KEY POINTS:
Allan White, one of the first doctors on the scene at the Tangiwai rail disaster, recalls "exceeding the speed limit" in what he remembers to be an old Chevrolet racing the 40km from Taihape in 25 minutes flat.
The country doctor and railway medical officer said the over-riding memory of the disaster, which claimed 151 lives on Christmas Eve 1953, was the torrent of water and some of the rail carriages being swept in a giant wave down the Whangaehu River. Normally it was a "small trickle".
The passengers on the Wellington-to-Auckland express either had died or had relatively minor injuries like cuts and sand in the eyes.
After 60 years' service to medicine and the community, the 86-year-old doctor, who only gave up his practice last year, has been made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
In 1953, Dr White also saved the life of an engine driver pinned under a steam locomotive after a derailment near Mangaweka. At first, he thought he would have to amputate a limb on the spot but managed to "get him out whole".
Dr White was commander and surgeon of the New Zealand Services medical team for seven months during the Vietnam War until 1970. In 1972, he moved from Taihape to Mt Maunganui where he worked for 26 years.
He combined a love of aviation to become a flying doctor, president of the Tauranga Aero Club and continued to provide medical checks for pilots until last year.
"It has been hard work at times," he said, "but it has been a [good] life."
