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Queen to honour Maori 'rejected' VC

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/10/09/nmarois09.xml&site=5&page=0

Queen to honour Maori 'rejected' VC
By Paul Chapman in Wellington
(Filed: 09/10/2006)



A Maori soldier, whose commendation for a VC was "inexplicably" countermanded by an anonymous Whitehall official during the Second World War, is to receive a personal recognition of his bravery in a rare gesture by the Queen.

This lays to rest 63 years of resentment over the treatment of Sgt Haane Manahi and follows intense lobbying from the highest levels of the New Zealand government.

His supporters have long believed that a VC, for which he was recommended by his entire chain of command including five generals, was regarded in London as being inappropriate because another Maori soldier had been posthumously awarded one only three weeks before. The honour was reduced to a Distinguished Conduct Medal.

advertisementSgt Manahi, said to have been a modest man who was uncomplaining about his treatment, died in a car crash in 1986, aged 72. The posthumous award consists of an altar cloth, a personal letter signed by the Queen and a ceremonial sword gifted to his Te Arawa tribe on permanent loan.

The tribe, based in the tourist centre of Rotorua, lobbied for a review of the decision, and last year aired the matter before the Waitangi Tribunal, the body that rules on traditional Maori grievances.

In May, Phil Goff, the New Zealand defence minister, delivered a submission to Buckingham Palace endorsed by his government.

Sgt Manahi was cited for his actions in Tunisia in 1943, when he led a platoon from 28 Maori Bn to capture a 1,000ft outcrop defended by the machineguns of 300 Germans and Italians. He and three men climbed the final 500ft under fire and took 60 prisoners.

Announcing the Queen's decision to the tribe at a ceremony on Saturday, Mr Goff said that Sgt Manahi's commendation had been signed by Generals Alexander, Montgomery, Freyberg, Kippenberger and Wilson.

 
The gesture from the Queen seems almost to be an admission of fault by the Crown...but why not just award the VC posthumously?
 
About 10 years ago, the US Army awarded some Medals of Honor to African-American and Japanese-American Soldiers from World War II. These men were all recommended for the Medal of Honor, but the awards were downgraded on racial grounds to lesser awards. This sort of thing is important on many different levels.
 
retread said:
The gesture from the Queen seems almost to be an admission of fault by the Crown...but why not just award the VC posthumously?
Not by the Crown but by the Command of the Day.
 
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