Thomas Watson Ruka
Born 6 Jul 1917 - Died 29 Mar 1988
- Service number
- 39430 AWMM
- Also known as
- Tamati Tau Wiremu Ruka AWMM
- Tom AWMM
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
- Last rank
- Post WW2 Private AWMM 28 (Maori) Battalion, A Company AWMM
- War
- World War II, 1939-1945 AWMM
Images
Documents
About birth
- Birth
- 6 Jul 1917 AWMM
- Date of birth
- —
- Place of birth
- —
- Birth notes
- —
- Address before enlistment
- Pre 26 Jan 1940 AWMM Poroti, Whangarei, North Auckland, New Zealand AWMM
- Post war occupation
- Painter and decorator/Civilian AWMM
- Next of kin
- Mr Wati Ruka (father), Poroti, Whangarei, North Auckland, New Zealand AWMM
- Relationship status
- Pre 01 May 1940 AWMM Single AWMM
Wars and conflicts
- War
- World War II, 1939-1945 AWMM
- Campaign
- Greece AWMM
- 1941 AWMM Crete AWMM
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
- Service number
- 39430 AWMM
- Military service
- —
- Promotions/ Postings/ Transfers
- —
Military decorations
- Medals and Awards
Training and Enlistment
- Military training
- —
- Branch Trade Proficiency
- —
- Enlistment
- WW2 26 Jan 1940 AWMM
Age 22 AWMM
Timber worker/Civilian AWMM - Age on enlistment
- —
- Occupation before enlistment
- —
Embarkations
- Embarkation details
- WW2 Vessel was Aquitania AWMM Private AWMM 28 (Maori) Battalion, A Company AWMM Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Second Echelon AWMM
Prisoner of war
- Capture details
- WW2 POW - Crete AWMM
- WW2 POW - Salonike, Greece - VIII-B (later Stalag-344) Lamsdorf, Germany AWMM
- WW2 POW - Stalag XVIII-A, Wolfsberg, Austria AWMM
04 Sep 1941-20 May 1945 AWMM
Hiding out in the hills. Tried to escape to Turkey in small boat, but was fired on and captured with others. AWMM
- Days interned
- —
- Liberation date
- —
- POW liberation details
- —
- Liberation Repatriation
- —
- POW serial number
- —
Medical history
- Medical notes
- Hospital Diseases , Wounds, WWII AWMM
Chronic Bronchitis - admitted to hospitals in Scotland, Whangarei and Wellington. He was also treated for war related health problems at Green Lane Hospital, Auckland and the North Shore Naval Hospital. The naval hospital admitted patients who were on a war pension regardless of which branch of the armed forces they served with. AWMM - Died of Disease, Cause of Death AWMM
Myocardial Infraction, chronic obstructive airways disease AWMM
- Hospital Diseases , Wounds, WWII AWMM
Last known rank
- Last rank
- Post WW2 11 Jul 1947 AWMM Private AWMM
28 (Maori) Battalion, A Company AWMM - Last rank
- —
Biographical information
- Timber Worker for Whangarei Timber Co.
Amongst others not evacuated from Crete by Allied Destroyers.
He returned to New Zealand on board the Dominion Monarch.
Te Kowhai was also known in older times as Te Tepu Kai.
Lorreen Ruka wrote: I met my future Ngapuhi husband 39430 Thomas Watson Ruka/Tamati Tau Wiremu Ruka, 28 Maori Battalion, in Wellington. There was a ten year difference in ages with me being sixteen and him twenty six. It was love at first sight.
After our marriage we settled in Auckland due to my husband's ongoing health problems caused by hardship endured as a POW for four and a half years in Germany. He was under the constant care of the War Pension Specialists. Thomas was left behind on Crete when the evacuation took place and was subsequently captured.
Early married life was marred by the blatant racism exhibited by many pakeha towards Maori. Mixed marriages were not acceptable. We were unable to live together for some considerable time so I would secure jobs where you could live-in near the boarding house where my husband and three of his brothers stayed. One such job I was hired as a housemaid/waitress in a hotel. Later in the day Thomas came with me to assist with my luggage and see my new accommodation and also to meet the proprietors. On seeing Thomas with me, who, I should add, was not as yet discharged from the Army and still in uniform, I was sacked on the spot. I will not repeat here the insults levelled at us both. It was with difficulty my husband restrained himself from retaliating physically.
