By ANDREW MacDONALD in Darwin
The remains of New Zealand's Unknown Warrior were sealed in a copper casket by apron-clad Commonwealth War Grave Commission workers in a humbling ceremony, a Maori leader says.
A spokesman for Te Atiawa iwi, Peter Love, said his emotions welled as he saw the casket's lid sealed
with a finishing hammer in a workshop in northern France.
"The mood in the room was very silent," he said. A karakia (prayer) had also been intoned.
"Just knowing what was in that box. It touched me. As a Maori I was pleased it [the casket's sealing] was done humbly and with dignity."
Tears had welled in the eyes of onlookers and some were upset hours later.
About 10 New Zealanders were in the room, including Defence Force chief Air Marshal Bruce Ferguson, who had seen the warrior's remains.
The copper casket was about 1.3m (4.5 feet) long, 45cm (1.5 feet) wide and 76cm (2.5 feet) deep, Mr Love said.
It took about half an hour for the casket lid to be hammered down, and it was then soldered closed and placed in a rimu coffin brought from New Zealand.
The flag-draped coffin was handed to a New Zealand Defence Force contingent on Saturday, its job being to ensure the warrior's safe return to New Zealand.
Air Marshal Ferguson described his viewing of the warrior's remains as one of the most emotional occasions of his career.
Three military officers viewed the remains, the nature of which would never be revealed, Air Marshal Ferguson said.
"I told him [the warrior] we're taking him home and that those who are taking him home are soldiers, sailors and airmen, past and present."
He also said he had asked the warrior to be the guardian of all military personnel who had died on active service.
"I then promised that we, the people of New Zealand, will be his guardian," he said.
The remains were exhumed on October 10 from the Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, near where the New Zealand Division fought in 1916. No New Zealander was present at the exhumation.
The remains were buried about 140cm down in the grave that carried the epitaph "A New Zealand Soldier of the Great War Known Unto God".
They were recovered from the Somme battlefield in 1920 from a mass grave containing some 200.
- NZPA
