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Cenotaph record

Harding Waipuke Leaf

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Portrait of Harding Waipuke Leaf in WWI uniform. Image provided by Bradley family - No known copyright restrictions

Portrait of Harding Waipuke Leaf in WWI uniform. Image provided by Bradley family - No known copyrig …

No Known Copyright Restrictions AWMM

Identity

About

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  • Title
  • Forenames
    Harding Waipuke AWMM
  • Surname
    Leaf AWMM
  • Ingoa
  • Also known as
    Haringi AWMM
  • Service number
    • WWI 16/336 AWMM
    • WWII 6116 AWMM
  • Gender
    Male AWMM
  • Iwi
    Ngā Puhi AWMM
  • Hapū
  • Waka
  • Rohe
  • Religion
    Church of England, Christian AWMM

Civilian life

About birth

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  • Birth
    6 October 1890 AWMM Hokianga, Northland AWMM
  • Date of birth
  • Place of birth
  • Birth notes
    Son of John Edward Leaf and Matu Leaf (nee Kemara) Public - Lorraine M - Researcher - 11 March 2016 - Research
  • Address before enlistment
    • WW1 Pre 4 November 1914 AWMM Whirinaki, Hokianga, New Zealand AWMM
    • WW2 Whirinaki, Hokianga, New Zealand AWMM
  • Post war occupation
  • Next of kin on embarkation
    • WW1 Henry Leaf, Whirinaki, via Rawene, Hokianga, New Zealand AWMM
    • WW1 Mrs Helene Leaf (wife), Whirinaki, Hokianga, New Zealand AWMM
  • Relationship status
    • Pre 14 February 1915 AWMM Single/WWI AWMM
    • Pre 2 May 1940 AWMM Married/WWII AWMM
    • Nov 1917 married of Helen Kendry in Leith, Scotland Public - Lorraine M - Researcher - 11 March 2016 - Military Record

Service

Wars and conflicts

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  • War
  • Campaign
    • 1915-1916 Gallipoli AWMM
    • 1914-1919 Western Front AWMM
    • 1941 Crete AWMM
    • 1914-1916 Egypt AWMM
  • Armed force / branch
    Army AWMM
  • Service number
    • WWI 16/336 AWMM
    • WWII 6116 AWMM
  • Military service
  • Promotions/ Postings/ Transfers

Military decorations

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  • Medals and Awards
    • Military Cross (MC) AWMM
      Citation for Military Cross (MC): "For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when in charge of a wiring party. He was taking his party up to the outpost line with wiring material under the most adverse circumstances, as it was very dark and raining heavily. When just outside the frontline, they came under a heavy barrage, but by his fine person example of keeping his men together andled them through the barrage to their work which they completed satisfactorily." (London Gazette, 9 January 1918) AWMM
    • 1914-1915 Star AWMM
    • Victory Medal AWMM
    • British War Medal (1914-1920) AWMM
    • War Medal 1939-1945 AWMM
    • New Zealand War Service Medal AWMM
    • British War Medal
      Victory Medal
      WWII: Defence Medal
      1939-1945 War Medal
      NZ War Service Medal Public - Lorraine M - Researcher - 11 March 2016 - Military Record

Training and Enlistment

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Embarkations

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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
    Killed in Action, Cause of Death AWMM

Last known rank

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Biographical information

Biographical information

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    • Harding Leaf was the son of John Edward Leaf and Matu Leaf (née Kemara) and husband of Helene Leaf, of Dargaville

      A Company was made up of men from the West Coast, North of Auckland and the South Island. The Maori Contingent boarded the ship Wairrimoo at Auckland. The ship then sailed to Wellington, took part in the march there, and then boarded again to leave Wellington for Egypt. The Maori Contingent landed at Gallipoli on 3 July 1915. The Maori Pioneers took part in several major British offensives when at the Western Front. AWMM
    • Harding Waipuke Leaf was a captain in 28 Maori Battalion in the Second World War. You have him recorded as being a sergeant in the Maori Pioneer Battalion in the First World War, but since he was awarded the Military Cross, he must have been an officer - the MC was only awarded to commissioned officers. His WWI service record in Archives NZ shows him to have been a private, then a corporal and then a sergeant, before being made a Lieutenant on 21 May 1915. He was Temporary Captain between 14 August and 24 October 1917, in the absence of the Captain. He then resumed the rank of Lieutenant, which he held until the end of the war. He enlisted as a 1st Lieutenant in WWII, and was made Captain almost immediately, a rank he held until his death.

