Warriors give their respect to Corporal Willie Apiata VC. Photo / Michael Craig
Victoria Cross winner SAS corporal Willie Apiata was honoured at a ceremony at Waitangi yesterday, with thousands of people welcoming him home to Northland where he spent his early years.
Draped in korowai, Apiata was welcomed by a 2000-strong crowd on to the Waitangi marae. Maori Party MP
Hone Harawira told him it was a joy and privilege to have him home.
"It has been a very moving and emotional experience. I just feel very humbled by the people who are here, I feel what they are feeling at the moment," Apiata told Radio New Zealand. "Everyone is just so happy that we have all come together."
A dozen Maori warriors challenged Apiata, and in a rare gesture of respect not seen before on the Treaty grounds, the warriors removed their woven headbands and laid them before him.
Apiata, 35, spent his early years in Northland and is affiliated to Ngapuhi through his father, Piripi Apiata. His home marae is Tukaki Marae in Te Kaha, in the eastern Bay of Plenty, where he moved after his parents split up.
Kaumatua, kuia and Pakeha leaders attended yesterday's ceremony with Defence Force chiefs and politicians.
But behind the scenes, it has emerged another unsung hero played a key role in bringing Apiata's remarkable story to public attention.
The television documentary about Apiata, Reluctant Hero, which screened on Anzac Day, may never have been made without the intervention and deep pockets of Auckland businessman and longtime Army officer Tenby Powell.
The CEO of Rakino Group, which includes companies such as Hirepool, stumped up $500,000 from a private company he runs with wife Sharon Hunter to ensure the documentary was completed.
Powell, who has been in the regular and reserve force for 24 years, told the Herald on Sunday he made the offer when it became clear that no Government department would fund the programme.
"It was a story which needed to be told. I sat in the wings expecting somebody to say it's being funded by somebody. This should have been funded by a number of Government institutions and it wasn't."
Powell said the money was "chicken feed" compared to the value of the documentary to New Zealand and as a recruiting tool for the Defence Force.
