Governor-General Lt Gen Rt Hon Sir Jerry Mateparae gives an historical reading at the official closing ceremony of the 28th Māori Battalion Association.
His Excellency read an abbreviated transcript of a letter written by Captain Arapeta Awatere to his wife Elsie after the battle for Point 209. Capt. Awatere later became one of the Battalion's Commanding Officers.
The photo is taken just before he started the reading where he compares a scene in front of the memorial to the environment the Battalion would have fought in: "I was just looking out to where the memorial garden will be. And if you look now there’s earth works and digging and the colour and sand is very reminiscent of the desert. If you look to the left there are bricks which probably would be reminiscent of parts of Italy that the Battalion went through, but a very poignant sort of scene that sets before us."
1st December 2012, National War Memorial - Wellington.
Te Puni Kōkiri
Photographer: Michael Bradley
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