      As well as the memorials you list, he is also commemorated on a memorial in his home district of Whirinaki, erected by his son Lomond Leaf. Public - Stuart - Researcher - 10 June 2015 - Rank and decoration from his military personnel file. The Whirinaki memorial is included in Heritage New Zealand's database, and its erection is referred to in New Zealand Herald, 12 January 1991 p 9
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Death

About death

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  • Death
    22 May 1941 AWMM
    Age 52 AWMM
    Crete, Greece AWMM
  • Date of death
  • Age at death
  • Place of death
  • Cause of death
    Killed in Action AWMM
  • Death notes
  • Cemetery
  • Cemetery name
  • Grave reference
  • Obituary
  • Memorial name
  • Memorial reference

Memorials

Memorial

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  • Memorial name
    • Athens Memorial, Phaleron War Cemetery, Athens, Greece AWMM
    • Auckland War Memorial Museum, World War 2 Hall of Memories AWMM
    • Hokianga Arch of Remembrance, Kohukohu, Hokianga, New Zealand AWMM

Roll of Honour

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  • A man of outstanding courage. Who fought alongside his courageous comrades. Proud to be a direct descendant of Harding. Tu mai ra te maunga tapu o Te Ramaroa, ki reira koe a wairua tau ai. Whatungarongaro te tangata ki te whenua, toitu te rangatira, toitu nga mahara. E te matua, e te toi kahurangi o to tatou whanau, nei ra nga mihi maioha. E kore e ea i te kupu taku aroha mou. Moe mai x
    Public - Maikio - Other Relative - 14 May 2015
    Report 
  • He mihi maioha tenei no nga uri o enei wa, mo to koha i nga pakanga me to tu rangatira i to wa oranga. Ka mokemoke tonu matou mou, ka hiahia kia whakahoki to tinana ki to ukaipo, engari ka mohio matou kei konei tonu koe a wairua. Kua whanau mai tetahi o ou mokopuna, ka tu whakahihi ia me tou ingoa HARDING LEGEND. He aroha mutunga kore tenei ki a koe.
    Public - Stacey - Other Relative - 29 March 2015
    Report 

Sources

Sources

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  • External links
  • References
    • Leaf, J.M. (1983). Sons of Te Ramaroa = Nga tama a Te Ramaroa. Kaikohe, N.Z.: Author. AWMM
    • Auckland Museum. Roll of Honour, Auckland Province, 1939 - 1945. Auckland War Memorial Museum Library. MS 93/139. AWMM
    • Gardiner, W. (1992). Te mura o te Ahi = The story of the Maori Battalion. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed. AWMM
    • New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1914-1919). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Volume I. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer. AWMM
      Vol1: 409 AWMM
    • 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. AWMM
      WW2 2: WW2 108 AWMM
    • Leaf, J.M. (1990). Leaf family reunion, 1832-1990. Kaikohe, N.Z.: Author. AWMM
    • Gardiner, W. (1992). Te mura o te Ahi = The story of the Maori Battalion. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed. AWMM
      pp. 25-6 AWMM
    • Dyer, H. (1953). Ma Te Reinga = By way of Reinga : the way of the Maori soldier. Ilfracombe, England: Arthur H. Stockwell. AWMM
    • New Zealand. Army. 1st Maori Contingent. Scroll of the 1st New Zealand Maori Contingent, 1915. Auckland War Memorial Museum Library. MS-624. AWMM
    • Beattie, P.J. & Pomeroy, M. (2013-2020). Onward : portraits of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (vols 1-5). Auckland, New Zealand: Fair Dinkum Publications AWMM
      Vol. 3: Includes portrait AWMM
    • Soutar, M. (2019). Whitiki! Whiti! Whiti! E!: Maori In the First World War. New Zealand: David Bateman Ltd. AWMM
    • Cody, J. (1956). 28 (Maori) Battalion. Wellington, N.Z.: Department of Internal Affairs, War History Branch. AWMM
    • Information kindly provided by family AWMM
    • McDonald, W. (2013). Honours and Awards to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the Great War, 1914-1918. (3rd ed.). Hamilton, N.Z.: Richard Stowers. AWMM

Contributors

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DateFirst namesLocationRelationshipContact
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23 October 2022Lorraine MonaGisborneResearcher
25 April 2022Ian BanksTaumarunui New ZealandResearcher
11 March 2016Lorraine MGisborne, NZResearcher
10 June 2015Stuart Kerikeri, N ZResearcher
14 May 2015MaikioNorthland, New ZealandOther Relative

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