The last veteran of the 28th Maori Battalion's A company, Charlie Petera, has died at his home in Ngataki in the Far North, aged 92.
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
Mr Petera was the patron of the Leadership Academy of A Company, a Whangarei charter school that aims to instil the battalion's discipline and principles in young Māori.
His nephew, Rudy Taylor, said Mr Petera was one of the leaders of the revival of Ngāti Kuri as a distinct iwi.
His funeral would be at Waiora Marae in Ngataki on Tuesday.