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Final rank:

Private

First name/s

Akava

Last name

TAPAPA

Service number and Regiment/Unit/Corps

19239
New Zealand Māori (Pioneer) Battalion
Rarotongan Company

Also known as

Tapapa AKAVA

Date of birth

1895

Place of birth

Atiu, Cook Islands

Date of death

19/10/1918

Place of death

Egypt

Death registration number

NZ1918/54578

Headstone/grave location

Cairo War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt

Next of kin

Mrs Tapapa (mother), Areora, Atiu, Tapapa Ngamarama (father) Areora, Atiu

Additional information

Enlisted 1 July 1916 in Rarotonga. Disembarked Suez from SS Malwa 27 December 1916. Employed at the NZ Mounted Rifle Bde Training Regiment and Base Depot at Moascar until 7 April 1917 when he posted to the Rarotongan Company. Became ill 29 September 1918 and was evacuated from Palestine. Died of pneumonia at 27th General Hospital Abbassia, Cairo, Egypt 19 October 1918. Buried at Cairo War Memorial Cemetery with chaplain Padre La Villier officiating. Resident Commissioner commented that when the medals were received in 1921 they were "to be held in trust for Ngamatama (child of deceased)".

Commonwealth War Graves Commission commemoration:
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/113716/akava-tapapa/
"Son of Tapapa Ngamarama, of Areora, Atiu, Cook Islands"

Listed on the Atiu cenotaph as “TAPAPA AKAVA”

Images and documents (click on images to enlarge)

Image credits and references

Headstone image source: https://www.nzwargraves.org.nz/casualties/akava-tapapa

Commemorative certificate courtesy of Commonwealth War Graves Commission:
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/113716/akava-tapapa/

Further links

N/A

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