Rotorua Museum Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa is calling for photographs and stories of soldiers who served in B Company of the 28th Māori Battalion during World War ll.

This initiative aims to fill the museum with stories told, developed and delivered by families of soldiers that served in the New Zealand army during World War ll.

Rotorua Museum director, Stewart Brown said the museum is especially eager in connecting with whānau who can provide images, letters, or anecdotes about their tūpuna.

“You know, some of these soldiers that came to register in B Company in Rotorua because they were underage and changed their names,”

“This isn’t about us [as Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa] telling their stories, this is about B company whānau telling their stories. The stories that we don’t know about,”

B Company, or affectionately known as Ruku Kapa (Pennie Divers), comprised around 1,000 men from the Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, and Taupō regions, and played a pivotal role in campaigns across Greece, Crete, North Africa, and Italy between 1940 and 1945.

Despite their significant contributions, many personal stories and photographs remain undocumented.

Brown said whānau contributions will give insight into the diverse experiences of soldiers and their families during and after the war.

“You know, a lot of these men that went to war thought they were going on this around-the-world trip. A chance to leave Aotearoa and see the wider world for what it is, but they came back different men.”

I haere tangata atu, i hoki rongotoa mai

Ko Regan Balzer te mokopuna a Second Lieutenant Clarence Balzer.

I pakanga ia i te pakanga tuarua o te ao i waenga i ngā tau 1935-1945

Ko Clarence me āna teina a Aubrey rāua ko Oswald i pakanga tahi ki Itāria.

E kī ana a Regan, me mātua mōhio Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa ki te hiranga o tōna koroua me ōna wheako.

“He nui ngā kōrero mō te tangata. Ehara ko ā tātou tūpuna he whakaahua noa iho. Nō reirā, rawe ki ahau kei te kohikohi whakaahua. Kei te kohikohi kōrero e pā ana ki te tangata anō,”

Ko te tau tuatahi tēnei e kore e rangona ai te kakara o Tā Rāpata ‘Bom’ Gillies, te hoia whakamutunga o te Ope Taua 28, ko te ika whakamutunga hoki o Ngā Ruku Kapa, tekau mā whitu tau noa iho tōna pakeke i taua wā rā.

Hei tā Balzer, ko ngā wheakoranga a Tā Bom, a tana koroua, e rua, e rua.

“Ka nui ngā whakaaro a Papa Bom me te kaupapa nui e kawea e ia mo āna hoa, mo tana whanaunga mo tātou katoa. Ko te mea matua o tana kōrero, Kāre he hua kua puta i te pakanga, ahakoa te aha,”

Me he whakaahua wā ētahi atu o ngā whānau, tēnā, ka tāea te tuku mā tēnei whārangi ipurangi https://bit.ly/b_co_whanau.