WWII soldier sends messages to loved ones
Her grandad died on a battlefield but they’ll be reunited today through audio recordings, writes Te Rina Triponel
Susan Love de Miguel will hear her grandfather’s voice for the first time today. Lieutenant Colonel Eruera Te Whiti o Rongomai Love died on an Egyptian battlefield during World War II but will be reunited with his family this Anzac Day through audio recordings he sent home during his deployment.
“It’ll be an emotional revelation for us,” Love de Miguel told the Herald on Sunday.
“They are very important to us as a family because he died so young and it’s a very unique link to a person we never knew.”
Mobile Broadcasting Units went into war in the 1940s alongside the New Zealand troops.
Among the collection of field reports were hundreds of simple audio recordings from soldiers with messages for their loved ones.
These messages were broadcast on radio across New Zealand and became a national highlight, particularly for Ma¯ori families. They remain a national taonga and it is believed there are up to 1600 World War II audio recordings still to be explored.
Love made three recordings during his tour of duty — one on September 24, 1941, another on January 7, 1942, and the last on May 18, 1942, his birthday.
Love, the first Ma¯ori commander of the 28th Ma¯ori Battalion, never made it back home after he was killed in action in Egypt. He was buried at El Alamein military cemetery in July 1942 after leading his troops at Ruweisat Ridge. He was 37 years old. Love de Miguel first discovered the recordings while in the Cook Islands, working with Nga¯ Taonga Sound and Vision, where the recordings are stored.
“I found out through one of my colleagues here, the exact recordings, the dates, and where they were transmitted.”
The recordings have survived almost 80 years on and today Love de Miguel plans to listen to them in private.
“There’s a sense of tikanga around the listening of these tapes.
“It’s very personal but also it’s
someone who’s passed and I would like to treat it with the respect that it deserves.”
Love was last month honoured by Hutt City Council, which unveiled a street named after him, Eruera Love Lane. Love de Miguel said that moment marked a spiritual return home and was a wonderful occasion.
“Eruera Love Lane is in the area called Waiwhetu¯ in Hutt Valley. That is where they [Love and his wife] established their home and had a plantation.
“The lane is in the area where they actually lived and are connected to by their whakapapa.
“I think they would be absolutely ecstatic to see it. It’s a wonderful way to mark their time here, the decisions they made and the directions they went in.”
Love de Miguel says her mother
and her sisters, who have all passed on, would be proud.
“While they’re not here to celebrate with us, they’ll be absolutely overjoyed.”
Love was known as “The Bull” by his men, and roared his orders so loudly that they could be heard from a mile away.
He studied law at Victoria University College in 1924-25 while being part of the Territorial Force. He soon became an interpreter with the Native Land Court and in 1926 became second lieutenant.
On the outbreak of World War II, Love helped form the 28th Ma¯ori Battalion. He served briefly as commander of D Company before being appointed to the command of the Headquarters Company.
A few months before his death he was promoted to lieutenant colonel.