Forenames

Beni AWMM

Surname

Banaba AWMM

Service number

WWI 19236 AWMM

Gender

Male AWMM

Birth

1890 AWMM

Address before enlistment

WW1 Pre 01 Jul 1916 AWMM Avarua, Rarotonga, Cook Islands, Pacific Islands AWMM

Next of kin

WW1 Mrs Api Beni Banaba (wife), Marairenga, Rarotonga, Cook Islands, Pacific Islands AWMM

Relationship status

Pre 16 Nov 1916 AWMM Married AWMM
Api Beni Banaba AWMM

War

World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM

Campaign

Sinai & Palestine AWMM

Armed force / branch

Army AWMM

Service number

WWI 19236 AWMM

Enlistment

WW1 01 Jul 1916 AWMM
Age  25 AWMM
Labourer/Civilian AWMM

Embarkation details

WW1 16 Nov 1916-24 Jan 1917 AWMM
Manuka 16 November 1916 AWMM Vessel was Manuka AWMM Sergeant AWMM Maori Contingent, 11th Maori Reinforcements, 2nd Rarotongan Contingent AWMM Maori Contingent AWMM

Medical notes

• Height, WWI AWMM
  5 foot 7.75 inches AWMM
• Weight, WWI AWMM
  187 pounds AWMM
• 4 Apr 1917 AWMM Medical, WWI AWMM
  Asthma 1917, admitted to hospital AWMM
• Died of Sickness, Cause of Death AWMM
  Phthsis and tuberculosis AWMM

Last rank

WW1 Private AWMM
New Zealand (Maori) Pioneer Battalion AWMM

Death

16 Sept 1917 AWMM
Age  26 AWMM

Cause of death

Died of Sickness AWMM

Cemetery

O'Neill's Point Cemetery, 122 Bayswater Avenue, Bayswater, North Shore, Auckland AWMM Block G. Plot 138 AWMM

Obituary

A GALLANT RAROTONGAN.
Sergeant Beni Banaba. who died at the Hospital Annexe in Auckland the other day, was a native of Rarotonga. where he was educated at the London Missionary Society's College. He enlisted with the second detachment, came to Auckland, doing the usual course of training at the Narrow Neck camp, and proceeded with the 11th Maori' Reinforcements to Egypt, and reached Palestine. On his way there, one of his comrades being unequal to the task of carrying the usual baggage y Sergeant Bern took his fellow's, and the addition to this to his own brought on an illness which caused him to be sent back to Cairo where he underwent an operation. ' From there he was invalided back to New Zealand, arriving here in July. He was an inmate of the Devonport Convalescent Home for some weeks; and was transferred to the annexe for further treatment. An operation was performed, but he failed to recover, and passed peacefully away.

Public - Lorraine Mona - Researcher - 20 September 2024 - Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 3349, 19 September 1917, Page 2

Memorial name

• Auckland War Memorial Museum, World War 1 Hall of Memories AWMM
• Cook Islands Roll of Honour Board, RSA Rarotonga AWMM

Related objects

External links

• Military personnel file
  https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R22275389
  Further Reference
• New Zealand Electronic Text Collection topic page
  http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/name-130576.html
  Further Reference
• A Street Near You record
  https://astreetnearyou.org/person/642908/-
  Further Reference
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission Casualty record
  https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/642908
  Further Reference
• Cook Islands Online Cenotaph
  https://www.cookislandsonlinecenotaph.com/
  Further Reference

References

• This record was partially compiled from information kindly provided by Bobby Nicholas, Paula Paniani and Cate Walker, Cook Islands Military History Research Project
• New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1917). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume II. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
  44: 1
• Weddell, H. (2016). Soldiers from the Pacific : the story of Pacific Island soldiers in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in World War One. Wellington, New Zealand : Defence of New Zealand Study Group.
• Soutar, M. (2019). Whitiki! Whiti! Whiti! E!: Maori In the First World War. New Zealand: David Bateman Ltd.
• Beattie, P.J. & Pomeroy, M. (2013-2020). Onward : portraits of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (vols 1-5). Auckland, New Zealand: Fair Dinkum Publications
  Vol. 5: Includes portrait
• Roll of Honour, Auckland Province (digital copy), 1914 - 1919. Auckland War Memorial Museum Library. MS-2016-2.
• Pugsley, C. (1995). Te Hokowhitu a Tu : the Maori Pioneer Battalion in the first World War. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed.