A heart-warming Anzac story about one man’s quest to find the whānau of the man who saved his grandfather from certain
death will air in tonight’s special episode of TE AO WITH MOANA – screening on Māori Television tonight (3 May 2021) at 8.00 PM.
According to reporter Kirsty Babington, the scene was set 100 years ago – “thousands of miles from Aotearoa on a muddy
road in France that ended last week at a small urupā in Waipiro Bay. It’s a story of one man’s dogged determination to
say thank you.”
This is a story of the heroism and bravery shown by Tāwhai Riri Tamepo of the Māori Pioneers who saved Lieutenant
Charles Evans after he was hit by a bomb dropped by a German airman.
Evans was an elite Pākehā horseman from the Otago Mounted Rifles who joined the Māori Pioneers.
“I'm a strong believer in karma,” says Mark Davies, grandson of Charles Evans who had only met him once. ”So I don't
know if my grandfather was able to say thank you to the people that saved them. So yes, a hundred years is not too long
to wait.”
Nominated for Best Current Affairs/Series in the Video category at the 2021 Voyager Media Awards to be held on Friday 28
May 2021, TE AO WITH MOANA screens on Māori Television tonight (3 May 2021) at 8.00 PM and is repeated this Sunday 9 May 2021 at 11.30 AM.
Watch the promo for tonight’s show here (password: moana123).