Two grieving families watched from a dimly-lit runway as the bodies of Lance Corporals Pralli Durrer and Rory Malone arrived home to New Zealand.
The pair, their caskets each covered in a New Zealand flag, flowers, their hat and a single framed photo, were carried off a United States Air Force C-17 in Christchurch late last night.
It was the first time their families could be reunited with the men, who were killed in a gun battle in Afghanistan at the weekend.
Remembrance Army plans an April 12 gathering to remember fallen soldier Rory Malone.
Auckland Council says an ‘existing memorial’ – Malone’s grave – might mean the new ruler-sized plaque may not be allowed.
The chair of the local board that will decide says a decision has to wait until members have worked through the council Long-Term Plan.
A plan to commemorate a soldier killed in Afghanistan is heading off the rails after Auckland Council was told he already has a memorial – his gravestone.
Unlike most of those who died in service to New Zealand, Malone doesn’t yet have a presence on any of the hundreds of war memorials dotted across the country.
It’s a gap the New Zealand Remembrance Army was hoping to fill. The charity, which maintains and restores memorials to those who served, had secured the blessing of Malone’s family to place a plaque in keeping with those for other fallen soldiers at the gates to the Riverhead War Memorial Park.
It was a place Malone had played rugby in his youth and, says Remembrance Army founder Simon Strombom, was a modern continuation of the practice which saw the names of the fallen on memorials in the towns from which they came.
The return to New Zealand of Lance Corporals Pralli Drurrer and Rory Malone in 2012.
With Malone’s family’s blessing, Strombom organised a gathering for April 12 to place the plaque – and then came the email from the Auckland Council.
For Strombom, it was another exhausting hurdle thrown down by local bureaucracy of the sort the Remembrance Army frequently encounters.
For Brent Bailey, though, as chair of the Rodney local board that will make the decision, it’s a case of someone trying to bump ahead of a process that exists for a good reason.
And in any case, says Bailey, it’s not getting a green light before April 12 because the board needs to sort out its Long-Term Plan first.
Lance Corporals Malone and Pralli Durrer were killed while six others were wounded in the what became known as the Battle of Baghak – a fierce firefight north of Kiwi Base at Bamiyan.
The issue of a plaque was first raised with the council last month, with Murray Hobson of the Pt Chevalier RSA laying out the intent in an email to councillors and, eventually, Bailey.
Strombom and others assumed the process was in train until an email dropped this week from the council parks specialist charged with supporting the Rodney board.
That email told Strombom that Veterans’ Affairs had “advised that there is an existing memorial plaque for Rory Malone at Manukau Memorial Gardens” which was an Auckland Council reserve.
It continued: “Given this new information, a second plaque at Riverhead may not be appropriate.”
Strombom saw red – that memorial to which the council referred was Malone’s grave and headstone. He knew that to be the case because the Remembrance Army had recently restored the grave for Malone’s family.
Afghanistan war veteran and Remembrance Army founder Simon Strombom. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Furious, Strombom posted to social media, urging people to email Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown and tell him how they felt.
“Why doesn’t someone say ‘thank you for entrusting your son’s memory to us’ or ‘thank you for your service’? Why doesn’t this happen?”
Strombom said he had encountered difficulties at a range of councils across the country when trying to recognise modern veterans who had died in service.
“If you’re in charge of heritage, you need to embrace all heritage and not just the stuff you like.”
Strombom told the council: “Rory is not on any memorial even though he was killed in action. His mother and brother said this memorial is the most appropriate as it’s where he grew up and played rugby.”
The plaque itself is 25cm wide and 7cm high – “it is a small addition to an existing memorial”, said Strombom.
“We are only asking to recognise a Kiwi who paid the ultimate sacrifice a soldier can make, where he grew up.”
Bailey said he understood a formal application had yet to be made and, when it was, it would need a report from council staff so the board could make a considered decision.
“They’re a bit insistent and not listening and haven’t shown much interest in understanding the process. I’m not having staff pushed around.”
Bailey said he understood the advice from Veterans’ Affairs was that there was an existing memorial. Told of Strombom’s objection to Malone’s grave being considered an existing memorial, he said: “It’s not for a bunch of well-intentioned amateurs to say that’s his grave.
“Staff will go through the process but they won’t be rushed. It’s not that we haven’t granted it – it’s that it hasn’t been applied for. It’s a public space and there’s protocols and rules.”
A frame from a NZDF video of the firefight in Afghanistan in which two people – including Lance Corporal Rory Malone – were killed and six others wounded.
Veterans’ Affairs head Alex Brunt confirmed it had told the Auckland Council that Malone had “a memorial tribute at Manukau Memorial Gardens – a services plaque”.
Bailey said: “In our situation, we’re waiting on a report. This is probably going to take some time. It’s unfortunate but it is what it is.
“We’re not saying we don’t want to remember our servicemen, particularly those who have fallen. We’re not against it.”
Martin van Jaarsveld, the council’s head of specialist operations parks and community facilities, said an application had been received and the decision-making rested with the Rodney board. To assist the board, council staff were assessing the application against the local “parks management plan”.
He said if the application lined up with the local parks plan, introduced after public consultation in 2023, a report to the board would recommend approval.
It turned out to be, at least in part, an unfortunate misunderstanding.
Late on Friday afternoon, Brunt confirmed it had told the Auckland Council that Malone had “a memorial tribute at Manukau Memorial Gardens – a services plaque”.
“However, VA has since become aware of the full context of the situation and does not believe that gravesite services plaque to be a memorial tribute.”
He said Veterans’ Affairs fully supported the plaque being installed on the memorial gates, acknowledging the decision rested with the local board.
The board’s next meeting is on March 19 – the only window between now and the planned installation day for it to consider allowing the plaque to join the names of those commemorating earlier generations.
The Remembrance Army was set up in 2018 and has since set up around 60 regional teams that have restored more than 200,000 war graves.
David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He first joined the Herald in 2004.
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