Battle, adventure in soldier's blood

By ALISON HORWOOD and WARREN GAMBLE

The family of Acting Major John McNutt, killed in the Kuwaiti desert this week, keep an old Boer War uniform in their Christchurch home.

The uniform and memorabilia displayed in a glass cabinet belonged to Colonel Robert Hughes, Major McNutt's maternal great-grandfather, during the South African war.

The 1899-1902 conflict was the first time New Zealanders marched off to an overseas battle.

As relatives recall Major McNutt's achievement-packed 27 years - cut short by stray bombs in a botched training exercise - they reflect on his lifelong aim of joining the Army.

As an outstanding student and sportsman, he could have picked any number of careers.

"We have all been thinking about where the military influence came from," said a relative who did not want to be named.

"And it may have been from his great-grandfather. We feel he may have been affected by him."

Two hundred and twenty-eight New Zealand soldiers did not come back from the Boer War, killed in battle or by disease. Since then, more than 100,000 Kiwis have been killed and wounded in the two world wars and later conflicts such as Korea and Vietnam.

For the past 25 years, the military's role has been one of peacekeeping, and New Zealanders in uniform heading off overseas are generally expected to return alive.

Major McNutt was one of 796 Defence Force members serving in 15 overseas peace missions.

For 18 months, in the wake of Indonesia's bloody withdrawal, East Timor has been New Zealand's biggest commitment, as part of the United Nations-sanctioned force.

The Army's 655-strong Third Battalion ends its six-month posting in May, when it will be replaced by another contingent.

New Zealand is one of 23 countries contributing to the UN transitional authority. Part of its role is to guard the dangerous border with West Timor, where pro-Jakarta militia have staged cross-border raids.

Private Leonard Manning, 24, from the Waikato, was killed by one raiding party when his patrol was ambushed near the border last July.

In the same South Pacific neighbourhood, on the island of Bougainville, 20 defence staff are helping maintain the peace between warring island factions . Across the water in the Solomon Islands, seven personnel are monitoring the peace agreed to between warring groups last year.

In other world hotspots, New Zealand has 20 soldiers and six staff officers attached to British Army units in Bosnia.

In the Middle East, a 26-strong defence group is part of the multinational force in the Sinai Desert, and seven military observers are stationed with the UN in Israel and Syria.

Two-man Army teams are at work on anti-mine programmes in Mozambique, Cambodia and Laos, and two officers are with the UN mission in Sierra Leone.

The Army also has an 11-strong team at the UN Command Honour Guard Company in Seoul, where 50th anniversary commemorations of the Korean War will take place over the next few months.

Major McNutt was the sole New Zealand Army officer in Kuwait with the United States-led Coalition Joint Taskforce monitoring the border with Iraq.

His relatives say that if the seeds of his military ambition sprang from his great-grandfather's service, his fearlessness and love of adventure come directly from his father.

Major McNutt was the youngest of five children born to Mary and Goodwin McNutt.

Goodwin, now aged 71, grew up on a third-generation farm in Waipukurau, Hawkes Bay. The land is still farmed by his brother and his sons, but as a young man Goodwin packed up his bride and chased adventure farther afield.

Working first out of Taupo and later the South Island, he pioneered a wild deer recovery system "Kiwi style."

A fixed-wing and helicopter pilot, he attached a wire mesh cage beneath the helicopter skids. While the wild animal careered away from the helicopter at breakneck speed, he would give chase, hover overhead, and drop the cage on to it.

"Goodwin was a pioneer in the world of deer recovery," said a North Island helicopter pilot who knew him at the time. "It was a daring way of capturing these animals long before anyone in New Zealand was farming them and the practice caught on to a certain extent."

Mr McNutt featured in several films and books of the 1960s and 1970s, including Helicopter Hunters by Rex Forrester.

About the time Major McNutt was born, in Greymouth on June 28, 1973, the family was living at Cooks Flat Rd, Fox Glacier. His father ran one of the area's first tourism ventures, Winged Hunters, a helicopter business dropping hunters and tourists deep into venison country.

"Those McNutts were ahead of their time. They had that get-up-and-go and were keen for any adventure," a relative told the Weekend Herald.

"John's death is a tragic waste of a life. Johnny loved life and lived it to the full, like all the McNutts."

When his family lived at Fox Glacier, Major McNutt and his two older brothers boarded at St Andrews in Christchurch.

There, he was remembered as less outgoing than his brothers, but as a high achiever and extremely driven.

He was a house prefect, played in the 1st XV and won the college triathlon in the fifth and sixth forms.

Deputy rector Alister Newton described him as a role model, but an extremely "modest kid."

Other relatives describe his father as equally modest and intensely private.

"Goodwin and Mary achieved a lot, but they were always extremely modest about their capabilities, and Johnny was the same."

When contacted by the Herald last night, Mr McNutt said: "I haven't got much to say about Johnny. We are trying to put it in the back of our heads. Maybe later we can sit down and talk, but not now."

Mr and Mrs McNutt and their son James - an engineer and helicopter pilot - this week attended a press conference at the Burnham Military Camp in Christchurch.

James McNutt read a statement saying: "John was the youngest in the family, but by no means the smallest. Larger than life, he has always given 100 per cent to everything he has done."

He described his brother's love of rugby, running, triathlons, climbing, hunting and flying helicopters.

"From a very young age, John always wanted to be in the New Zealand Army, with his sights set on becoming a member of the Special Air Service," said James McNutt.

After enlisting in 1993, John McNutt topped his class of 216 trainees and reached the rank of lieutenant after studying at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra. He served with the Christchurch-based 2/1 Battalion before joining the SAS about 18 months ago.

Relatives said Major McNutt was planning to visit one of his sisters, Candy, near London in May.

Instead, he will be farewelled with full military honours at Burnham camp on Tuesday.