Mr Hawkins was a Warrant Officer 2 in 1963 and was driving on his own from Christchurch to Burnham Camp early one morning when his car went off the road just outside the city boundary. The problem might have been a flat tyre, combined with the shape of the verge and embankment, he said.
The car went over a fence and into a pine plantation.
He found himself lying on the ground, still able to talk and thinking he had survived without harm until he realised there was a chunk of something stuck in his head.
Only a very small piece at one end was sticking out.
Someone came to help him, and he was taken to Christchurch hospital where he had surgery.
The next day the matron came around, and told him he had been lucky not to lose his eye. She asked if he would like to take the piece of wood home with him.
When he saw it, he was surprised how big it was.
"I thought, 'Good God, I should be dead'."
After a few days he was able to go home, and he's kept the stick in a small jar ever since as a reminder of his good fortune.
Remarkably, the injury has never given him any trouble with his vision.
Mr Hawkins now keeps fit by walking and at the Masters' Games in Dunedin this year he won a gold medal for walking. He was the oldest competitor there, walking 10km in an hour and 48 minutes.