In June 1943, he came back to New Zealand after being gone for 3 months. He did not have to come back to the Māori Battalion if he did not want to. He was given a job as an inspector of traffic in 1946. He died in a traffic collision in 1986. After he died, a committee wanted the New Zealand Government to give him an award. This did not happen because the end of the Second World War was too long ago.