Rutene Reihana
Born 12 Jan 1893
- Service number
- WWI 16/89 AWMM
- Also known as
- —
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
- 1st NZ Maori Pioneer BattalionPublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 20 September 2015 - Military Record
- Last rank
- —
- War
- World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
About
- Title
- PrivatePublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 20 September 2015 - Military Record
- Forenames
- Rutene AWMM
- Surname
- Reihana AWMM
- Ingoa
- —
- Also known as
- —
- Service number
- WWI 16/89 AWMM
- Gender
- Male AWMM
- Iwi / Hapū / Waka / Rohe
- Iwi Māori, Māori AWMM
- Ngāti Porou, Ngā Iwi o Horouta, Horouta, Waka o Ngā Iwi, Ngā Iwi, Māori AWMM
- Religion
- Church of EnglandPublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 20 September 2015 - Military record
Images
Documents
About birth
- Birth
- 12 Jan 1893 Public Source
- Date of birth
- 12 January 1893Public - Lorraine M - Researcher - 20 September 2015 - Military Record
- Place of birth
- Rangitukia, Waiapu East CoastPublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 20 September 2015 - Military Record
- Birth notes
- son of Mrs Reiha ReihanaPublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 20 September 2015 - Military Record
- Address before enlistment
- Unknown AWMM Rangitukia, Port Awanui, New Zealand AWMM
- Unknown AWMM Unknown address AWMM
- Post war occupation
- —
- Next of kin
- Mrs Reiha Reihana (mother), Rangitukia, Port Awanui, New Zealand AWMM
- Poihipi Kohere (cousin), Rangitukia, via Gisborne, New Zealand AWMM
- Relationship status
- Pre 14 Feb 1915 AWMM Single AWMM
- Pre 17 Aug 1918 AWMM Unknown Marital Status AWMM
Wars and conflicts
- War
- World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
- Campaign
- Egyptian - DardanellesPublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 20 September 2015 - Military Record
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
- 1st NZ Maori Pioneer BattalionPublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 20 September 2015 - Military Record
- Service number
- WWI 16/89 AWMM
- Military service
- 1914-1919Public - Lorraine M - Researcher - 20 September 2015 - Military Record
- Promotions/ Postings/ Transfers
- —
Military decorations
- Medals and Awards
- 1914-1915 Star & Victory MedalsPublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 20 September 2015 - Military record
Training and Enlistment
- Military training
- Narrow Neck CampPublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 20 September 2015 - Military record
- Branch Trade Proficiency
- —
- Enlistment
- WW1 Unknown AWMM Unknown/Civilian AWMM
- WW1 Unknown AWMM Farmer/Civilian AWMM
- 14 Nov 1914 at Avondale (wounded 1915)
re-enlisted 12 May 1918 At Narrow Neck CampPublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 20 September 2015 - Military record
- Age on enlistment
- 21 yrsPublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 20 September 2015 - Military record
- Occupation before enlistment
- —
Embarkations
- Embarkation details
- WW1 14 Feb 1915-26 Mar 1915 AWMM
HMNZT 20 AWMM Vessel was Warrimoo AWMM Private AWMM B Company AWMM Not known AWMM - WW1 17 Aug 1918-29 Oct 1918 AWMM
HMNZT 110 AWMM Vessel was Ruahine AWMM Sergeant AWMM 31st Reinforcements AWMM Maori Contingent AWMM
2nd Embarkation AWMM
- WW1 14 Feb 1915-26 Mar 1915 AWMM
Prisoner of war
- Capture details
- —
- Days interned
- —
- Liberation date
- —
- POW liberation details
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- Liberation Repatriation
- —
- POW serial number
- —
Medical history
- Medical notes
- Sept 1915 - wounded thigh at DardanellesPublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 20 September 2015 - Military record
Last known rank
- Last rank
- PrivatePublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 20 September 2015 - Military Record
- Last rank
- —
Biographical information
- SuppNom: Ex 1st Maori Contingent. AWMM
- 20 Dec 1916 – Poverty Bay Herald - LETTER FROM HOSPITAL.
