Army major visits East Timor

An army major from Palmerston North returned to East Timor to celebrate a special milestone.

Major Ange Sutton travelled to East Timor to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the International Force East Timor deployment.

As a member of the New Zealand Defence Force contingent, Sutton participated in the commemorations on Friday in Dili, which includes a veterans’ parade.

This won’t be the first time Palmerston North-based Sutton has travelled to East Timor. She has been deployed there twice, once in 2001 with the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor, and a second time in 2010.

In 2001, Sutton was stationed in the Belulik Leten settlement in the mountains near the border with West Timor. As well as conducting regular patrols of the surrounding villages, she helped to rebuild and teach English at a local school.

During her time there, she helped a women give birth to twins in a hut, with no running water or other necessities.

‘‘One of the children I was teaching came to our base and asked for me, because of the local women was in labour and they wanted me to assist.’’

Sutton’s second stint in East Timor was in 2010 with the International Stabilisation Force.

New Zealand Army Major Ange Sutton returned to East Timor in 2010 and caught up with the mother of twins she helped deliver during her first deployment in 2001.