Donald Frith (far left, front row) with fellow 1RNZIR soldiers in 1969. At the opposite end of the row from Donald is Jack Williams. Photo / vietnamwar.govt.nz
Donald Frith (far left, front row) with fellow 1RNZIR soldiers in 1969. At the opposite end of the row from Donald is Jack Williams. Photo / vietnamwar.govt.nz
Two Hawke's Bay soldiers who served and died in Vietnam, and who had been buried at a military cemetery in Malaysia for nearly 50 years, are set to return home next week.
Private John 'Jack' Stewart Williams, from Central Hawke's Bay, and Private Donald Campbell Frith, from Wairoa, will finally arrive and be laid to rest where they had grown up.
Also returning home as part of the New Zealand Defence Force's repatriation programme are two soldiers who served in Malaya - Sergeant George Nepia, the son of Wairoa-born rugby legend George Nepia, and Private Bruce Hay, from Hastings, who was accidentally killed while on service in Malaya.
From Hastings, Private Hay was 21 when he died.
A memorial service is planned for him at Club Hastings on August 31.
George Nepia, who was born in Rangitukia near Ruatoria where his father then farmed, was 24 when he died in an accident while serving in Malaya in 1954.
He was the only Māori soldier buried at the Singapore military cemetery where he was first laid to rest with full military honours.
Private Bruce Hay was a dog handler with the army and died in an accident on March 25, 1961.
In tribute to the role he played with the army, a dog handler from the present army unit and his dog will also be at Whenuapai to greet him, along with 11 members of Private Hay's family.
A service will be held for Private Hay at Club Hastings on August 31 and a bronze plaque had already been prepared for his laying to rest at the RSA Hastings cemetery.
The telegram that Bruce Hay's family received.
Private Williams, who attended The Terrace School and CHB College, was serving with 3 Platoon Victor 4 Infantry Company when he was killed in a Viet Cong ambush in Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam, on June 17, 1969, at age 20.
Private Jack Williams
He was buried at Terendak Military Camp cemetery in Malaysia, but next week, along with other Bay-born soldiers, will be among 29 personnel being repatriated to New Zealand on August 21 by the New Zealand Defence Force, as part of Operation Te Auraki (The Return).
Just before Anzac Day last year, after years of pressure from families and veterans, the previous National Government offered to repatriate the bodies of service personnel who died in battle and were buried in Singapore and Malaysia between 1955 and 1971.
Private Williams' twin sister, Jill McClean, said she and her three other brothers, Grant, Wayne and Andrew, could scarcely believe it was about to happen.
"Most of our family have visited his grave in Malaysia, but never ever thought that he would be returned to us," she said.
Even though her brother's real name was John, Jill said as twins they were always referred to as "Jack and Jill".
"And as twins, we were very close. I still have the letters he wrote to me from Malaysia and Vietnam. They are real tear jerkers when I re-read them. For example, in one he says 'Don't you get married until I come home'."
Jill said as a boy, Jack loved the outdoors in CHB and going fishing at Lake Whatuma with his mates after their late parents, Bruce and June, moved the family to Waipukurau from the South Island when he was 9.
"Sadly our mother died last February, so she didn't quite get to see her boy come home," said Jill about her mum, June, who was in her 90s and living in Auckland.
Jack's remains will be returned home to his remaining family at a ramp ceremony at Auckland International Airport on August 21, arriving on a chartered Air New Zealand flight. The soldiers' caskets will be received with a traditional Māori welcome, before they are carried out past a guard of honour and handed back to their families.
"There will be a private service for the families, followed by a NZDF haka as the caskets depart and are then driven out along airport roads so that the public can view them and pay their respects," Jill said.
Jill said family and friends from the United States, Australia, Auckland, Tauranga and Hamilton would then make a trip to CHB for a number of ceremonies to celebrate Jack's return home to NZ, before his re interment at his final resting place at Waipukurau Cemetery.
On Friday afternoon August 24, Jack will be honoured by CHB College with a plaque unveiling. Also to be honoured on the plaque is another old boy from the school who died in Vietnam, gunner Stuart Ellwood.
After leaving CHB College, he served as a forward radio controller with New Zealand's famous artillery unit, 161 Battery. He was killed in action, aged 20, on February 6, 1968, about one week into the Tet Offensive. His body was returned home that same year and is buried in Foxton, where he grew up.
The next day on Saturday, August 25 there will be a re interment service for Jack at Terrace School at 11am, starting with a pōwhiri.
"A public service will be held and the casket will then carried by Jack's brothers and family members to the entrance of the school before it is passed on to Vietnam veterans, many of whom served with Jack. The vets will then take the casket to the nearby Waipukurau Cemetery for his final re-interment."
Jill said the family welcomed members of the public to attend the interment service.
"Especially if they knew our boy Jack," she said.
If wet, the service will be held at the Waipukurau Memorial Hall.
Private Williams' fellow serviceman, Private Frith, is also set to receive a fine welcome home and tribute.
The family of Donald Campbell Frith will be joined by veterans of Victor 4 Company, who will act as casket bearers, at a service of remembrance and celebration of his life to be held at the Wairoa War Memorial Hall on August 23.
Private Donald Campbell Frith from Wairoa.
Private Frith will be taken into the service by his old comrades accompanied by the Hollies singing He Ain't Heavy He's my Brother — and will leave the service to the sounds of Tom Jones singing Green Green Grass of Home.
He died within a month of Private Williams — succumbing to illness.
Veteran Hardie Martin, who served with Victor 4 Company, recalled seeing Private Frith covered in red spots after returning from an operation and was stunned by being told the next morning that he had died.
He said Private Frith had been suffering from septicaemia but despite being ill, and getting worse, decided not to report it as he felt he would be "letting the side down".
