Horomona Tipene
Died 7 Apr 1979
- Service number
- WWII 39487 AWMM
- Also known as
- Solomon AWMM
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
- Last rank
- —
- War
- World War II, 1939-1945 AWMM
About
- Title
- —
- Forenames
- Horomona AWMM
- Surname
- Tipene AWMM
- Ingoa
- —
- Also known as
- Solomon AWMM
- Service number
- WWII 39487 AWMM
- Gender
- Male AWMM
- Iwi / Hapū / Waka / Rohe
- Iwi Māori, Māori AWMM
- Ngāti Hine, Māori AWMM
- Religion
- —
Images
Documents
About birth
- Birth
- —
- Date of birth
- —
- Place of birth
- —
- Birth notes
- —
- Address before enlistment
- WW2 Unknown AWMM Motatau, Whangarei, North Auckland, New Zealand AWMM
- Post war occupation
- Farmer/Civilian AWMM
- Next of kin
- WW2 Mrs M. Tipene (wife), Motatau, Whangarei, North Auckland, New Zealand AWMM
- Relationship status
- Unknown AWMM Married 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
- WWII 39487 AWMM
- Military service
- New Zealand AWMM
- Aldershot AWMM
- Promotions/ Postings/ Transfers
- —
Military decorations
- Medals and Awards
- —
Training and Enlistment
- Military training
- —
- Branch Trade Proficiency
- —
- Enlistment
- WW2 Unknown AWMM
Age 27 AWMM
Carpenter/Civilian AWMM - Age on enlistment
- —
- Occupation before enlistment
- —
Embarkations
- Embarkation details
- WW2 Vessel was Aquitania AWMM Private AWMM 28 (Maori) Battalion AWMM Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Second Echelon AWMM
Prisoner of war
- Capture details
- WW2 POW - Stalag VIII-B (later 344), Lamsdorf, Poland AWMM
02 Jun 1941-29 Apr 1945 AWMM
Participating in Battle for Crete AWMM - WW2 POW - Crete AWMM
- WW2 POW - Stalag VIII-B (later 344), Lamsdorf, Poland AWMM
- WW2 POW - Stalag VIII-B (later 344), Lamsdorf, Poland AWMM
- Days interned
- —
- Liberation date
- —
- POW liberation details
- —
- Liberation Repatriation
- —
- POW serial number
- —
Medical history
- Medical notes
- —
Last known rank
- Last rank
- —
- Last rank
- —
Biographical information
- Pita Tipene, 2006 Reunion Secretary, described how Horomona (Solomon) Tipene was born and raised into a family of 21 in Motatau. He went to World War II with his brother Titiro (Ruki) Tipene. Sir James Henare was their cousin as their mother Mereana was a sister of Tau Henare, MP.
He trained in New Zealand and then Aldershot in England, before being transported from Liverpool via Seirra Leone to Tufic at the entrance to the Suez Canal. From there he went to military camp in Alexandria, and Cairo. Shortly after he went to Greece and it was there that he first engaged with the enemy and fought in the front line at Mt Olympus. He was part of the evacuation from Greece to Crete. He was capture by the Germans on Crete and transported as a POW by rail to Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria and Czechoslavakia.
He spent the remainder of the war in captivity working in a sugar beet factory, a gas works and benzene factory.
He was one of those prisoners who took part in the three month Long March across Germany from Poland, at times through thick snow. This was a difficult treck for the soldiers and he often carried one of his friends on piggyback to help them along.
He was flown by American troop carrier from Munich to France. From there by Lancaster bomber to Margate in the United Kingdom and hospitalized. He finally returned to New Zealand via Liverpool arriving at Wellington on 20 July 1946. They travelled via Panama.
He was met by his mother and taken home for a party at the family papakainga, Te Hurihanga.
He didn't talk much about his war experiences but he did mention that the skies of Crete were black with parachutists. He often used German words in his conversation and it was not uncommon to hear words like 'achtung'.
He donated generously to organisation such as the Red Cross as he said the parcels sent to the POWs by the Red Cross during the war were everything to the men.
He is buried beside many other Maori Battalion and other servicemen, including his brother Ruki and his cousin Sir James Henare.
Pita Tipene, 2006 Reunion Secretary. AWMM
About death
- Death
- 7 Apr 1979 AWMM
- Date of death
- —
- Age at death
- —
- Place of death
- —
- Cause of death
- —
- Death notes
- —
- Cemetery
- urupa, Takapuna urupa, Motatau, Bay of Islands, New Zealand AWMM
- Cemetery name
- —
- Grave reference
- —
- Obituary
- —
- 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 - 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 - 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
- 28th Maori Battalion Website 1941-1945
- References
- 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 186 - List of 2NZEF Prisoners of War. 1941-1945. Auckland War Memorial Museum Library. MS 2009/8.
- Great Britain Army. (1945). Germany and German occupied territories : imperial prisoners of war alphabetical list : section 4. London, U.K.: Government Printer.
- Cody, J. (1956). 28 (Maori) Battalion. Wellington, N.Z.: Department of Internal Affairs, War History Branch.
- Information kindly provided by family
- 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.
- 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.
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