Monday, November 08, 2010

Controversial new book on Māori war hero


Victoria Cross at Takrouna: The Haane Manahi Story
Paul Moon
HUIA - $45.00

In May 1943, Lance Sergeant Haane Manahi of the 28 Māori Battalion was recommended for a Victoria Cross by four Allied generals, including Freyberg and Montgomery. However, the award was later mysteriously downgraded in London to a Distinguished Conduct Medal.

In a new biography of Manahi, AUT Professor of History Dr. Paul Moon details Manahi’s astonishing feats of bravery at Takrouna, Tunisia, and uncovers the events surrounding the VC recommendation and subsequent downgrading.

By his own admission, Dr. Moon says his book will be highly controversial: ‘For the first time, the identity of the person who struck out Manahi’s VC is revealed, as are the later refusals by New Zealand politicians to rectify the situation’.
Dr. Moon describes the actions of two New Zealand governments since the 1990s as amounting to ‘a cynical, shameful and protracted act of betrayal’, against not only Manahi but the whole of the Māori Battalion.

In an effort to ensure that Manahi’s VC was not awarded, one government minister recently went as far as to imply that Manahi had committed a war crime at Takrouna.
In The Listener this week, issue dated Nov 13-19, 2010, there is a four page story by David Lomas about the book and it's subject.

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