1950: New Zealand War Service Medal
April 19, 2021
By AHNZ
It was in c.1950 that the New Zealand Government issued its first ever war service medal. Although it was approved by the King, it was perhaps a sign on the part of Labour 1.0 of breaking with the British Motherland. The New Zealand War Service Medal (NZWSM) was given the go-ahead in 1948, the same year as The British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act which took away our British Citizenship and invented New Zealand Citizenship. Although the design and plan for the NZWSM was underway as early as 1946 nothing was done about it until at least 1950¹ and by then the promise had to be kept by National 1.0 who were now in power.
The 1950s manufactured supply has long since run out² but new versions have been minted and issued as recently as 2021.
Some 134 soldiers of C Company, Maori Battalion, made a personal decision not to claim their WW2 medals from the Government. Considering how poorly they were treated by the government it’s no surprise to me! It was never up to anyone but the individual himself to claim his medals and for whatever reason these Maori Battalion soldiers elected not to do so. Why go against their wishes?
Thousands of WW1 medals sit in a stockpile to this day, unclaimed. More than a third of the medals issued were returned to sender via the post because of change of address. So, it was organised that the NZWSM would be distributed in response to applications and, as we have seen, that didn’t come about at all until some years after the war was over.
Of over 900 records, 137 of Maori Battalion Company C had gone unclaimed. A descendant of one of the unclaimed medals himself, David Stone, campaigned for families to make the application in 2020. Just 66 soldier’s descendant families of the 134 decided to flip flop, at the urging of David Stone. The story plays as if Maori have been hard done by, victims. Yet any man who, black or white, who did not claim his medals did not get them. Is David Stone trying to track down white man families who didn’t want medals too? He is also taking the opportunity to bemoan the fact that the government didn’t pay him in some way for his research.
“He said not withstanding it has been 75 years that these families have been waiting, “it’s never ever too late to do the right thing, ever.'”- RNZ (April 2021)
“While most medals were issued in the early 1950s, others have been claimed by Service personnel or their descendants over the last 70 years.” – Whanau of Māori Battalion soldiers reunited with medals, miragenews.com
Awesome..sad its taken 75 yrs tho😔💗Maori served their country valiantly and the pakeha didn’t acknowledge them, pokokohua!!!What an absolute disgrace that this has taken so long to sort out.We should be ashamed that this occurred.75 years to receive their honours. . NZ should be ashamed that it took so long!Wow. Pretty poor acknowledgement by NZ Defence force for the sacrifices all the soldiers made, to make them request the medals then send them through the post. Shameful.
Wonderful news, I’m glad we’re at a place where people can right the wrongs of the past, it’s just a shame it didn’t happen back then.About bloody time. Long overdue. Sadly they are not here to share their heroism being finally recognized.76 years an utter disgrace That’s what they thought.of the maori battalion for their services to the bloody Queen.interesting but further factual post war service treatment and injustice to maori soldiers– Social media comments
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Ref. 1942: The Maori War Effort Organisation
1 Ref. AJHRs (1949); Papers Past
2 Ref. Thousands of war medals unclaimed, Stuff (2015)
3 Apart from the O’Keefe family who had already received their medal but as part of the getting carried away with the Social Justice (I suppose) of the occasion were given a double dip as part of Stone’s initiative; Ref. NZDF
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