Haane Manahi: His Courage in Battle

Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Ngāti Whakaue

On the night of 19 April 1943, during the Battle of Takrouna in Tunisia, Lance Sergeant Haane Manahi was in command of a section of soldiers from his Māori Battalion platoon. They were trying to capture a rocky outcrop but were under fire from Italian and German soldiers. They fought throughout the night but, by the morning, the platoon was losing its strength and making no progress.

Lance Sergeant Manahi decided that if they were to reach their goal, he must take a small band of his men up the very steep western side of the rock-face. It was one hundred and fifty metres of cliff-face. The last fifty metre slope was so steep it was almost vertical, but the men kept going even though they were under constant fire.

This act of incredible courage and strength was described by Lieutenant General, Sir Brian Horrocks, 13 Corps Commander, as being one of the bravest things he had ever seen during the war. Lance Sergeant Manahi’s bravery so impressed his generals that they recommended he be awarded the Victoria Cross Medal – the highest military award for courage in battle.

However, for some reason, Lance Sergeant Manahi was not awarded the Victoria Cross. Instead, he was awarded a Distinguished Conduct medal, which confused many. Lance Sergeant Manahi died many years later, in 1986, without being awarded the Victoria Cross that many thought he deserved.

The Returned Service Association and the New Zealand government petitioned Queen Elizabeth II to have the medal awarded posthumously, meaning after he had died. The Queen’s father, King George Vl, had ruled in 1949 that no further awards from the Second World War could be made. However, the Queen did agree to honour him in some way.

In 2007, an historic ceremony was held at Te Papaiōuru Marae, Ōhinemutu, where the Duke of York presented a letter from the Queen acknowledging Lance Sergeant Manahi’s bravery. A ceremonial sword, a symbolic altar cloth for St Faith’s and a special patu (club) were presented in honour of Haane Manahi.

In this way, the humble and heroic Lance Sergeant Haane Manahi was finally recognised properly for his courageous actions on that night in 1943, on the other side of the world, in a country called Tunisia.

This story comes from the original Great Te Arawa Stories website created by Ngā Pūmanawa e Waru (NPeW) Education Trust in 2018. To ensure consistency, minimal updates were made to the text before it was transferred to this new site.