A Maori historian is trying to piece together the stories of Maori soldiers who served in WWI as their accounts have not been thoroughly recorded.
A Maori historian is trying to piece together the stories of Maori soldiers who served in WWI.
The 28th Maori Battalion at a transit camp in Egypt on the morning after their evacuation from Crete, June 1941. Photo: DIA / Alexander Turnbull Library
Dr Monty Soutar said it was unfortunate their accounts are not thoroughly recorded, unlike what is available on the soldiers of the 28th Maori Battalion, who served in WWII.
He is into his second year of research into the men who served in WWI. He expects to complete it and have it released by 2017, thanks to government funding.
Dr Soutar said from reading the letters and diaries of some of the men, there are similarities to those who served in the Maori Battalion.