Rewi MacDonald was born on 1 February 1918 in Blenheim.
He was the son of Hoani MacDonald from Rangitāne ki Wairau and Marie Christine (nee Sciascia) from Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga and Trani, Italy.
At the age of 21 on 3rd November 1939 Rewi enlisted. He left for war on 8th November 1940 with the Fourth Reinforcements on the HMS Batory and disembarked in Egypt on 12 December 1940.
Rewi served with D Company. On 4th September 1942 he was wounded in at El Munassib Depression, Egypt. Lieutenant Tikao-Barrett reported:
"...D Company had split up into two attacking parties. Dave MacDonald had his left arm blown off at the elbow by a heavy burst of fire while he was charging a machine-gun nest". Tikao recalled "...that when he hit the ground he picked up his arm and in his fury threw it at the machine-gun post." (Soutar, 2008, p.231).
He was invalided home on 9th of December 1942 arriving back in Wellington on the 4th of January 1943.
Rewi was awarded the Royal Warrant (Bravery Award) on 30 September 1948.
On 25th September 1978 at the age of 60 Rewi passed away. He is buried at the Māori Urupā at Blenheim.
Comments (0)