A Maori N.C.O. wrote in October from a Birmingham hospital to his sister on the Coast: "I am lying in a Birmingham hospital. I was wounded in the thigh a shell burst over me and many others. Lieut. Kohere was also hit, Rara Kaiwai, of Tuparoa, was killed outright. I daresay you have heard all about it. I had to undergo an operation in France: where they extracted the piece of shell that got into me. Rutene Reihana was also hit by the same shell. He kept going for a long time before he knew he was hit. Not the case with me. It did not take me long to realise something was the matter with me. I managed to crawl into Lieuts Kaa and Kohere's dug-out, where I found our captain, a little imp educated at Te Aute also. He was wondering and asking whether the place was bomb-proof. Of course I wasn't troubling whether the place was bombproof or not — was glad to get any kind of shelter; I started dressing, my wounds as best as I could. Not long after Lieut. Kohere was brought in— he was groaning about his boys who were caught by the same shell.
Indeed, he was like a father to us all, at all times. Before we were taken away he got a promise from our Colonel and Major Buck that Lieut. Kaa would take his place. At the present moment I don't know where Lieut. Kohere is or any of the other boys are. (Lieut. Kohere died in England two days after receiving his wounds. Ed.) My wounds are improving. I am the only Maori in this ward and it is pretty lonely for me. Don't you worry about me, I am all right. I wonder if you and Wai could send me some dried paua 'for my Christmas dinner. It would be rather nice to have something to remind one of home and the old times."
Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13825, 27 October 1915, Page 10
A letter from Private Rutene Reihana, of the Maori Contingent, to his mother at Rangitukia, East Coast, written from Port Said, and dated August 25th, states:- "I am writing because I have been thinking so much of you lately. A confess my thoughts had not always turned homewards. I have been wounded— a Turkish bullet went through my leg— this has turned my thoughts home Ward. When we left home, I confess, what weighed most with me was not so much the thought of leaving you as seeing the world and meeting with strange experiences. Now suffering has turned my thoughts to you. Grieve not, 1 came, for this purpose and at the command of the people. We have done very well. Mother, I have been very lucky so far to escape the shelly of the enemy. Shrapnel burst very close to me, and I was hit. While I was lying unconscious I was borne away by the pakeha bearers and placed under some trees.
When I came round I found quite a number of wounded lying beside me. Then I was carried to the hospital by the Maori boys. It is terrible here, there’s fighting everywhere in the air, under the sea and on land. Sometimes yoiu can't see anything for the smoke from the guns. My wish is to go further than the shores of the Mediterranean. You know we are nearer England than we are to New Zealand. If it be His will we shall meet again in fact, I have the feeling we must meet again. But for my wound I am all right. The nurses are grand. We are having nice food now; a change from the Gallipoli diet of biscuits and bully beef washed down with cold water and that not the best. I am not grumbling. We are playing our part proving ourselves worthy sons of our fathers - doing what is expected of us by our pakeha friends. While we were in Egypt great pakehas came to see us and gave us words of exhortation. I must finish this now as I am coming to the end of my tether. Mother, part of my pay is sent to you and I wonder if you can lay aside a bit of that so by and by we shall be able we shall be able to put a small stone over my father’s grave. With this request I close.Public - Lorraine M - Researcher - 20 September 2015 - Poverty Bay Herald 20 Dec 1916 & 27 Oct 1915
About death
- Death
- —
- Date of death
- —
- Age at death
- —
- Place of death
- —
- Cause of death
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- Death notes
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- Cemetery
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- Cemetery name
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- Grave reference
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- Obituary
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- Memorial name
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- Memorial reference
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Memorial
- Memorial name
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Related objects
Sources
- External links
- Military personnel file
https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R20805148
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
- Military personnel file
- References
- Pugsley, C. (1995). Te Hokowhitu a Tu : the Maori Pioneer Battalion in the first World War. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed.
- New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1914-1919). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Volume I. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
Vol1: 610 - New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1919). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume IV. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
90: 11 - 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.
- Cowan, J. (1926). The Maoris in the Great War. Auckland, N.Z.: Maori Regimental Committee by Whitcombe & Tombs.
- HMNZT 110 - The Ruahinean review : souvenir of transport 110. Webb, T. Clifton (Thomas Clifton), editor. Flower, E.W., editor. -- On board ship : [Magazine Staff] Printed by Cape Times Ltd. : [1918].
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