MR KINGI ARETA KEIHA

Te Ao Hou, September 1961, Page 3

MR KINGI ARETA KEIHA A former commanding officer of the Maori Battalion in the 2nd World War, Mr Kingi Areta Keiha died suddenly at his home in Gisborne. He was aged 62. The deceased sailed from New Zealand with the Second Echelon, which included the first Maori group to go overseas with the Army in the Second World War. Mr Keiha at that time held the rank of second lieutenant and he served with the battalion in Greece, Crete and the Middle East, succeeding Lieutenant Colonel C. M. Bennett, as commanding Officer when Lieutenant Colonel Bennett was severaly wounded in action. Mr Keiha returned to New Zealand with a furlough draft in February, 1944, and joined the newly-created Rehabilitation Department as Maori rehabilitation officer. Later he transferred to the Maori Affairs Department and was district welfare officer until he left the department in 1951 to enter private practice as a licensed interpreter and Maori agent.