Answers for a grateful family

The family of Private Michael Victor Ross will never understand why he was taken from them in the prime of his life, but the investigation into the 29-year-old soldier's death has provided some answers.

Mr Ross' uncle, Kaitaia businessman Jack Rogers, said last week that the full post mortem report had yet to be seen, but he believed that his nephew had died as the result of a blow to his head from his own rifle as he fell from the inflatable boat he and others were aboard on Lake Moawhango, near Waiouru, on the afternoon of September 25.

Pte Ross, who was able to swim, was known to have been thrown from the boat in choppy conditions, but there had been no explanation for his failing to inflate his life jacket.

Mr Rogers said it appeared that the blow from the firearm to the side of his head had knocked him unconscious.

"He knew nothing. He was unconscious when he went into the water," he said.

"By the time the boat turned around and his mates started looking for him he was slowly sinking. His friends went into the water but couldn't reach him, and he then he disappeared."

He had not been struck by a following boat, as had initially been suspected as a possibility.

A tragedy for Pte Ross' family, the freak accident had been horrific for his colleagues, Mr Rogers added. One, who had tried to retrieve him, had been on the verge of hysteria.

Pte Ross' body was found, initially by sonar, in 45 metres of water and some 45 metres from where he was thrown from the boat, almost exactly one week later to the hour. Sonar had detected something on the bottom of the lake some time earlier, searchers marking it as a point of interest. It was the final 'point of interest' to be examined again, and this time the body was found, partially concealed by a ledge.

Navy divers brought the body from the bottom, police divers taking over before it reached the surface. The body was identified by military personnel, sparing the family that ordeal.

The cold water had preserved the body, Mr Rogers said, which meant that his nephew could be farewelled at Te Paatu Marae with an open casket.

"We are very, very grateful for that. That is a real blessing for our family," he said.

Despite its loss the family had much to be grateful for, he added, not least the support received from the Army and the Ngati Rangi people of Waiouru. From the moment the search began the Army had been totally open, its commitment to finding Pte Ross total.

"They passed over the spot where Michael was found three times with sonar, marking it as a point of interest, but the body was partially concealed," he said.

"This was the last location they had to check, and if he hadn't been found there they would have had to review the whole situation, but he was there. And they were never going to give up."

The body was taken to Linton Army camp on Wednesday evening, where the formalities included a march-on parade, followed by a march-off parade next morning. From there it travelled to the Ngati Tumatauenga Marae at Waiouru; Ngati Rangi had asked that the body remain there for an hour, but it lay on the marae for 24 hours, as a gesture of gratitude for the support the iwi had given the whanau.

On Friday the cortege drove to Papakura, where family and friends attended an Anglican chapel service, and Pte Ross finally arrived at Pamapuria's Te Paatu Marae on Saturday.

The funeral service took place there yesterday before the casket was transported by gun carriage up the hill to St Stephen's Church, where Michael had been baptised (on May 15, 1983) by Canon Dennis Urquhart, who officiated at the funeral.

He was laid to rest in the church cemetery alongside an infant cousin who died at birth, his uncle Victor, his grandfather Mick Rogers and other tupuna.