Tuheka Taonui Hetet

Died 27 Nov 1938

Service number: WWI 16/446 AWMM
Also known as: —
Armed force / branch: Army AWMM
Last rank: —
War: World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM

Tuheka Taonui Hetet — WWI Roll of Honour (Paretekorae to Tama Lee). I nainatia te kaupapa o te maungaarongo e te huihui topu o Ingarangi, Wiwi, Merika, Itariana, me ētahi atu ki tētahi taha me Tiamana, i te 28 o ngā rā o Hune 1919, ka takoto te marino i te ao katoa. [The terms of peace were agreed by the united gathering of England, France, America, Italy, and others on one side, and Germany on the other, on the 28th day of June 1919, and peace was established throughout the world]. Te Tokanganui-a-Noho, Te Kūiti (15 November 2025). © Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira All Rights Reserved

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Biographical information

Brothers Tuheka Taonui Hetet (16/446) and Wetere Taonui Hetet (19418) served in WW1

Memorial card including a photographs of Wetere Taonui (Kelly) Hetet and Tuheka Hetet WW1 and also of Kingi Tuheka (Hoppy) Hetet 28 Battalion WW2 laid by whanau in the Auckland War Memorial Museum, World War 2 Hall of Memories.

LETTER FROM THE FRONT
PRIVATE TUHEKA HETET

MAORI SOLDIERS’ WORK

Mr J. T. Hetet, of Te Kūiti, on Saturday last received a letter from his son, Tuheka, who, together with a number of other Te Kūiti men, went to the front with the First Māori Contingent. Tuheka gives an interesting account of various engagements he has been in, and mentions a number of other well-known Te Kūiti lads who went with him.

Tuheka was in hospital for a time, but at the time of writing—August 31st—he had been in the firing line for a considerable period and was then in good health. In recounting some of his experiences he says:

“About four weeks ago we made an attack on the Turks at night. We were divided among the Pākehā New Zealanders, and started off about 9 o’clock. We had not gone far when the enemy opened fire, but we did not hesitate. Tom led his party well; in fact, the whole of the Māori officers made a good showing.

The first of our men to get wounded was T. Wahanui. He was shot through both legs, and the other brother, Kohatu, was shot in the left arm. I hear they were capturing a Turkish big gun when they were shot. These were the only two Ngāti Maniapoto to get wounded.

We gained a lot of ground that night, all by bayonet work. We were not allowed to load our rifles until daylight. Next morning we continued our attack and were out for four days before we returned to the rest camp. Most of our boys got wounded, but only a few were killed. However, it made a big hole in our contingent, and out of five hundred there are only about two hundred left unwounded.

About a week ago a hundred of our boys went to help the New Zealanders and Australians and only fifty returned. Our boys are now divided up in different units. We are in the Auckland Battalion with Thomas Ellis. He was the only officer, with forty-four men, left out of the Fifth Reinforcements of the 16th Waikato.

Every trench the Maoris captured they gave a haka, and the Pākehā joined in. You would not think they were on the battlefield the way they were carrying on. It took the officers all their time to hold them back, but they never disobeyed orders. The Maoris got praise from the General for the good work they did.

Brownie and Dan Gray and myself are in the best of health and condition, and hope to return home and see you all if God spares us.” (King Country Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 817, 27 October 1915, Page 5).

While stationed in England, Hetet contributed to unit concerts and cultural performances. At a fundraising concert at Bournemouth Winter Gardens, he took the role of Rewi Maniapoto in a staged tableau of the Waikato War, delivering the famous line “Ka whawhai tonu mātou ake, ake, ake,” as recorded in the NZEF column Engineers’ Notes (c. 1918). ENGINEERS’ NOTES. No. 46, June 21, 1918. Chronicles of the N.Z.E.F., pp. 231–232. AWMM

Sources

External links: Military personnel file
https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R16794833
Further Reference
Denise Irvine, 'Waikato Maori at the front', www.stuff.co.nz, 22 April 2015
https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/67959573/waikato-maori-at-the-front
Further Reference
John Daley. Rangimarie Hetet and Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa. Te Papa Tongarewa F.012305/10. Portrait of Tuheka in the background.
https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/1343908?page=1&rtp=1&ros=1&asr=1&assoc=all&mb=c
Further Reference
Cowan, J. (1926). The Maoris in the Great War. Auckland, N.Z.: Maori Regimental Committee by Whitcombe & Tombs.
https://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/webarchive/20201108000000/https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-CowMaor.html
Further Reference
LETTER FROM THE FRONT. King Country Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 817, 27 October 1915, Page 5
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/KCC19151027.2.17
Further Reference
References: New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1914-1919). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Volume I. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
Vol1: 326
New Zealand. Army. 1st Maori Contingent. Scroll of the 1st New Zealand Maori Contingent, 1915. Auckland War Memorial Museum Library. MS-624.
Soutar, M. (2019). Whitiki! Whiti! Whiti! E!: Maori In the First World War. New Zealand: David Bateman Ltd.
Roa, T., Paki, M., & Pūrekireki Marae. (2015). Maiea te tupua : whānau accounts of Waikato-Maniapoto World War One veterans and one conscriptee : commemorating 100 years of World War One. Pirongia : Pūrekireki Marae.
McClintock, K., Turner, K., Searancke, M., Manawaiti, S., Meredith, P. (2024). Ngāti Maniapoto Ope Taua 1914 – 1918.
Cowan, J. (1926). The Maoris in the Great War. Auckland, N.Z.: Maori Regimental Committee by Whitcombe & Tombs.
Pugsley, C. (1995). Te Hokowhitu a Tu : the Maori Pioneer Battalion in the first World War. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed.
Waite, F. (1919). The New Zealanders at Gallipoli. Auckland, N.Z.: Printed and published under Authority of the New Zealand Government by Whitcombe & Tombs.
Chronicles of the N.Z.E.F.: Records of Matters Concerning the Troops and Gazette of Patriotic Effort [London, England] : New Zealand War Contingent Association, [1916-1919]

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Tuheka Taonui Hetet