Riai Maori

Lance-Corporal Bill (Willie) Henry Apiata, NZSAS

Willie Apiata

Date of action: May–September 2004 (Afghanistan)
Date of award: 2 July 2007

Bill (Willie) Apiata is the recipient to date of the Victoria Cross (VC) for New Zealand. Apiata was part of a New Zealand Special Air Service (NZSAS) Troop in Afghanistan in 2004 that was attacked by about 20 enemy fighters while camped for the night in a rural area. Rocket-propelled grenades destroyed one of the troop’s vehicles and immobilised another. Apiata was blown off the bonnet of the vehicle he had been sleeping on, while two other soldiers in or near the vehicle were wounded by shrapnel, one of them seriously. After finding cover and assessing the soldier’s injuries, Apiata carried him across 70 m of exposed ground to reach the troop’s main position. He then helped fight off the attackers. Corporal Apiata received his VC on 26 July 2007 at Government House in Wellington. New Zealand


Second Lieutenant Moana-nui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu, 28th (Maori) Battalion, 2NZEF
Te Moananui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu in 1940

Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa Ngārimu

Date of action: 26 March 1943 (Tebaga Gap, Tunisia)
Date of award: 4 June 1943 (posthumous award)

Moana-nui-a-Kiwa Ngārimu was the first Māori soldier to win the VC. A second lieutenant in the 28th (Maori) Battalion’s C Company, he took part in the assault at Tebaga Gap, Tunisia, in March 1943. The battalion’s objective was a strategically important hill known as Point 209. The first task was to take high ground below the summit. Ngārimu led his platoon up one of these lower hills on 26 March, personally knocking out several machine-gun posts. After capturing the crest, his men repelled a number of fierce German counter-attacks during the night. Despite wounds to his shoulder and leg, Ngārimu refused to leave his position. He was killed the next morning fighting off another enemy attack. His VC was presented to his parents at a hui at Ruatōria on 6 October 1943.