Our living arrangements took a turn for the better and we moved into a Transit Camp at Tamaki while awaiting a State House location.
Soon we moved into our new state home with our two children. Later two more made our family complete. To make ends meet my husband looked after the children while I worked 11 pm to 7 am as a Nurse Aid and when they were older I undertook work that enabled me to be home when they got back from school. Thomas worked as a self-employed painter and for quite a few years life was on an even keep despite his increasing ill health and at times being unable to work.
A hospital admission with TB took its toll and gradually he became restricted as to what activities he could do - even driving because he was on a nebulizer and at times oxygen.
It would be fitting if I could say that on his passing away at home 29 March 1988 and laid to rest in the Urupa 'Te Kowhai' at Titoki he was Resting in Peace but sadly that was not to be.
Ongoing access problems to the Urupa caused by the Pakeha farmer who leased the former Maori land and now in European title, went on for several years.
A Whanau Hui was held with the outcome being the exhumation of my husband and two of our daughters and their re-internment at Maunu Cemetery, Whangarei with the Kohatu being placed above their new resting places.
This decision was not made lightly but to put an end to stress and heartache which was reaching the point where violence would have been the inevitable outcome.' Lorreen Ruka. p.30
Originally interred at Te Kowhai Urupa, Titoki, Northland, New Zealand AWMM
About death
- Death
- 29 Mar 1988 AWMM
Age 71 AWMM - Date of death
- —
- Age at death
- —
- Place of death
- —
- Cause of death
- Died of Disease AWMM
- Death notes
- —
- Cemetery
- Maunu Cemetery, Cemetery Road off State Highway 14, Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand AWMM
- Cemetery name
- —
- Grave reference
- —
- Obituary
- Death notice: New Zealand Herald, March 1988 AWMM
- Memorial name
- —
- Memorial reference
- —
Memorial
- Memorial name
- —
Related objects
Sources
- External links
- 28th Maori Battalion Website 1941-1945
http://www.28maoribattalion.org.nz/
Further Reference - Cody, J. (1956). 28 (Maori) Battalion. Wellington: Dept. of Internal Affairs, War History Branch. Digital copy.
https://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/webarchive/20210104000423/http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Maor.html
Further Reference - Great Britain Army. (1945). Germany and German occupied territories : imperial prisoners of war alphabetical list : section 4. London, U.K.: Government Printer. Zenodo Record.
https://zenodo.org/records/3955186
Further Reference
- 28th Maori Battalion Website 1941-1945
- References
- List of 2NZEF Prisoners of War. 1941-1945. Auckland War Memorial Museum Library. MS 2009/8.
- Cody, J. (1956). 28 (Maori) Battalion. Wellington, N.Z.: Department of Internal Affairs, War History Branch.
- Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. (1941). Nominal Roll Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force No. 2 (Embarkations to 30th June, 1940). Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
WW2 2: WW2 162 - The New Zealand Herald
Death notice: March 1988 - Great Britain Army. (1945). Germany and German occupied territories : imperial prisoners of war alphabetical list : section 4. London, U.K.: Government Printer.
- Information kindly provided by family
- Nominal Roll of NZ Escapees and Evaders - 1 New Zealand Interrogation Section Book 1, Archives New Zealand, Wellington, AAAA 7393 (R25405144)
- Mason, W.W. (1954) Prisoners of war. Wellington, N.Z.: Department of Internal Affairs, War History Branch.
- McClymont, W. (1959). To Greece. Wellington, N.Z.: Department Internal Affairs, War History Branch.
- Davin, D. (1953). Crete. Wellington, N.Z.: Department of Internal Affairs, War History Branch.
The development of the Online Cenotaph is an ongoing process; updates, new images and records are added weekly. In some cases, records have yet to be confirmed by Museum staff, and there could be mistakes or omissions in the information provided.
Online Cenotaph Data by Auckland War Memorial Museum is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.