Reginald Iretoro Williams

Ingoa whānau
Williams
Ingoa tuatahi
Reginald Iretoro

World War 2

Tau Rangatū
65264
Tūnga
Private
Wāhi noho
Torere Pa, Opotiki, New Zealand
Whanaunga tino tata i te wā o te kuhunga
Mrs M. Edwards (aunt), Torere Pa, Opotiki, New Zealand

Takupu (1)

Ko Maungarangi te Maunga, Ko Otara te Awa, Ko Terere te marae, Ko Te Iringa te Whare Tupuna, Ko Ngati Ngahere te Hapu, Ko Te Whakatohea te Iwi, Ko Mataatua te Waka. Anei ra te Tihei o te Mauri Ora. Ko toku Papa, he Poukarakia ia ki tona hahi,  Te Hahi o te Ringatu,  he Koroua ia ki tona Hapu me tona Iwi, he Papa ia ki ana Tamariki ( Tekau ma Tahi o matou ), he Paapi ia ki ana Mokopuna me ana Mokopuna tuarua,  tuatoru, tuawha pea hoki, he Hoa Rangatira ia ki to matou Mama, Whaea, Koka ranei,  ko Hohipera tona ingoa, he uri o te whanau Iretoro,  me he Morehu o te Roopu Rua Tekau ma Waru.  No reira Kia ora Tatou. When my Dad returned home, he settled back in Opotiki at his Marae Terere, where he met and married a Putiputi from Ngati Ira; Waioweka marae ,our Mum. My Mum said that times were hard in the begining, but liike a lot of other families of those times, you had the Ngahere, the Moana, and you harvested your own Maara, so you never went without food. Work was hard to find for our Returned servicemen, but my Dad worked where he could find mahi, and finally settled on being a Carpenter for one of the local pakeha down the road. My dad was a very quiet man, and in all the times that I can remember, he never hit or punished us when we were mischief. Our Mum took care of that, but only when we were bad of course!!! Like a lot of returned servicemen, Mum said that Dad spent a lot of time with his soldier friends at the local Pub and may have been a bit of a 'Drunk'  Dad never ever talked about the war to any of us. Not even Mum. When we used to ask him about what he did in the war,  Dad would just go very quiet and walk outside. We sooned learned never to ask that question. I guess that was the reason why a lot of our Morehu 28 Battalion spent a lot of time with their friends at the local pub. They were the only ones who could comfort each other through the horrors and pains that only they had been through. I guess that 'Beer gave them that temporary relief from the 'horrors' that were going on in their minds. Due to ailing health, and immediately after my tukana had finished a karakia, our Dad slipped away from us and went to join his tupuna who had been waiting patiently for him, on the23rd of July, 2003, at home in Opotiki. No reira Dad , moe mai ra i tou moengaroa, e moe i te Rangimarie.