Post by Chips on Aug 9, 2010 17:46:24 GMT 9.5
Lieutenant Tim O'Donnell
NEW Zealand's first casualty in the war in Afghanistan has been returned to his home town in the North Island after an emotional ceremony at a nearby air force base.
A coffin carrying Lieutenant Tim O'Donnell arrived on an Air Force Hercules at Ohakea air base yesterday and was formally received by the New Zealand Army before being taken to his family.
Lieutenant O'Donnell was killed last week when his three-vehicle convoy, carrying about 12 soldiers, was attacked while on patrol in the northeast of Bamiyan province.
Lance Corporal Matthew Ball, 24, Private Allister Baker, 23, and an interpreter who were in the same vehicle were injured.
Private Baker attended yesterday's ceremony in a wheelchair, his leg in a cast.
NZ Prime Minister John Key, senior army personnel and Lieutenant O'Donnell's distraught family were among the crowd who gathered to meet the 28-year-old's coffin.
A haka was performed and the casket was carried from the Hercules to a waiting hearse for the trip his home town of Fielding.
Lieutenant O'Donnell's uncle, Barry O'Donnell, told reporters the family felt "a huge sense of relief".
"I think waiting was the hardest part," he said.
"We won't feel good, but we feel better."
Army chief Major General Rhys Jones, who knew the soldier well, said Lieutenant O'Donnell had joined the army because he wanted fun and excitement, the New Zealand Herald reported.
"He was a character and had a spark that really gave him the ability to lead well and be respected by his soldiers, but also by the peer group that loved him.
"His antics sometimes got him into trouble, and sometimes he did exceptionally well.
"The reality is, the military go where it is dangerous and deaths on operations are things we have to accept and move on from."
Mr Key said Lieutenant O'Donnell's death was a national tragedy and passed on his condolences to the soldier's family.
"As Prime Minister I'm not sure I can think of anything worse than having to receive home a New Zealand soldier in a coffin," Mr Key said yesterday.
"But I know his actions are part of a contingent of New Zealanders trying to make Afghanistan a stabilised place and safer place for the rest of the world."
A full military funeral service will be held on Wednesday.