Soldier returns from foreign field
It has been a long wait for Timaru’s Colleen Walker, who has finally found closure as she prepares for her brother’s homecoming.
Russell James Craig Moore was 19 when he died following an accident in the engine room of the HMNZS Lachlan in Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa, on July 9, 1956.
Russell, who was in his first year of service as a Royal New Zealand Navy engineer, was buried in Pago Pago as it was too costly for his parents, the late Bob and Gwen Moore, to bring their son home to Timaru.
Prior to 1955 it was government policy to inter fallen New Zealand personnel overseas. Between 1955 and 1971 personnel could be brought home, provided their families bore the cost. However, that has changed following the announcement on Wednesday that the repatriation of New Zealand service personnel will be extended to the families of all personnel buried overseas after January 1, 1955.
In 1971 the Government began picking up the bill but it was not backdated to 1955 when the policy change occurred.
Colleen, now 71, was 9 when her older brother died, and said his death left her parents shattered.
‘‘My parents never got over it. They wanted him brought back but they couldn’t afford it.’’
For more than six decades, Colleen and her extended family have hoped for closure over her brother’s death.
She wrote to numerous government departments and politicians to tell them Russell was always in her thoughts.
She visited his grave in 1965.
Colleen finally received the good news in September last year when she was contacted by the New Zealand Defence Force to say plans were in place to bring her brother’s body back to New Zealand.
Authorities will disinter Russell’s body in early May and fly it to Palmerston North’s Base Ohakea, where Colleen will be waiting to welcome him home.
Colleen said the defence force would then arrange for his body to be transported to Timaru, where his life will be celebrated at a public ceremony at the South Canterbury Returned and Services Association on Saturday, May 12. Russell will then be buried next to his mum and dad at the Timaru Cemetery.
On Wednesday, Veterans Minister Ron Mark said the families of up to 36 New Zealand soldiers who died overseas decades ago would have the remains of their loved ones returned by October this year.
The Government will also contribute $1000 towards a memorial for each of those repatriated.