Story: East Coast region

Te Moananui-a-Kiwa Ngārimu of Ngāti Porou was born at Whareponga, on the coast north of Waipiro Bay, in 1919. He served with the 28th (Māori) Battalion in the Second World War and was killed in action in Tunisia in March 1943. He was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for bravery; the medal was presented to his parents by the governor-general at a hui, with an estimated attendance of 7,000, held at Ruatōria on 6 October 1943.