Niwa Kawha BEM served with 1 and 4 Detachments, 1st Ranger Squadron, New Zealand Special Air Service (NZSAS), during the Borneo Confrontation.
After contracting a severe illness he returned to New Zealand to convalesce and, in 1962 after recovering, he voluntarily relinquished his rank to join the NZSAS.
[2] During his first tour of Borneo, Kawha was lead scout of a patrol commanded by Lieutenant Eru Manuera which was inserted on 16 May 1965 to conduct a surprise attack on a camp at Mangaku.
During the withdrawal Kawha, threw a grenade which bounced off a tree towards the patrol, fortuitously it failed to explode.
[9] On 20 August 2009, Kawha (then of Tauranga), along with four others or their next-of-kin, were formally presented with their Mention in Dispatches by the Chief of Army Major General Lou Gardiner at the 6 Hauraki Battalion Group Headquarters in Tauranga, after it was discovered that a number of awards of the Mention in Dispatches had not formally been presented.