Lieutenant Charles Bennett (Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Pikiao), an officer of the (28) Māori Battalion who was previously a radio announcer in New Zealand, gives a retrospective of his Battalion's experiences in Crete.
He opens his talk by offering the condolences of the Commanding Officer and members of the Māori Battalion to the relatives of those lost in Crete. The Māori Battalion remembers with gratitude the way the people in Crete welcomed and supported the Battalion.
Lieutenant Bennett then pays tribute to the British Navy, who made possible the occupation and evacuation of Crete. He says the short, bitter campaign transformed the Māori soldiers into veterans, measuring their strength against the finest troops of the German Reich in fierce hand-to-hand fighting.
He notes the New Zealanders learnt three things from their experiences in Crete:
1) Aerial bombardment inflicts few casualties on people who take the proper precautions.
2) The German scheme of attack appears to aim at spreading terror.
3) Determined Allied troops can inflict terrible casualties on parachutists and airborne troops.
He says if Hitler could see the ghastly wreck of his aerial division on Crete, he would pause before launching such an airborne attack again.
He concludes with a few words in te reo Māori to the Battalion's own people:
E ngā marae maha o Aotearoa, kia ora koutou katoa. Tangi mai rā i o tātou aituā. Heoi rā, nā te wā āna mahi. Kei konā, kei te kainga, kei a koutou o mātou whakaaro, o mātou aroha. Mā te Runga Rawa tātou katoa e manaaki, e tiaki. Kia ora, kia ora.
This item is part of a collection of recordings made by the Mobile Broadcasting Units, which travelled overseas with New Zealand forces between 1940-1945. They recorded New Zealanders' experiences of war and messages to their families and friends, which were sent back home to be played on a weekly radio programme.