April 19, 2021
No mana in mail out medals
The Minister for Veterans’ Affairs wants changes to the way medals and commendations are presented to veterans.
Meka Whaitiri joined Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson at a ceremony at Gisborne's Māori Battalion Memorial House on Saturday where whānau received the medals of their tūpuna from C Company.
It followed a campaign by Auckland lawyer David Stone to track down the families of battalion members whose medals had never been collected.
Ms Whaitiri says there were no medal ceremonies for battalion members when they returned from the war, and they were expected to write in for their medals.
"As David Stone reminded us, there is no mana in getting your medals in the mail so I think you will see a change in the way we honour past soldiers and the use of marae should be part and parcel of that recognition," she says.
About 15 percent of all those who served in World War two did not claim their medals.
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