World War II: Last member of the Pacific Battalion, Ari Wong Kim, dies

“Having joined the Pacific Battalion at the age of 16 to defend the values ​​of France from Nazism, the last of the Tamaria volunteers, Ari Wong Kim, left us.” It was with these words that Emmanuel Macron paid tribute this Friday morning to the last survivor of the Pacific Battalion during the Second World War. Tahitian Ari Wong Kim died on Wednesday night at the age of 99.

The circumstances of his engagement are incredible. Like many teenagers of the time who wanted to fight the Nazis, at 16 the young Tahitian usurped his brother’s identity as Tetua Teuparere to leave Polynesia in 1940 to fight in the Pacific Battalion in World War II.

The young soldier then joined the Free French forces fighting outside the metropolis, participating in campaigns in Libya (Battle of Bir Hakim. Ed.) and Tunisia. He then took part in the landings in Sicily, then fought in Italy, where he was first wounded on May 11, 1944. During the landings in Provence, he was wounded a second time on August 22, 1944. Away from his islands, after the end of the war he would continue to live in France.

“Be brave in defending your country”

After his retirement, he lived in a Bougainvillea nursing home in Breuil-en-Auge, in the heart of Normandy, reports Outre-mer la 1ère. “You have to be brave, brave, to protect your country,” admitted Ari Wong Kim, the fire of fighters still burning in his eyes in August 2020, during a meeting with the channel’s journalists. That same year, the valiant soldier of the Pacific Battalion was awarded the Legion of Honor. Ari Wong Kim broke down in tears during the ceremony, marked by the singing of “Volunteer of Tamaria” in his honor.