A PEOPLE OF WARRIORS

Te Ao Hou, December 1961, Page 50

A PEOPLE OF WARRIORS by TED NEPIA It is to be expected that every reunion of the 28th Maori Battalion will be fruitful, as befitting an assembly of men who had dedicated their lives in order to win peace and having achieved their ambition are now devoting their energies to ensuring that their effort, and that of those who paid the supreme sacrifice, was not in vain. And so it was. The 1961 reunion will certainly rank as one to be long remembered by all those who participated—estimated by some at close to two thousand. From whatever angle the whole of the proceedings was viewed, no one could fault the arrangements, nor restrain the glow of enthusiasm from the inspirational messages of welcome, and the expressions of deep feeling at all the meetings. The hosts, the Arawa people, had risen to the occasion magnificently, undeterred by the switch over of the venue from Palmerston North to Rotorua at a very late hour. The local people, it would be unwise to mention names, rose to typical heights in the quality and extent of their care for the wants of the men. There were those who doubted the wisdom of congregating such a large number of men from a battalion who had shown a strong partiality towards “fighting” as a novel form of recreation as one speaker put it in Rotorua. In fact it was even rumoured that shutters were ready to protect shop windows in one or two cases. In the end all agreed that this was the first incident-free reunion of any consequence in Rotorua. The men's behaviour was admirable. In fact it was difficult to realise that many of these men, who a few years ago would have flared up at the least compunction, seemed, somehow, more matured and mellowed. Provocative