Ngatapa and Whirimako Black at the New Zealand Returned Serviceman plaque in Monte Cassino.
Ngatapa and Whirimako Black at the New Zealand Returned Serviceman plaque in Monte Cassino.
An Anzac Day documentary tells the story of a Kiwi soldier who comforted the dying
As a German soldier lay dying before him, Tai Black offered his enemy words of solace. He would see his mother again, Black told the young man crying out for the woman who gave him life, but who was unable to comfort him in death.
28th Maori Battalion soldier Tai Black.
Black, barely out of histeens and half a world away from home in the rural Bay of Plenty settlement of Ruatoki, had already fought in Egypt and Greece before the 28th Maori Battalion found itself in the mighty World War II battle of Monte Cassino.
He had lost much — his friends, his family and his innocence — but his humanity remained intact.
Black died in 2005, but his daughter, singer Whirimako Black, and other family continue to honour his sacrifice.
With her daughter, Ngatapa Black, she returned to Monte Cassino to film The Black Legacy documentary, which will screen on Maori Television at 8am on Anzac Day.
The 53-year-old said her father rarely spoke of his war service when his family of 10 children were young, but he slowly opened up in his old age.
His stories were inspiring, she said. "Sometimes there were situations in the face of battle. I recall Dad saying he would have to talk to a young German soldier who was dying, give him a process for him to accept death and tell him that he would see his mother, as so many of them called out for their mother. Everybody dies the same way," she said.
"In one incident he said, 'don't be afraid of death, smile at death'. Just those moments before they died, to relieve them of their agony."
Image 1 of 6: Book cover: Anzac by Laurence Aberhart.
Her father passed that respect for life on to his children and grandchildren, Whirimako Black said.
"He wanted us to look at the world in a new light and never be involved in anything like that again, and be friends with the Germans.
"It was a terrible thing, what happened to everybody."
It was an emotional return to the battlefield that so defined her father — she cried "buckets of tears". Briefly placing her father's medals on the graves of his comrades, including her great-uncle, brought comfort.
Ngatapa Black, also a singer, said it was hard to believe her grandfather had been able to live a normal life after the horrors he experienced.
"He had nothing but a big smile and his arms open wide for us every time we saw him. It's hard to believe my koro did all that."
The soldiers' sacrifice should never be forgotten, the 36-year-old mum of two said.
"It's why we celebrate Anzac Day every year. It's so we can remember what they did, what they fought for. The very least we can do is honour these amazing, strong men."
