every time a chief of the Defence Force of New Zealand is appointed the sword is
passed to that new chief when that chief resigns from his position it is
handed back to Te Arawa to pass on to the next chief of Defense Forces
so as a young boy growing up I always had their inkling to want to join the
army and follow in the footsteps of uncle Haani a great Legend of Te Arawa
uncle Hani scaled the cliffs of Takrouna three times
and in the end a very small
platoon unbelievable the ability for him to scale the heights of sheer stone just
exemplifies the absolute valla then uncle Haani head
He was recommended for a
and probably white hall or whatever in London or was downgraded to a DCM
I can recall many people being quite disappointed that he was not awarded the Victoria Cross
to which in my view he was definitely entitled to
we wanted him to be upgraded to the VC however the submission went through to
the queen who came back and said very sorry
I will not over all my father's edict King George's XI had stated that after
1950 there were to be no more awards for bravery from world war ii however when
she recognized that he was an extremely brave man and his bravery should be
recognized in other respects
so as a result of the the direction I came back from the Queen that we were to
come up as a committee with some ideas of what a suitable recognition would be
for Te Arawa the thought of the the Māori battalion song and of which God for
King and for country was very prominent we decided would use it as our ethos to
decide on these gifts
for God is the altar cloth an altar cloth was designed in conjunction with the
minister of st. faiths the colors are resonant with Te Arawa and her majesty
the citation was written in recognition of the brave act performed
by Lance Sargent Haani Manahi.
The sword itself was held by King George the sixth
it has been into battle the Battle of Waterloo and that sword is being bestowed upon
Te Arawa the Manahi whānau
on the 17th of March 2007 the Duke Prince Andrew
brought the taonga from the United Kingdom to Rotorua
it was made quite clear by Prince Andrew that if that sword was to be given to the
general it was to be loaned to the general for the tenure of this time as
Chief of Defence Force and he was to personally bring it back present it back
to Arawa and then the new incoming general would come at a
later stage and be regifted it and the reason for that was to strengthen the
bonds between the Te Arawa race and the defence force
The Sword of Gallantry is a very significant taonga to the Chief of
Defense Force that adorns his desk in his office to remind him not only of the
connection with the crown and Te Arawa but also the roles and responsibilities that
he needs to guide and lead his Defence Force into the future with
the sword of course was a very significant gift in the sense that it's
become a living acknowledgement of Haani Manahi which reminds us very much
and keeps it in the front of our minds at all times the the outstanding and
brave deeds that Haani Manahi bought in terms of pride tto Te Arawa and the pride of
Aoteroa, New Zealand
you