed him on his own horse, and ran alongside until he had guided him to a place of safety," said the citation.
Corporal Apiata was only the second Maori to win the Commonwealth's highest bravery award.
Lieutenant Moana-nui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu won a posthumous VC for bravery in Tunisia in March 1943, when he led his platoon in an attack on an enemy position in the face of intense machine gun and mortar fire. He took the hill and defended it against several fierce counter-attacks but died in the last.
Another Maori soldier was recommended for the VC but never received it. Instead Sergeant Haane Manahi was awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal for his part in the 1943 Battle of Takroma in North Africa.
Queen Elizabeth compensated Sergeant Manahi with a special citation for bravery, which was presented to his family by Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, at Te Papiouru Marae in Ohinemutu in March.
An altar cloth, a letter from the Queen and a sword gifted from the Queen to Sergeant Manahi's tribe, Te Arawa, were also handed over.
Mr Harper said that although there had been only two VCs awarded to Maori soldiers, many had qualified.
Corporal Apiata was the historic first winner of the Victoria Cross of New Zealand, instituted in 1999. He was the first New Zealand winner of a VC in 64 years.
The wording for the New Zealand Victoria Cross was changed slightly from the British award so New Zealanders could win the honour for fighting "belligerents" where there was no formal declaration of war.
