Māori Battalion honoured: 70 medals presented at Waitangi to whānau of former 28 Battalion members

Veteran Taa (Sir) Robert Gillies will be among those recognising and resting the Māori (Pioneer) Battalion Theatre of War and Battle Honours Flag at Waitangi on Saturday

The Māori (Pioneer) Battalion Theatre of War and Battle Honours Flag will be recognised and rested at Te Rau Aroha, Waitangi on Saturday, after 70 medals are presented to the whānau of former battalion members.

On October 28, 104 years after the Māori (Pioneer) Battalion returned home in 1919 from the World War I battlefields of the Dardenelles, France and Flanders, Taa (Sir) Robert Gillies, Kamupene B, 28 (Māori) Battalion, in conjunction with the service medals presentation ceremony to the families of Kamupene A, 28 (Māori) Battalion, will parade and rest the Māori (Pioneer) Battalion Theatre of War and Battle Honours Flag at Te Rau Aroha, Waitangi.

Members of the 28th Māori Battalion march up Nias Track to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in 1940. A ceremony to present 70 medals to the whānau of former battalion member will be held at Waitangi on Saturday. Photo / P.F. Nash

Of New Zealand’s 29 returning infantry and mounted rifles units in 1919, the Māori (Pioneer) Battalion were the only New Zealand battalion not to be accorded any Theatre of War or Battle Honours by King George V or the New Zealand Government. Notwithstanding this, they were eligible for no less than 22 Battle Honours acknowledgments.

“The Crown’s 104 years too late, they’ve forgotten us again”, said Gillies on Waitangi Day 2023 at Muruika urupā, Ōhinemutu.

“We’ll bring the Pioneers home too, aa Māori, maa Māorii, aa tikanga Māori” he said, by Māori, for Māori, following tikanga Māori.

At the conclusion of the Kamupene A, 28 (Māori) Battalion service medals presentation ceremony, the 28 (Māori) Battalion Campaign and Battle Honours Colour and the Māori (Pioneer) Battalion Theatre of War and Battle Honours Colour will both be rested side-by-side at Te Rau Aroha to acknowledge the parallel sacrifices of Tangata Tiriti and Tangata Tikanga Māori during the New Zealand Wars, The Boer War, and both World War I and World War II.

On Saturday at Te Whare Rūnanga, the wharenui on Waitangi Treaty Grounds, World War II service medals will be presented to whānau of personnel who served in the 28 (Māori) Battalion from 11am.

Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, will present more than 70 sets of medals to whānau, in recognition of the service and sacrifice of soldiers and officers of the 28 (Māori) Battalion.

New Zealand government policy after World War II was that former service personnel would have to apply for their medals, which would then be sent to them through the post.

The New Zealand Defence Force’s Personnel Archives and Medals unit, along with lawyer David Stone, identified approximately 500 sets of medals which were never claimed by former battalion personnel nationwide.

Similar medal ceremonies have been held in Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne, Christchurch and Rotorua.