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