He also served in J Force, the allied occupational forces in Japan after the war.
O'Connor said Preece was "disappointed at the attitude of many New Zealanders, and successive governments following the war".
"Most of us had nothing and got nothing.
"We went home to an old house. Some went back to the bush to start again and you lost those war years from your life and nobody wanted to know you or what you had been through," Preece said.
Bunty said that attitudes had changed in recent years to the point where he no longer wanted to talk about the war.
He could still recall the details of all his battles.
"The experience broadened my horizons and equipped me with knowledge I would never have had other than by going to war.
"It showed me other lands and people living in poverty and taught me how to live with all classes of people to help and support one another. I also saw the worst side of life, destruction and death. I pray that my children and grandchildren never have to experience the horror and hell of war."
Soldiers had "fought hard and suffered for so little when we got back", Preece said.
Preece remembered the names of those who died, where and how they died and, for some their last moments, as he held them and tried to reassure them that "it would be all right soon".
In the decades following World War II Preece became involved in the political affairs of the Chatham Islands and served as chairman of the former Chatham Islands County Council, O'Connor said.
There was only a "handful" of battalion members left, O'Connor said.
