.LynEve

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From the Te Papa exhibition :Gallipoli:The Scale Of Our War
This was Private Rikihana Careek, 24 when he signed up with the Māori Contingent. On August 8th 1915 he was in a machine gun team covering the advance on Chunuk Bair. This is an excerpt from his diary
"Warden . . . was shot and fell back amongst us in a heap. He managed to say "Carry on boys', then died. . . Donald Ferris was shot through the head . .Private Hawkins . .shot through the wrist..I also did not reign long for I was shot through the body at the base of the neck".
After being shot he dragged himself 5 kilometres down to the beach and was eventually evacuated by hospital ship.He was one of only 134 Māori soldiers from the original 477-strong contingent who survived to be withdrawn from Gallipoli on 14 December 1915. He went on to serve on the Western Front and achieved the rank of Lieutenant.