Te Moananui-a-Kiwa Ngārimu, the Māori Legend
He was killed on his feet defiantly facing the enemy with his tommy-gun at his hip. As he fell, he came to rest almost on the top of those of the enemy who had fallen, the number of whom testified to his outstanding courage’. The Germans on Point 209 surrendered later that day. A few weeks before he was killed he had written to his parents that he had dreamed of his great grandmother Hana Maraea. She was beckoning to him in the dream.from the Government of New Zealand Encyclopedia
The men of the Māori Battalion were embroiled in much of the heavy fighting in Greece, Crete and Libya. During the retreat from Tobruk (Tubruq) it took part in the breakout from encirclement at Minqâr Qaim. In February 1943, following the battle of El Alamein and the advance to Tripoli, eight C Company officers, including Ngārimu, wrote to Sir Apirana Ngata describing the battalion’s casualties: two commanders had been wounded and some men had been wounded two or three times. The fittest of the wounded were being used to reinforce the front lines. The officers suggested to Ngata that it was time their men were taken out to rest.