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Photo: Governor-General Facebook.
Te Arawa and Ngāti Kahungunu turned out in force in Te Whanganui ā Tara today to celebrate the investiture of Sir Robert Bom Gillies, the last survivor of the 28 Māori Battalion.
Sir Robert received the tohu from Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro at Government House witnessed by a few immediate family members, and then joined about 200 people at the Cenotaph at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park.
In warm and windless conditions, Sir Robert and Willie Apiata VC laid wreaths for the 3600 members of the battalion, 649 of whom lost their lives in the four years the battalion fought in North Africa, Greece, Crete and Italy.
There will be a formal dinner for the 97-year-old this evening.
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