MAORI BATTALION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24970, 17 July 1942, Page 2

MAORI BATTALION

COMMANDER KILLED LIEUT.-COLONEL LOVE ,P.A.) WELLINGTON, July 16, “It is with deep regret that I announce that Lieutenant-colonel E. T. W. Love, commander of the Maori Battalion. has been killed in action,” said the Minister of Defence, Mr F. Jones, to-night. “ His loss will be keenly felt, not only by the redoubtable battalion of which he was the first Maori commanding officer, but also by the 2nd N.Z.E.F., for officers of his ability and experience can ill be spared. “ When Colonel Love was promoted to the command only a few weeks ago, Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg spoke highly of his qualifications, and said he felt confident the appointment would be justified,” the Minister added. “That confidence has been well borne out, for in the brief but momentous period since then the Maori Battalion under its new leader has added still more to its splendid fighting record in Greece and Crete. In expressing my own and the Government’s sympathy with Colonel Love’s widow and children and with his father and mother, Mr and Mrs Hapi Love, of Petone, and the other members of his family, I would add that the New Zealand and the Maori people have lost

a leader whose qualities were proved time and again on the hard testing ground of the Middle East battlefields.” Colonel Love was associated with the Maori Battalion from its earliest beginnings. At the outbreak of war he held the rank of captain in the Ist Battalion, Wellington Regiment. He was shortly afterwards appointed to the Army Headquarters Staff for duty in connection with the formation of the Maori Battalion. He proceeded overseas with the main body of the battalion, and fought in Greece, where he was at one time reported missing. He was later promoted to major, and fought in the last Libyan campaign. When the former officer commanding the battalion. Lieutenant-colonel (now Brigadier) Dittmer returned to New Zealand, Colonel Love assumed temporary command. Colonel Love’s widow, Mrs Taicau Rio Love, is the paramount chief of the Makea Nui Ariki of Rarotonga.