The last surviving member of 28 Māori Battalion, Sir Robert “Bom” Gillies, will make a remote contribution to a special ceremony in Auckland tomorrow.
The battalion is being honoured with a special plaque at Kāhui St Davids’s Presbyterian church in Grafton.
Lawyer David Stone, who has been helping uri across the country get their whānau medals, says because Sir Bom needs to be at ANZAC Day services in Rotorua the next morning he will read the ode from his own home.
He says the role the 99-year-old is playing as the last representative of the esteemed battalion could be seen from the response of Italians during a trip to the battle ground at Monte Cassino last year.
“The Italian people, they would come up to him and when they found that who he was they would drop to their knees, tears were pouring down, they would kiss his hands, they would kiss his face and they would just say ‘Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for our freedom. Thank you for our liberty.’ The Italian people, they certainly hadn’t forgotten and the gratitude towards him, it was humbling,” Mr Stone says.
- Waatea News