Sam Metera Samuel

Ingoa whānau
Samuel
Ingoa tuatahi
Sam Metera

World War 2

Tau Rangatū
811467
Tūnga
Private
Wāhi noho
Care of Whakatane Paper Mills, Whakatane, New Zealand
Whanaunga tino tata i te wā o te kuhunga
Mrs M. Samuel (mother), Matakana Island, Tauranga, New Zealand

Takupu (5)

My Dad was in the 28th, C company and from memory I think he was in the 8th plantoon. He married my Mother at 35, her name was Perata [May] Samuel nee Tukaki Johnson, both were born on Matakana Island. Both are not burried there at Ahipuhipuhi. He passed away 3/11/94 and my Mother 06/04/86. He has 2 living siblings, Ethel Williams [Doughan] who resides in Tauranga and Tirakitemoana Taylor who currently lives in Whangamata. He as biologically the 2nd eldest of a family of 8 of which the first born and the sister born after my dad were whangai to the Faulkner family. My Dad would have been 95 years old on the 16/04 this year. He has 10 children and I am number 8. I tried to get him to write his memoirs about the time when he was in Italy and he started but stopped after the first sentence and did not carry on, I believe the memories were too vivid and not pleasant to recall. The tidbits he did give were always good memories like teaching the local kids pokarekareana and other waiata and drinking the wine from the barrels, and trading army issue cigarettes etc, catching pigs & other stock and putting down hangi's and the scenery. He talked about Egypt and Scotland that I remember. He also mentioned that they were in the same town a Mussolini when he was hung upside down by his own people and spat at and kicked, which is majorly raw history. We have his old medals, diary and his doggie tag and his company photo, coins that he collected and other bits and pieces. His Brother Sonny was also in the Battalion but passed away shortly after he got home of shellshock. I didn't follow my Uncle paths, he has a surviving daughter named Sonia. I have some photo's that I will post soon. I have read about their campaigns and skirmishes over the years and would love to hear about and from surviving soldiers family members who are also interested in the Battalion and if you have any photo's to post, please do.

My Dad's registered name is Metera Samuel, his nicknames are Shoom, apparently because he could run. Sam, short for Samuel, and Toby not sure why he has that name.

Im trying to find more information about my Grandad Sonny Te Papa Samuels. I need desperately to full in the missing peices, I am the eldest son of his only child Sonia, I have a younger brother Sonny and 3 sisters Angela, Janie and Dayna. Mum doesnt have much information about her Dad as she was just a newborn when he passed away, she only has a couple of photos of him, she had lent a large portrait of Grandad to a lady who wanted to write about the island (Makakana) and needed more images for her book but sadly passed away during this time and the portrait hasnt been seen of since. I feel drawn into this part of my family history and cant describe the feeling I get, it feels all so eeire yet empowering, only 2 days ago (27/06/2013) I looked up Grandad on this site and was shocked by the image of him, Ive never seen this image before and couldnt believe how similar we look, I just cried, my wife and kids were in shock as well. For most part of my life Ive had a fascination on WW2 history (WW2 only) and because of what Ive recently uncovered about Grandads past I truly believe this is why. I had no idea he served in WW2, again an eerie feeling comes over me, some of the dates about Grandad coincide with birth dates in my family eg: when he landed in Egypt, is on my sister Janie's birthday 2nd of August, the image posted on this site is one day before Mums birthday 24th June, and the day Grandad was submitted by the mbadmin was on my daughter Tanishas birthday 18th April. Up until recently I also discovered he had a brother Sam Metera Samuels who also served in the same Company, I would love to meet with his family, I dont know what it is but I feel my soul will only be at peace once I find out the truth about my Grandad, not just for me but for my family especially my Mum, who has just recently retired and maybe she will find true peace for the rest of her years. I am about to embark on a journey of high and low emotions but I strongly feel this is something I must do, my only regret is that I never pursued this earlier. Is there anyone who has any information about Grandad please contact me, love and respect to my Whanau to my People and to the Maori Battalion always

My Dad was in the B Company 8th Platoon not the C Company as I previously wrote