
Roi Te Punga, D-Coy. 28th (Maori) Battalion | 2NZEF (WWII)
(Wellington) - Desert
Image: Maori Battalion route marching during training at Maadi, Egypt, during World War II. Taken by an official photographer.
Roi (Roy) Te Punga (Te Atiawa descent) was born in a house at White’s Line in Waiwhetu, Wellington, the third of six children, in 1919; and was raised in Halcombe, a railway town near Feilding in the Manawatu. His father, Hamuera Te Punga, was a Lutheran minister at the St John’s Lutheran Church in Kimber St, Halcombe. He had met his wife, a Chicago school teacher while studying at a Lutheran institution in Illinois in the early 1900s.
Roy attended Feilding Agricultural High School, and along with his older brother Hamuera Paul, a lawyer, graduated with degrees from Victoria University before signing up for service overseas with the 28th Maori Battalion. Hamuera Paul was a major in the Maori Battalion when he was killed in action, aged 28, in Italy in 1944. Roy served as a captain in the Battalion before he was wounded at Tokrouna, Tunisia, in April 1943.
After the war, Roy continued his post-graduate university studies which he completed with an MA and a Diploma in Social Work. In the early 1950s, he came to the attention of the then Secretary for Justice, Sam Barnett, and was employed as a probation officer – a profession in which he would make his mark, where the emphasis of Roi’s policy decisions was on keeping people in the community, rather than seeing them behind bars. He was appointed the nation’s Chief Probation officer in the late 1960s. He was the consummate public servant, concerned about the welfare of others, throughout his life.

![Date: 10 Feb 1943 By: Paton, Harold Gear, 1919-2010
Ref: DA-02869-F
Soldiers of the Maori Battalion study the Tripoli Rd near Azizia (now known as Al Aziziyah), Libya, 10 February, 1943. From left to right: R Reihana (Tu [?]), P Wharepapa (Bay of Plenty), W Johnson (Opotiki), A V Morrison (Ro [?]), J T Harris (North Auckland), T T Daymond (Wellington). Photograph taken by H Paton.](https://ngatoa.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/cache/2019/02/ROI-TE-PUNGA-3/636470684.jpg)


![Date: [Between 1939 and 1945]
Ref: 1/4-019181-F
Unidentified members of the Maori Battalion in the Western Desert, North Africa, during World War II. Photographer unidentified.](https://ngatoa.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/cache/2019/02/ROI-TE-PUNGA-6/3603845888.jpg)


![Date: May 1943 By: Pattle, John Charlesfield, -1971
Ref: DA-10929-F
Original caption on back of War History DA file print reads: "27 Bty 5 Fd Regt NZA. [Takruna?] Heights taken by Maori Bn." Photograph taken by J C Pattle in May 1943.](https://ngatoa.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/cache/2019/02/ROI-TE-PUNGA-9/417197797.jpg)
![Date: [ca 18 Sept 1943] By: Kingan, J L (Rev), 1901-
Ref: DA-09822-F
View overlooking the Eastern face of Takrouna hill in Tunisia, North Africa, taken from the top of a building on the Southern end. Shows stone buildings and the rocky cliff face below the observation post. Some military personnel are observing the view. Photograph taken on 18 Sept 1943, by Father Kingan.
Other - Note on back of file print reads: "This photograph taken from the top of the building on Southern end of Takrouna hill, gives some idea of the difficiulty which faced a small party of Maoris [sic], when they scaled the Eastern Face to establish an artillery post there during the fighting in Tunisia."](https://ngatoa.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/cache/2019/02/ROI-TE-PUNGA-10/45984417.jpg)
![Date: [ca 20 Apr 1944] By: D'Arcy, Campbell Newman Smith (Dr), 1912-2002
Ref: DA-11487-F
Photograph of medics attending to wounded 28th New Zealand (Maori) Battalion soldiers at the Regimental Aid Post in Takrouna, Tunisia, taken after the attack on 19-20 April 1944. Photograph by Dr C N D'Arcy.](https://ngatoa.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/cache/2019/02/ROI-TE-PUNGA-11/3744462226.jpg)
![Date: [after 26 Mar 1945]
Ref: DA-11464-F
Monument at Tebaga Gap, near Point 209 in Tunisia, North Africa. Shows the brick monument with concrete base, and plaque in French which reads: "8'Armee Britannique / Maori Hill / 26 Mars 1945 / Rupture du front ennemi / Par le corps neo zelandaise / le 10 corps et la 1 DB". Photograph taken after 26 March 1945, by an unidentified photographer.
Other - Notes on back of file print read: `"The monument near where Ngarium [sic, Ngarimu] got his VC" - from letter Freyberg to Kippenberger' and `"Maori Hill" or Pt 209'](https://ngatoa.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/cache/2019/02/ROI-TE-PUNGA-12/1058301155.jpg)