ARMY MEDIC HONOURS THE SERVICE OF HIS TĪPUNA AT GALLIPOLI

Corporal Vaimea represented the New Zealand Defence Force as a Catafalque Guard in the 2023 Anzac Commemorations in Türkiye.

“I was very humbled to stand on the ground my tīpuna once stood, experience the terrain and what they looked at. To be able to stand still and take that all in was overwhelming,” he said.

Corporal Vaimea’s great-great uncle Private Ned Turner served in the Auckland Infantry Battalion. He was killed at Gallipoli at the age of 23 in April 1915.

“Physically seeing Ned Turner’s name engraved on the cenotaph at the Lone Pine Memorial was an extremely emotional experience,” Corporal Vaimea said.

“There is no known grave for him due to the chaos of war, but it’s likely he fell in the vicinity of the hill known as Baby 700.

“In the spiritual sense, being here lets him and the others who never returned home know that their names have not been forgotten.”

Another of Corporal Vaimea’s great-great uncles also fought in the costly Gallipoli campaign.

Lieutenant Thomas Matengaro Hetet was underage when he enlisted in the Maori Pioneer Battalion.

He went on to fight on the Western Front for three years and was wounded in action, with multiple gunshot wounds and shrapnel in his left thigh.

Lieutenant Hetet returned home and died in Te Kūiti in 1960, aged 64.

Corporal Vaimea’s third greatgreat uncle to fight in Gallipoli was Second Lieutenant Te Rehe ‘Brownie’ Amohanga.

He too was in the Maori Pioneer Battalion and in 1916 travelled to the Western Front where he suffered a gunshot to the shoulder and was also gassed.

Upon his return to New Zealand, Second Lieutenant Amohanga was held in high regard by his hapu Ngāti Kaputuhi. He died in 1977.

For Corporal Vaimea, walking the same footsteps in Türkiye as members of his whānau many decades earlier was overwhelming.

“I believe in the connection with the spiritual world, so being able to do that on the Gallipoli Peninsula was an honour.

“To pay my respects to those who have gone on before us was a moment that will always stay with me.”