Comrades mourn East Timor crash death

By QUENTIN CLARKSON

The body of a New Zealand soldier killed in East Timor just hours after a service to remember the fallen in war will be flown home tomorrow.

Staff Sergeant William Edward White, of Palmerston North, died when the Unimog truck he was in plunged down a 30m bluff in the Suai region.

He had been due to return home to New Zealand in a fortnight.

On the morning of his death Staff Sergeant White, who was part of the first company into East Timor with international peacekeepers last September, had gathered with other New Zealand soldiers for Anzac Day services.

His truck was going to recover a New Zealand Army quad vehicle that had left the road when it crashed.

The other three soldiers on board were injured: Corporal Ngatarsha Puohotaua, 29, has a cracked sternum and Lance Corporal Pani James Houia, 27, and Private Jamie Hilton, 25, broke their arms. All three will be flown home as soon as possible.

New Zealand joint force commander Brigadier Jerry Mateparae said the circumstances surrounding the crash, such as the weather and whether the four soldiers were strapped in, were not clear.

Staff Sergeant White's home base is Linton Army Camp, where his wife, Marilyn, is a swimming instructor. They have two daughters - Ramona, 12, and Melanie, 16.

Lieutenant-Colonel Paul King, acting commander of 2 Land Force Group, said Staff Sergeant White was widely known in the Army community and had served in Cambodia clearing mines.

"It's a shock for the camp community, the second time we've been through it and doubly hard coming on Anzac Day, and so close to them coming home."

Army spokeswoman Captain Karen Webster said an Air Force Hercules was expected in Suai today to pick up the body. It would spend the night in Darwin and arrive at Whenuapai late tomorrow.

Brigadier Mateparae said the accident had hit New Zealand troops in East Timor hard.

"Coming as it has at the end of Easter, on Anzac Day, and close to when they were going to return to New Zealand, it has been quite devastating."

He said that as soon as the injured soldiers were fit to fly, they would be sent home.

"Our first priority is to assist the family back here [and] to investigate the circumstances. As part of that process, we'll be bringing Staff Sergeant White back as soon as we can."

Yesterday Defence Minister Mark Burton offered his condolences to the White family.

"Right now the priority in our thoughts and sympathy are of course with Bill's wife, his two teenage daughters and his parents and extended family."

Prime Minister Helen Clark said her thoughts were with Staff Sergeant White's wife and children.

"It's very tragic and I want to extend my condolences to the family."

New Zealand suffered its first death in East Timor in November when Warrant Officer Class Two Tony Michael Walser, 37, from One Battalion, was killed when the road collapsed under the truck he was driving. The father of three, also from Linton, was the first New Zealand soldier to die on operational duty in 28 years.