It was a one-pound box of continental chocolate treasures. No cherry truffles, no grande brazils nor French vanilla creams.

But for Norma Bent of Pyes Pa, the contents of that old battered chocolate box were every bit as sweet, and lived up to the Cadbury's promise of the 'perfect gift.”

'A mighty man” says Norma, choking up. 'It makes me very proud and very emotional.”

Because that box, that trove, contained the life and times of Lieutenant Colonel Edgar William Aked – Norma's Dad – in the shape of wartime documents, mementos, photos and medals.

Amongst them the Greek Order of Valour – until 1974 the highest military decoration of the Greek state and awarded for acts of bravery or distinguished leadership on the field of battle.

'He was a great leader of men,” says Norma. 'I heard from soldiers after the war that he was highly trusted and respected. His men would have done anything for him and followed him anywhere.”

The Greek Order of Valour medal, and star, were amongst a clutch of 10 decorations, mounted and worn by the soldier's daughter Norma at this year's Anzac Day service at Memorial Park - the Order of the British Empire, the Military Cross for 'exemplary gallantry or devotion to duty” on the night of Friday, October 23, 1942.

That was the night Captain Aked's company followed him up Miteiriya Ridge during the second battle of El Alamein.

'Several enemy strong points continued to hold out and to be of great nuisance value,” said the citation. 'Captain Aked was directed to capture those strong points. His company was successful in the face of bitter opposition in capturing the high ground so vital to the holding of the bridgehead.

'This officer displayed remarkable ability and coolness to organise under fire, and by his personal courage and leadership, he has always been a fine example.”

'That was my father,” says Norma. 'Like so many returned soldiers, he never talked about it. And I am still finding out about it now.”

A 'very proud and very emotional” Norma Bent. Photo: Bruce Barnard.

Also in that chocolate box, all typed up and neatly folded in an unmarked envelope, was a personal note to Lt. Col. E.W.Aked from Bernard Freyberg, the charismatic Lieutenant General and war hero himself.

'You are, as you know, now due leave in New Zealand,” Freyberg told Aked. 'So you should report to HQ NZEF as soon as you can conveniently hand over.” And it was signed Freyberg Lt. Gen, commanding officer NZEF.

Bullets and bombs aside, Aked was also battling very high blood pressure. And, regardless, there would be no New Zealand furlough for the Devonport Road baker, father of two girls and distinguished soldier. He was required elsewhere.

'The very next day Dad was in Greece,” says Norma. His soldier's pay book confirms it. 'I believe Freyberg's letter was a smoke screen. I have been told the German's were very aware of my father. He was a very good soldier, caused them lots of trouble and they wanted him dead. So Freyberg didn't want the enemy to know where Dad was headed and what he was doing.”

Years later Norma Bent had phone calls from people she believed to be military historians In England and Australia wanting to know why Churchill himself had dispatched Aked to Greece. 'I couldn't tell them,” she admits. 'I didn't know.”

He arrived in Greece about the time it was being liberated from a Nazi occupation that had killed 400,000 Greeks and devastated the country's economy and infrastructure.

Perhaps there's a clue to Aked's mission in a letter to the Kiwi from a Major General Tsakalotos, commander of the Greek Army Corps. He thanks Lt. Col. Aked, his 'colleague in arms”, for all his good work and words.

'In remembrance of the best days of my life,” said Major General Tsaklotos. And, of course, there was the Greek Order of Valour. A nation was in deep respect and gratitude.

The Germans had high-tailed to the isles of the Aegean, but there was still a vicious civil war between the British and American sponsored conservative Greek Government and leftist guerillas. 'I continue the struggle against the criminals of our country,” wrote Tsakalotos, the commander of the Greek Army Corps, to Aked. 'The criminals and their detestable leaders who cover themselves under the designation of political party leaders.”

'It just send shivers up my spine,” says Norma Bent. Pleasant and proud shivers.

And later, after Aked had return home, Tsakalotos wrote again. 'As an officer and a Greek it is not possible for us to ever forget what we owe to the New Zealand Expeditionary force.

'You will occupy a special place in our thoughts and our gratitude.”

'A mighty man” – Lieutenant Colonel E.W.Aked.

Aked came to New Zealand from Yorkshire as a five-year-old. He left school to work in a menswear shop in Wellington, planted pines during the great depression, worked in a Rotorua bakery and then joined the Navy.

'When war broke out he wanted action, he wanted to fight for his country,” explains Norma. 'The Navy was parked up – they weren't on a war footing so Dad joined the army and went straight to Egypt.” He got the action he sought in Italy, Greece, Egypt and all of North Africa.

Norma was just two when Dad went off to war, six and in primer two when he came home. He didn't talk about his exploits. They were consigned to a chocolate box, entrusted to Tom Muir, teacher in charge of the military cadets at what's now Tauranga Boys College and only handed back to the family when the teacher died.

'About ten years ago I retrieved the chocolate box from a cupboard at our farm in Belk Road, Tauriko and started ferreting through it. I started shaking. I had no idea.” The secrets of Edgar William Aked's war were slowly unfolding. And, for Norma, every day became Anzac Day.

There was the book - a rare book apparently - presented to the soldier by a grateful Greek people, some 45 centimetres by 45 centimetres, bound in red Moroccan leather called ‘In Greece – Journeys by Mountain and Valley'.

It's now in safe-keeping at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Norma Bent feels the war mementos are both personally and historically important. And that's causing her some angst.

'I am nearly 80, what if something happens to me?” she asks. 'What happens to this stuff?” The documents, the notes, the photographs – that are lovingly and painstakingly being catalogued in albums. 'If Tauranga had a museum, I would feel a lot easier. There would be no doubt where all this stuff would go.”

Lt. Colonel Edgar William Aked, who gave 30 of his tragically short 46 years to serving his country, was also a doting family man. He provided his daughters with piano lessons and ballet lessons. 'Well that wasn't going to work, but he tried.” He also provided them elocution lessons. 'That was the English in him.”

Even then he was pondering the next conflict. He said it was when and not if, and New Zealand should be ready. Such a commitment could only be met by compulsory military training.

'Let us, therefore, here in New Zealand, give our soldiers of the future at least the chance to meet any enemy on an equal footing” he's reported as saying.

Compulsory military training was a contentious and emotional issue and the Labour Government put it out to referendum in 1949. 'Remember when voting that a trained man has a chance to survive and return home,” Aked told the electorate.

He got his way, he got an OBE for making it happen, and in 1950 the first intake marched into camp.

Edgar William Aked, the man who gave 30 years of service to the military and his country, the man who had fearlessly confronted bullets and despots was cut down tragically early.

'He had bad blood pressure,” says Norma. 'He collapsed and died at my wedding, as he was about to take me up the aisle.” Lt. Col. Edgar William Aked was 46. Norma was just 19.

'I did not have my dad nearly long enough,” she says. 'And I am only really learning about the man now.” But a New Zealand military legend lives on.