page_title: Willie Apiata
hierarchical_section_title: Willie Apiata
caption_attribution_description: English: Willie Apiata, at the opening of Te Rau Aroha at Waitangi, on 5 February 2020.
context_page_description: Bill Henry "Willie" Apiata, VC is a former corporal in the New Zealand Special Air Service, who became the first recipient of the Victoria Cross for New Zealand. He received the award on 2 July 2007 for bravery under fire during the War in Afghanistan in 2004, in which he carried a gravely wounded comrade across a battlefield, under fire, to safety.
  Apiata is the only recipient of the Victoria Cross for New Zealand, which replaced the British Victoria Cross in 1999. There are no living New Zealand recipients of the Victoria Cross, which was last awarded to a New Zealander for actions in the Second World War. Between 1864 and 1943, 21 members of the New Zealand forces were awarded the Victoria Cross including Captain Charles Upham, awarded a Bar to the Victoria Cross in 1945 for gallantry in Egypt in 1942.
  Apiata has donated all of his medals, including his VC, to New Zealand. In 2008 he succeeded Sir Edmund Hillary as the "most trusted New Zealander".
context_section_description: Bill Henry "Willie" Apiata, VC (born 28 June 1972) is a former corporal in the New Zealand Special Air Service, who became the first recipient of the Victoria Cross for New Zealand. He received the award on 2 July 2007 for bravery under fire during the War in Afghanistan in 2004, in which he carried a gravely wounded comrade across a battlefield, under fire, to safety.
  Apiata is the only recipient of the Victoria Cross for New Zealand, which replaced the British Victoria Cross in 1999. There are no living New Zealand recipients of the Victoria Cross, which was last awarded to a New Zealander for actions in the Second World War. Between 1864 and 1943, 21 members of the New Zealand forces were awarded the Victoria Cross including Captain Charles Upham, awarded a Bar to the Victoria Cross in 1945 for gallantry in Egypt in 1942.
  Apiata has donated all of his medals, including his VC, to New Zealand. In 2008 he succeeded Sir Edmund Hillary as the "most trusted New Zealander".
caption: Apiata in 2020
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