Soldier honours mate who died at dawn ceremony

Old soldier Bruce Henderson had a heavy heart today as he placed a poppy for an old mate on the Cenotaph in Bluff.

It was for his friend of more than 40 years who collapsed and died at the dawn service more than 1600km away in the Auckland Domain today.

Sydney John McGuire, 62, could not be revived in spite of feverish efforts by St John Ambulance medics after he collapsed face down on the sodden concrete of the parade ground in front of the Auckland War Memorial and Museum shortly before the dawn service began at 6am.

"It was a real shock. I felt quite gutted," Mr Henderson said after returning to the Bluff RSA clubrooms from the 11am Anzac Day service at Bluff at the bottom of the South Island.

"I placed a poppy on the Cenotaph for him.

"He was a tremendous guy and secretary of the Malayan Vets Association," said Mr Henderson, who planned to have a drink at the RSA in memory of the old mate he served with in Malaya and Borneo in the mid 1960s.

New Zealand was involved in the Malaysian Confrontation from 1964 to 1966 when the 1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, was sent to the area.

They moved on to Borneo to patrol 200km of frontier against raids by Indonesian infiltrators. The New Zealand soldiers inflicted heavy casualties on the Indonesians for the loss of two dead and two wounded.

Earlier the battalion had spent several years in Malaya fighting insurgents. Seven New Zealand soldiers died and seven were wounded.

Mr McGuire tripped as he led a company of old soldiers onto the parade ground. He was about to order the company of old soldiers to halt and turn to face the Cenotaph when he went down and did not move.

Medical help was rushed to his side and St John Ambulance medics spent more than 30 minutes trying to revive him, including external heart massage.

As they worked on him the dawn parade continued around him and the Last Post sounded as he lay dying on the parade ground.

The lights on the parade ground were also turned off for a minute's silence in darkness to remember fallen soldiers.

As medics continued to work on Mr McGuire in the darkness, they called for the lights to be restored so they could see what they were doing but they stayed off for the full minute.

An ambulance was called but Mr McGuire could not be revived.

The Auckland dawn service attracted between 15,000 and 20,000 people and a sea of umbrellas as heavy overnight rain continued to fall throughout the service, abating briefly shortly before the service started.

As with other centres and in other years there was a lot more young people attending.


- NZPA