Maori Soldier Memorial, Waiohau. North Is. New Zealand.
S 38° 14.005 E 176° 50.285
60H E 485829 N 5768273
A special Maori memorial for a soldier killed in 1941 at Crete during WWII stands proudly in a tiny isolated Maori settlement beneath the Urewera Mountains.
Waymark Code: WM64M4
Location: North Island, New Zealand
Date Posted: 04/01/2009
Views: 6
In the Galatea Valley beneath the Urewera Mountains the small isolated Maori settlement of Waiohau proudly remembers the passing of one of their own people, killed in action during the Battle of Crete in 1941 during World War II.
The memorial stands just inside the gate of the local school grounds beside Galatea Road between Te Teko and Murupara.
The inscription reads:
In Memory of Paora Rua
Killed in action
Crete
May 23rd 1941. Aged 28.
By This Memorial
Remember And Honour
Paora Rua
Who Died For His Country.
The monument is uniquely special because it has a statue of the New Zealand Maori soldier atop the obelisk and stands beside a flag pole adorned with beautiful Maori carvings that flies the Maori flag.
The soldier was most probably part of the famous 28 Maori Battalion in the Battle of Crete in 1941. For 12 days New Zealanders, British, Australian and Greek troops, assisted by Cretan civilians, tried to repel a huge airborne assault by the Germans. They almost succeeded.
Many New Zealanders made it off Crete; more than 2000 were taken prisoner; over 650 died. A few New Zealanders took to the hills, sheltered by the Cretans who, to this day, remember New Zealand's role in this key battle in the Second World War.
Read the history of the Maori Battalion in Crete.
This Waymark is of special interest to us; Paua's father was one of those soldiers captured in Crete and forced to march the long journey to Germany to a Prisoner of War Camp.