Last 28th Maori Battalion member dies
The last surviving commissioned officer of the Ma¯ ori Battalion has died.
Alfred ‘‘Bunty’’ Preece, died at home on the Chatham Islands on Friday, his biographer Tom O’Connor said. He was 96 years old.
His funeral was held yesterday on the Chathams. He was the last surviving officer of the 28th (Ma¯ ori) Battalion.
Preece joined the New Zealand Army battalion in 1943 at the end of the North African campaign and fought through the Italian campaign until the end of World War II, O’Connor said.
‘‘He was twice wounded, promoted to captain and mentioned in dispatches (mid) for his gallantry in action against German infantry. He also served in J Force, the allied occupational forces in Japan after the war.’’
Preece was a ‘‘quiet but determined man’’, who served as chairman of the former Chatham Islands County Council upon his return home.
He would later express disappointment at the attitude of many New Zealanders and successive governments.
‘‘Most of us had nothing and got nothing,’’ O’Connor quoted Preece saying. ‘‘We went home to an old house. Some went back to the bush to start again and you lost those war years from your life. Nobody wanted to know you or what you had been through.’’
Of the war, he said: ‘‘The experience broadened my horizons and equipped me with knowledge I would never have had, other than by going to war.
‘‘It showed me other lands and people living in poverty and taught me how to live with all classes of people to help and support one another.
‘‘I also saw the worst side of life, destruction and death. I pray that my children and grandchildren never have to experience the horror and hell of war. We fought hard and suffered for so little when we got back.’’
Preece and a few South Islanders were sprinkled among the regionally-based North Island companies. Preece served in D Company, alongside men from Taranaki.
Starting out as a volunteer, he would later be promoted from private to corporal and then sergeant in the army.
He was commissioned in the field and promoted to lieutenant, before becoming an officer at age 24.
In 2012, then aged 92, Preece travelled to Christchurch for the launch of a biography that O’Connor wrote about him. It was entitled Soldier Of The 28 (Maori) Battalion.
‘‘We were proud of what we were and of what we were doing. We respected our officers,’’ he said. ‘‘We all competed. Our aim was to go from private to officer. My dream was to command a company.’’