Day after fixed in memory

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

In July 1963, when the Kaimai air disaster occurred, I was in my first year at Hamilton Boys’ High School.

My mother worked in Waikato Hospital’s laboratory.

We didn’t yet have a black and white television and heard the news of the missing DC3 over the kitchen radio that afternoon.

The next day searchers found the wreckage and began the grim task of body recovery.

I remember the day after, Mum and Dad arrived home in their blue and white Mark 1 Consul, both looking very sombre.

Mum in particular looked upset as she sat at the kitchen table while Dad put on the kettle.

The burned remains of the crash victims had been brought to Waikato Hospital for pathological examination, and my mother was involved in their arrival and documentation.

She said it was awful seeing the plastic bags being wheeled in on trolleys, and the terrible state of the remains.

Seeing how shaken my mother was, that day has been fixed in my memory as a reminder of the fragility of life and its value.

Roger Handford