31 December 2021
Sir Robert Gillies, (97) the last surviving member of the 28th M?ori Battalion, has agreed to be knighted after previously rejecting the distinction twice.
Sir Robert Gillies didn't want to be knighted.
He doesn't want the spotlight either, nor the attention and praise that comes with being made Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
But T? Robert Gillies is the last surviving member of the legendary 28th M?ori Battalion from World War II.
This knighthood, he said, is not for him, but the more than 3000 young M?ori who went to fight on foreign lands for Aotearoa, who, in the eyes of the one remaining rangatira, never got the recognition or acknowledgement they deserved.
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