Nga Toa meaning "Many Warriors" in the Maori language is a project dedicated to preserving the oral histories of New Zealand’s Returned Servicemen and Woman. To date, over 200 interviews have been compiled in the Nga Toa video archive.
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Pateria joined the 28th (Maori) battalion that made up part of the 2nd New Zealand Division (2NZDiv) at the outbreak of the Second World War. He served in A company that was drawn from Maori tribes north of Auckland, New Zealand. Pateria was part of the unsuccessful campaigns in Greece and Crete and served in the Desert of North Africa where the 2NZDiv formed part of the British 8th Army. The 28th battalion followed the martial traditions of the Maori people and was a continuation of tribal support for the Crown in war. Members of the 28th Maori battalion walked in the footsteps of their forefathers who formed the Pioneer battalion that served with valour in the First World War, but this time being formed as a purely fighting force. In the Desert of North Africa, the 2NZDiv and Pateria’s 28th Battalion, served with distinction facing both success and failure as the Kiwi soldiers developed into a well-trained and experience professional unit in the war against Rommel’s Afrika Korps.
