Soldiers Without Borders by Ian McPhedran

Author:Ian McPhedran [McPhedran, Ian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780730450269
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter twenty-one

THE MAORI SPIRIT

Sitting cross-legged on the floor of the whare, or Maori meetinghouse, it is difficult to imagine that the gentle man of god, explaining the significance of the symbols around the wall, was once an SAS soldier in the Maori warrior tradition.

Anglican minister, the Reverend Kevin Herewini, is one of those positive human beings with a happy disposition that would make him good company in any situation.

As he spoke about the intricacies of Maori culture and the significance of the army marae or meeting place and the pou pou, or traditionally carved totem poles around the walls of the whare, it was clear that Maori culture has a fundamental presence within the New Zealand army or Ngati Tumatauenga, ‘tribe of the god of war’, as it is known in the Maori language.

At one end of the house the sacred wall is covered with photographs of deceased members of the community upon whose marae the meetinghouse stands. The latest picture to join the gallery of the departed is Maori SAS Sergeant Graham Campbell, who was killed in action in Vietnam 38 years earlier in January 1970.

Speaking in hushed tones, Herewini tells the story of the elaborate Maori ceremony that had taken place earlier that day on 12 January 2008, to mark the dedication of Campbell into the whare.

As a chill breeze blew off the snow-covered slopes of the nearby volcano, Mount Ruapehu, guests had been welcomed to the army marae at the Waiouru national army camp in the desert country south of Lake Taupo, by Maori elders and religious leaders with a traditional powhiri or welcome.

‘There’s a set sequence, they usually start off by acknowledging the Creator, then they acknowledge the deceased,’ Herewini says. ‘This is one of the dimensions of Maoridom that people have difficulty trying to fathom. For example, the photos on the wall, and all our speechmaking, it always goes back to the departed ones.’

For the Maori it is crucial to acknowledge other things as well, such as the sky father, Rangi, and the building, the ancestral home.

Herewini describes the army whare at Waiouru as ‘absolutely magnificent’, because it embraces all cultures and all people. He says each army unit has its place in the whare and it is no surprise that he is seated beneath the SAS pou pou. Pointing around the room, he says each pou pou represents an ancestor or part of the community such as a tribe or hapu.

‘That one there is the sacred pillar—the one on the left is the Christian one,’ he says, pointing out the various carvings.

Kevin Herewini served for 26 years in the New Zealand Army and 21 of those were spent in the SAS, where he rose to the rank of warrant officer class one and regimental sergeant major. He eventually became a commissioned officer and retired with the rank of captain in the parachute training school.

Born in 1946 in a town called Kaeo north of the Bay of Islands, he joined up as a 16-year-old boy in the regular force cadets.

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