Warrior's tomb 'will bring solace to many'

By HELEN TUNNAH

Prime Minister Helen Clark has stressed the symbolic importance of bringing home one of New Zealand's war victims as she prepares to welcome the remains of the unknown warrior to Wellington.

She told reporters yesterday many New Zealand families had been touched by war.

"I think it's going to mean a tremendous amount to all those who've lost loved ones in wars overseas," she said on radio.

The remains of a World War I soldier who died on the Somme, northern France, in 1916 are being returned this week to be interred in a new Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at the National War Memorial.

They were exhumed from the Caterpillar Valley cemetery last month and handed over to a New Zealand defence delegation by French authorities at the weekend.

The soldier is one of more than 1500 New Zealanders killed on the Somme. Most of them, 1272, were unidentified and are buried in unmarked graves or remembered on memorial walls.

The remains are thought to include an almost complete skeleton, and possibly other belongings.

Helen Clark said she could not say what had been found in the grave with the soldier when he was exhumed, but "we know absolutely, categorically" that he is a New Zealander.

She said establishing the tomb represented a growing understanding of the role history has played in shaping New Zealand's identity.

The Prime Minister said the tomb would be a place of remembrance for families, and New Zealand could pay tribute to all those who had died overseas.

"It seemed to me it was of great symbolic importance."

The Returned Services Association first raised the prospect of a tomb, similar to one in Britain, after World War II, but there was neither the political nor public will to pursue it until now.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission usually does not allow the fallen soldiers in its graves to be disturbed. It has made exceptions only for unknown warrior's tombs in Australia, Canada and now New Zealand.

Helen Clark said that while some people might think it better to have left the soldier buried in France, that did not seem to be the prevailing view and was not her sentiment.

She was not able to say how much the setting up of the tomb would cost, but it has been estimated at $3 million.

Some 30,000 New Zealand men and women have died in military conflicts since 1899, and 9000 lie in unmarked graves.

Warrior's progress

* The remains of the unknown warrior will arrive in New Zealand tomorrow.

* The warrior will first be taken to Parliament where he will lie in state - and the public will be able to pay their respects - before being interred at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month ( Remembrance Day, Thursday).

* The interment ceremony will be preceded by a memorial service in the Cathedral of St Paul and a military funeral procession through the central city to the National War Memorial.