Sir Robert Nairn “Koro Bom” Gillies, the last remaining soldier from the legendary Māori Battalion died last week.
He was adamant that war was a terrible waste of life and was a vocal champion for Māori battalion survivors.
What is not widely known amongst Pakeha is the struggle many returning Māori soldiers faced coming home to seized lands because of unpaid local council rates and the double standards that saw many pakeha soldiers given parcels of land and help, while the Māori Battalion soldiers did not.
It is a stain forever on the mana of New Zealand that we did not respect and celebrate Māori war sacrifice the way we applauded Pakeha war sacrifice.
Both Māori and Pakeha sacrificed equally but were rewarded far differently.
There is a deep irony that in the very same week that the last Māori battalion soldier dies – a Māori Battalion that sacrificed to pay the price of NZ citizenship – in the same week he passes, the Government introduces a Bill to redefine the very Treaty and citizenship the Māori Battalion fought and died for.
My father fought in the 28th Maori Battalion in 1941 Egypt. He fought not for the safety of our country but for his friends that he was fighting alongside and british imperialism which culminated in the existence of apartheid Israel. When he arrived back to NZ he was a damaged person participating in killing people he probably had more in common than the pricks that sent him to war like “Apirana Ngata” as being an architect of this policy famously claiming the ‘price of citizenship’ in their own country
He also didn’t get the provisions that he was entitled too and was not aloud to enter the RSA in his local town of Murupara. The hatred that he endured from pakeha was evident even though one of his best friends was a pakeha. Lest we forget
They were indeed badly treated .Their land was taken while they were overseas fighting in another colonial war .Where are the rehab farms they should have been entitled to along side the Pakeha soldiers .
Another great warrior who fought a great battle all his life .RIP great Totara .
A great tōtara has fallen, shedding light on an injustice that needs to be exposed, as do all the forces behind this injustice.