KEY POINTS:
Navy officer Wayne Burtton was just doing his job when he saved two wounded government soldiers in the East Timor capital of Dili this year.
Lieutenant Commander Burtton says he is honoured his work as a peacekeeper, part of the New Zealand contribution there, is being recognised by his being made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
The Aucklander was serving in East Timor when he was caught unarmed in the middle of a firefight between rebels and soldiers. Rescuing two wounded soldiers, he drove them to a first-aid post as the firefight continued around them.
Admitting he had been in danger, he said he was no hero and that "circumstance" put him in that situation.
"Our training essentially takes over from there and you become situationally aware of what's going on around you."
Commander Burtton also dealt with the aftermath of a machete attack in which a mother and her five children were murdered in Dili, near the airport where some of the rampaging gangs were on the loose.
In Navy Today soon after, Commander Burtton wrote: "The saddest thing was the mother had attempted to lock herself with two children in the bathroom. When she was killed she was hugging one of the children."
Evidence and material on the massacre was handed over to the local police. Commander Burtton's award citation also mentions his work protecting the NZ Ambassador in Dili until a company of soldiers arrived, setting up accommodation and vehicles for the company of soldiers, and setting up a first aid post at a refugee site.
"I am very, very happy with it," he said..
- NZPA
