Whareaitu and Karaitiana send messages to the Battalion

Second Lieutenants' Whareaitu and Karaitiana send greetings to members of the Maori Battalion.

Transcript

MC:  Second Lt Whareaitu of the Te Arawa tribes and also Second Lt Karaitiana, Ngati Kahungunu, Hawkes Bay those tribes will now send greetings to the members of the Maori Battalion.

Second Lieutenant Whareaitu:  Nga iwi, nga iwi kua wehe atu nei i mua i a matou – tena ano koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou. 

Kahore nei ano nga korero kia koutou, nga mihi kia koutou kahore e pani. Ko te tumanako no te ngakau i te mea kua tae koutou ki mua i te aroaro o to koutou, ara, i to tatou tumuaki i a Kingi Hori.  Ka mutu nei nga mihi. Kei taku teina, e Whetu, tena koe, tena koe me ou tamariki e noho mai na i tena marae.  Kua poto taku taima me whakawhaiti nga korero inaianei.  Tiakina mai te kainga me nga tamariki.  Kei te ora nga tangata o te kainga.  Heoi ano nga mihi, kei te tatari i te wa e karangatia ai matou.  No reira, Te Arawa me nga iwi o te motu, noho mai ra i tena kainga, kia ora ano koutou katoa.

Second Lieutenant Karaitiana:  Colonel Dittmer and the officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the Maori Battalion who were my comrades in Trentham and in Palmerston North – tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou.

I bring greetings to you from Ngati Kahungunu and from those of us who still have to follow the trail that you have blazed.  We of the Maori Battalion who are still in Aotearoa here, we look to you as our goal, as the model that we must emulate and the star that shines over you is our guiding star.  We wish you the opportunities you desire but we hope that you will leave something for us to do when we arrive.  Until then – kia ora, kia ora koutou katoa.