Waikura Herewini

Uncle Rusty told me a story about a time when they were in a trench during the War. In this trench he reckoned that they had their 2 Bren gunners at either end with the riflemen in between. He said that 1 night they could see some of the enemy running across the field of no mans land back to their side and they opened fire on them. It wasn't long before they had mown down all but 1 man who was running for his life with every bullet from uncle and them chasing him. He reckons they threw everything they had at him. Uncle Rusty reckoned he didn't know how this german managed it but with the bullets flying all around him he managed to dive into his own side's trench where upon all the Maori's jumped up yahooing and roaring with approval at his feat. That and the story of how he got shot up by a german spandau were the only stories he ever told me about his combat experience. He also showed me the scars from the bullets up his leg and body and said that some of the lead was still in him to that day. They were about the size of the old 50 cent coins!  All the rest of his stories were of the uncles in Cairo on leave and their nocturnal activities.