A relation of the first Māori recipient of the Victoria Cross, who encouraged his people of Te Tairāwhiti to meet at their letterbox and do their own private karakia, was saddened that there was no dawn parade this year. Despite the situation we are in, Taina Ngarimu says our fallen must still be remembered.
Taina Ngarimu, the nephew of the late Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu VC of Ruatoria, East Coast, says that despite the time that has past he still feels the mamae following the loss of our many soldiers at war.
"Anei taku uncle, my father's brother, my father didn't go to war, a lot of the time the mātāmua of the whānau didn't go," Ngarimu says.
"It's difficult to explain the mamae of the heart to have relations go overseas and give their lives so that maybe we're free back at home here. And that is why I stand and encourage people to keep remembering the sacrifice that these people made, a huge sacrifice."