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Home / New Zealand

Northland NZSAS trooper buried at home - 62 years after he was killed in action

By Peter de Graaf
Reporter·Northern Advocate·
31 Aug, 2018 06:00 PM2 mins to read

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Paul Thomas at the grave of his brother, Adrian Raymond Thomas, who was laid to rest at a Northland marae last week 62 years after he died in action in Malaya. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Paul Thomas at the grave of his brother, Adrian Raymond Thomas, who was laid to rest at a Northland marae last week 62 years after he died in action in Malaya. Photo / Peter de Graaf

A Northland soldier's remains have been brought home to be buried among his own people — more than 60 years after he was New Zealand's first SAS soldier to die in action.

Trooper Adrian Raymond Thomas, who was born at Waimahana Bay in the Far North and schooled at Ruawai in Kaipara, was killed during a jungle patrol in what is now Malaysia on May 2, 1956.

The 21-year-old was part of the first overseas deployment by the NZSAS, to the ''Malayan Emergency'', and was buried in Kuala Lumpur.

Government policy from 1955-71 was to bury war dead close to where they fell.

SAS trooper Adrian Raymond Thomas. Photo / Supplied
SAS trooper Adrian Raymond Thomas. Photo / Supplied
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Twenty years after Trooper Thomas' death, his youngest brother, Paul Thomas, promised their mother he would bring his remains home.

Paul Thomas' 42-year-long campaign for a change in the government's repatriation policy finally paid off last Saturday when his brother was buried among his mother's people at Te Pātūnga Marae near Kaeo.

Adrian Thomas was one of 27 servicemen and one child exhumed from cemeteries in Malaysia and Singapore and brought back to New Zealand on a chartered flight on August 21, as part of the Defence Force repatriation project Te Auraki.

Trooper Thomas lay at the NZSAS chapel in Papakura for a night before his brother took him to Ruawai College, Parirau Marae near Matakohe, and finally to Te Pātūnga.

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His mother, Ngawini Thomas, died in 1987 so didn't see her boy come home — but Paul Thomas is convinced his return will bring her peace.

"My mother was a very humble person and never asked for anything. The reason I kept going all this time was her undying love for her son that didn't come back. Now he is with his people."

The remains of 27 New Zealand Army soldiers, including Thomas, and one buried child arriving at Auckland Airport. Photo / File
The remains of 27 New Zealand Army soldiers, including Thomas, and one buried child arriving at Auckland Airport. Photo / File

Another 10 New Zealand servicemen have returned, or will return in the next two months, from the UK, Fiji, American Samoa and Korea as part of Te Auraki.

A team of bio-archaeologists, forensic anthropologists and Defence Force dentists identified the remains before they were returned. The project is expected to cost $7 million.

Discover more

New Zealand

Malaysian forces send fallen Kiwi soldiers home

20 Aug 10:24 AM
New Zealand

Kiwi soldier who died in 1965 finally buried at home

29 Aug 12:00 AM
New Zealand

Northland SAS soldier's bones brought home after 62 years

01 Sep 01:00 AM

Since 1971 New Zealand military personnel who die overseas have been brought home as a matter of course.

■ See 48 Hours, the Advocate's weekend feature section, for the full story.

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