Crete veteran welcomes funding
Arthur Midwood, of the B Company 28th Maori Battalion, is pleased by news the Government will pay for veterans to attend commemoration services.
New Zealand’s only surviving member of the B Company 28th Maori Battalion, Arthur Midwood, has welcomed the Government’s decision to pay for veterans to attend commemoration services next year.
[pullquote]It went straight through my chest and out my back”[/pullquote]
Earlier this year the Rotorua man returned to Greece for the 70thanniversary of the Battle of Crete, partly thanks to fundraising for travel costs.
He received $2000 from the government and said he thinks it is “miserable” that was the only support for New Zealand veterans, especially after seeing how his Australian comrades were treated.
“I think New Zealand should follow the rest. If Australia can do it then we can too.”
If it wasn’t for his caregiver Harima Fraser, who visits him when needed and organised the trip to Crete, he would never have been able to return, Mr Midwood said.
“She’s (Harima Fraser) the best thing that happened to me.”
Mr Midwood also received support from his family in Taupo and from iwi including Tuwharetoa who fundraised for his travel costs.
“I’ll always be very grateful to them,” he said.
While in Crete he was tasked with placing the wreath on the memorial, on behalf of the B Company 28th Maori Battalion.
The WWII veteran fought in the Battle for Crete in 1941 and narrowly missed dying three times during the war.
On three separate occasions he was shot in the arm, the buttock and the chest.
“It went straight through my chest and out my back,” said Mr Midwood.
Now 93, he still lives at home on his own and even drives himself around.
Despite feeling he’s getting a bit old to attend overseas commemoration services next year, the Rotorua local still manages to make it to the RSA on a regular basis.
New Zealand had 7700 soldiers posted in Crete. More than 2000 were taken prisoner and 671 Kiwis died.
