He was from a family of warriors. His father served in World War II and his great-uncles and a great-aunt served in World War I. A brother was in the Navy, while the other brother did national service. He also had a nephew in the RNZ Air Force. Then there was his cousin killed in the Vietnam War.
“I’d always wanted to be in the army since I was about 6,” Trembath told RNZ in a 2016 interview.
“When I grew up, being born in ‘55, it was pretty common every Friday there was a war movie on TV.”
He spoke about his time in the French Foreign Legion – a story that had a “hard case” beginning, he said.
“It’s just one of those things that falls into place.”
Trembath was on a deployment in Singapore when a friend, who had just deserted from the Foreign Legion, travelled through on his way to Nicaragua.
“He planted a seed,” Trembath said.
By 1986 he had tired of the New Zealand Army, having served 12½ years as a soldier. “So off I went adventuring.”
In 1989 he began a five-year stint as a legionnaire in the elite parachute regiment which took him to Chad, Somalia, Rwanda, Ethiopia and more.
He said the “very heavily armed” parachute regiment was broken into specialised companies. One unit was amphibious, another focused on mountain warfare.
“It’s not necessarily going in there to blatantly fight, it’s more about going in there to maintain the stability of a French-friendly government.”
Their quest took them into Somalia in 1992 during Operation Restore Hope – a United States operation supported by allies from more than 20 countries to restore enough order that humanitarian help could be provided to starving Somalis.
Trembath said the legionnaires were tasked with securing the perimeter of the airport.
Despite the dangers of being in active war zones, he revelled in the thrill.
“When you’ve got a whole lot of bullets coming into your position it’s quite exhilarating. It’s all right shooting targets, rabbits and deer, but when the targets, rabbit and deer shoot back it’s even more fun,” he told Stuff in 2018.
While a lifetime spent as a soldier had hardened him to certain experiences, he explained that it had also opened him up to humanity.
“You actually learn a lot about people by talking to them. If you just want to ... walk down the road in one direction and not talk to anyone on the way, that’s your fault, aye, you’ll never learn.”
Trembath spent 42 years and one day intertwined with the military in some way but not because he was averse to the civilian lifestyle.
He spent five years as a contract surveyor working on the Britomart Tunnel, Viaduct Basin, Auckland Airport and the Harbour Bridge.
But chance encounters often drew him back into soldier’s clothes. Such was the case on Anzac Day in 2000 when an officer he knew told him they were taking troops to East Timor.
“So two days later I was back in the New Zealand Army, reinstated with my rank of corporal and about a year later I was off to Timor.”
However, in 2015, he hung up his helmet for good after being diagnosed with cancer the year before, aged 60.
“I thought that’s me, I’m out of here. I’m going to have a vacation.”
Karina Cooper is deputy news director and covers breaking and general news for the Advocate. She also has a special interest in investigating what is behind the headlines and getting to the heart of a story.
