HONOUR TO HERO

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 14, 12 October 1943, Page 8

HONOUR TO HERO

GOVERNOR GENERAL'S TRIBUTE

A PLACE IX HISTORY In performing tin- invest Mure of the Victoria Cross to Mr Hamara Ngarimu. father of the late Lieut. Moan a Ngarimu. to whom l it was postiunouslj- auarded His 3v\eoliency the Governor General, at Ruatoria last. Wednesday said:— "It is fitting that Ave should at this moment consider the debt we all owe to the. Maori Battalion/' said the Governor General, Sir Cyril Ncvvall, when investing Mr Hamuera Ngarimu posthumously to his son, Second Lieutenant Moana Nui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu, at the Ruatoria hu ! . 011 Wednesday. "By their deeds of valour they have won for themselves a place in tlie history of the war/' Ilis Excellency cotinued. 'Tor centuries to come they will be remembered with gratitude- and praise by free men (Continued in nest column)

and women throughout the world. "Maori tradition is full of stories of the courage of your forefathers. Your sons and brothers have shown that they have inherited the courage to tc full. They have, moreover, given incontestable proof of the unity of the British Empire. When one considers that, little, over 100 years after the British came to New Zealand, the Maori people have sent to the opposite side of the. world the flower of their youth to fight for their King and country,, one realises how living a thing is Maori loyalty and how real 'is the friendship of the Maori with the pakeha.

Those Who Died

"Some of them will never return to their native land. It fell to their lot to pay the greatest sacrifice of all. They have joined their warrior ancesors in Hawaiki. To those Avho mourn for them we must offer our grateful sympathy and pledge ourselves that their sacrifice shall not have been in vain. Among these is Second, Lieutenant Moana Nui-a-Iviwa Ngarimu, to whom the King has awarded the highest decoration for valour that the British Empire knows. In making this award the King not 01113- honoured Ngarimu himself, but through him his battalion and his country. No words of mine can adequately express my admiration for his courage or 1113' grief for the loss which his own family have suffered, but these words of comfort I would offer. They were written centuries ago, and they will remain true until the end of time:— '"They truly live who yield their livc.s lighting against the foe in the fierce battle amid the flash of swords and the whirling of the spear. The men of anc'ient race that were foremost in the fighting wielding their swords, who stood in the mcllay as some mountain top rises above the flood. What wonder if their glory liveth when all dissemblers have passed away." After the service there was an address by an elder of the Ringatu Church, founded by To Kooti Rikirangi after his return from banishment in the Chatham Islands and commanding a large East Coast following* Immediately after the presentations the Korongata choir gave sevoralo songs and htere was a march past of soldiers, so ending a memorable gathering.