Ruki Tipene

I mate atu i te 7 Jun 1998

Nama Hōia: 26062 AWMM
Ingoa kārangaranga: Titiro AWMM
Te Ope o Tū / te peka: Army AWMM
Te tūnga whakamutunga: 28 (Maori) Battalion, A Company AWMM
Pakanga: World War II, 1939-1945 AWMM

Group, WW2 four 28 (Maori) Battalion soldiers: Ruki Tipene is on the left rear of the picture. - This image may be subject to copyright

Whakaatu mai ngā āpure e wātea ana Hunaia ngā mātāwai kōrero

Kōrero taurongo

The following was written by Lynda Tipene, daughter of Ruki, about her father's enlistment. The story goes that Ruki and a mate spent part of the day they were to enlist in the pub before making their way to the recruitment office:

'For Ruki with his particular affliction, the eyesight testing was a sham as he was not able to read it properly, let alone stand still, but the examination officer, suspecting Ruki to be feining, said to him "No good playing up [to me], you pass" much to the delight of Titiro Tipene, who followed his older brother Solomon into the annals of the 28 Maori Battalion history.

When asked what prompted him to join, he replied "Kia kite ai au te Ao" (to see the world).

Ruki was 22 years old when he arrived in Maadi, outside Cairo in Egypt. It was the Battalion's base camp for A Company and the Company Commander was Major Ben Porter, who had as his 2IC a young Captain James Clendon Henare, of Motatau, Ruki's first cousin.

Ruki recounted a time when on operations, the Company was awakened by Ben Porter in the middle of the night to arm themselves and follow him.

The Major had gone on a reconnaissance of his own and discovered the Germans to be leaving their dugouts. After arriving near the supposedly abandoned area, the Germans had actually reinforced their positions which would have had grave repercussions for A Company had they approached the battlefield casually. Major Porter ordered 'Fix Bayonets' and the Company charged the trenches anyway.

The fact that Ruki took part in this attack says much for the type of warfare he was to participate in, the huge respect given to the Major in this sudden change of events, and the almost fatalistic stance the Maori soldier viewed fighting.

It almost felt that unless one was prepared to have a god, one was wasting his time in the theatre. After the war, Ruki bought a truck, applied for the cream run, won the contract and picked up and delivered the cans to the local factory. He was betrothed to a relative but did not carry it through and married instead Ngaurupa (aka Tusi aka Lucy) Jones of Opahi.

After his marriage in 1944 he worked the farm at Opahi for some years, then moved to Moerewa where he became employed by the Bay of Islands County Council. When Ruki became ill he and Tusi moved to Auckland to be closer to their family.

Ruki died on 7 June 1998 and was buried at Takapuna cemetery, Motatau with his brother Solomon and his cousin Sir James Henare.' Lynda Tipene. AWMM

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Ruki Tipene

Ruki Tipene

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