The country's largest national inquiry into historic claims of racism and inequality experienced by Māori soldiers has gotten underway today.
Dozens of soldiers will take part in the week-long hearing as a tribunal considers more than 100 claims.
Sir Robert 'Bom' Gillies is the last surviving member of the 28th Māori Battalion. The military unit left New Zealand in 1940 to fight in World War II, before returning home in 1946.
“They just discharged us and more or less forgot about us,” he said.
Sir Robert regrets ever serving in the Second World War, after returning to a country he said treated him like a second-class citizen.
“We didn't get much. We had a big welcome, got on the train and then come home and that was it, yeah.”
Claimant lawyer Annette Sykes said one of the problems is the “inherent racism in government policy at the time”.
“I don’t think that has ever really been quite understood,” she said.
“For example, there was rehabilitation programmes that were only offered to non-Māori soldiers.”
The tribunal will also hear submissions from Vietnam veterans who say health problems caused by Agent Orange exposure were ignored.
“Children having cleft palates, jelly babies, one-eyed babies,” Sykes said.
“You will also hear a lot of the difficulties in trying to have these matters aired when we took it to the United Nations and other places.”
While it may take around one year for the tribunal to determine whether the Crown breached its Treaty of Waitangi obligations, the New Zealand Defence Force has already acknowledged some wrongdoing.
“There are examples where treatment hasn't been what we consider fair and reasonable, but I think it's important also to put it within the context of what the Crown knew then and what we know now,” Air Marshal Kevin Short said.
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