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Cenotaph record

James Te Kapa Popata

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My grandfather was an amazing person.

My grandfather

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Identity

About

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  • Title
  • Forenames
    James Te Kapa AWMM
  • Surname
    Popata AWMM
  • Ingoa
  • Also known as
    • James Tekapa AWMM
    • Jim AWMM
  • Service number
    • Jayforce 827473 AWMM
    • Korea 204212 AWMM
  • Gender
    Male AWMM
  • Iwi / Hapū / Waka / Rohe
  • Religion
    Ratana AWMM

Civilian life

About birth

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  • Birth
    26 November 1924 AWMM Kaitaia, Northland AWMM
  • Date of birth
  • Place of birth
  • Birth notes
  • Address before enlistment
    • Jayforce Unknown AWMM C/o W. Sutherland Tanneries, Onehunga, Auckland, New Zealand AWMM
    • Korea McIntyre Road, Mangere AWMM
  • Post war occupation
  • Next of kin on embarkation
    Jayforce Mr W. Popata (father), Kaitaia, New Zealand AWMM
  • Relationship status
    Unknown AWMM Single AWMM

Service

Wars and conflicts

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Training and Enlistment

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  • Military training
  • Branch Trade Proficiency
  • Enlistment
  • Occupation before enlistment
  • Age on enlistment

Prisoner of war

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  • Capture details
  • Days interned
  • Liberation date
  • Liberation Repatriation
  • POW liberation details
  • POW serial number

Medical history

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  • Medical notes

Last known rank

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Biographical information

Biographical information

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  • James Te Kapa Popata was a member of the Te Paatu hapū of Ngāti Kahu.

    After his service ended, James attended reunions for Jayforce and K Force, as well as the Auckland Museum War Memorial Dawn Parades on Anzac Day. He was a member of the Manurewa RSA and remained lifelong friends with others he had served with.

    James and his wife, Waiwharangi, raised two daughters and four sons in Mangere East. They supported the local community groups, Mangere East Rugy League Hawks, Selwyn Anglican Church, Scouts, and Papatoetoe Swimming Club. They were active in their kinship ties to Ngati Kahu in Auckland and Taitokerau. Their grandchildren enjoyed their school holidays with them in Taitokerau, camping, fishing swimming, diving, and connecting to their whanau.

    His name is recorded as James Tekapa Popata on the Nominal Rolls for the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. AWMM
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Death

About death

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  • Death
    13 June 1995 AWMM
    Age 70 AWMM
    AWMM
  • Date of death
  • Age at death
  • Place of death
  • Cause of death
  • Death notes
  • Cemetery
    Makapera Urupa, Te Ahua, Taipa, Taitokerau AWMM
  • Cemetery name
  • Grave reference
  • Obituary
  • Memorial name
  • Memorial reference

Memorials

Memorial

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  • Memorial name

Roll of Honour

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Leave a note

Leave a tribute or memory of James Te Kapa Popata

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  • This man was one in a million, everything he done from the time i was born was for the love of his whanau!

    I have the pleasure and honour to be named directly after him, and as such my son after me.

    There is not a day that goes by, that my family, especially my cousins (his grandchildren) that we all still remember and cherish the time we got to spend him.

    You were a man of few words grand-dad but you have a love that was too awesome.

    We all miss you, dearly!
    Public - Campbell TeKapa - Direct descendant - 25 April 2020
    Report 

Sources

Sources

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  • External links
  • References
    • Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. (1950). Nominal Roll Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force No. 16 (Embarkations from 1st January, 1946 to 30th June, 1948). Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer. AWMM
      WW2 16: WW2 107 AWMM
    • Cody, J. (1956). 28 (Maori) Battalion. Wellington, N.Z.: Department of Internal Affairs, War History Branch. AWMM
    • Brocklebank, L.W. (1997). Jayforce : New Zealand and the military occupation of Japan, 1945-48. Auckland, N.Z.: Oxford University Press. AWMM

Contributors

Command item
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DateFirst namesLocationRelationshipContact
25 April 2023LynnWhangareiResearcher
29 April 2020NicholasUnited Kingdom Direct descendant
25 April 2020Campbell TeKapaConnells Point, NSW, 2000Direct descendant

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