This is unedited raw film footage, shot by Academy Award winning US Marine cinematographer Norman T. Hatch for a US newsreel that was never completed, provisionally titled 'Meet New Zealand'. Around 21,000 Marines were stationed in camps around the Wellington region from June 1942 until November 1943. Most of their time was spent training hard preparing for the war in the Southwest Pacific against the Japanese.
The footage on this reel shows performances from the ceremony to mark the investiture of 2nd Lieutenant Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa Ngārimu’s Victoria Cross. It was the sixth VC to be awarded to a New Zealander in the war, and the first to a Māori soldier. On a specially built outdoor stage, Māori performances of waiata and kapa haka entertain the large crowds of soldiers and civilians. Sound intermittently comes and goes, and the picture abruptly cuts from one performance segment to the next. The opening welcoming song cuts to the end strains of ‘God Save the King’ and a brief shot of New Zealand officers standing to attention, before returning to the main stage performances. Sir Apirana Ngata is briefly glimpsed near the microphone in front of the stage, as the master of ceremonies for this auspicious occasion. Members of the Māori Battalion perform haka followed by a poi dance.