One Small Kiwi Bridge

Hon Heather Roy, Associate Minister of Defence
Sunday, April 25 2010

Hon Heather Roy Speech to Kaiparoro ANZAC Memorial Bridge ANZAC Day Service; Kaiparoro ANZAC Memorial Bridge, Kaiparoro, Wairarapa; Sunday, April 25 2010.

Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa

Dr Kay Flavell & Friends of the ANZAC Memorial Bridge Kaiparoro; Mayor Maureen Reynolds and political colleagues; veterans and service personnel; descendants and families of veterans; ladies and gentlemen; boys and girls.

Kaiparoro - the loud and violent wind from the ranges that is followed by heavy rain and flooding in this area. Alfred Falkner, the designer of this bridge knew the meaning well. When he arranged for the local community to build this tribute, opened on December 1 1922, to his youngest son Victor, his nephew, Donald Pallant and others whose names are remembered today, he built it to survive those winds and floods and, in doing so, created a lasting national monument to the sacrifices of small communities across New Zealand. When it was decommissioned as a regular thoroughfare in 1956, it was already older than those it commemorated.

Last year, I spent ANZAC Day in my home town of Palmerston, Otago. Like rural Wairarapa, it is a region of small communities united by large Rolls of Honour on memorials from past wars. I know that it is a huge challenge for small communities to support, let alone renovate a memorial such as this. I wish to acknowledge the work of Dr Kay Flavell and the members of the 'Friends' of this bridge, for what has been achieved in restoring and maintaining this monument in the condition that we see it today.

We are supported here today by members, past and present, of all three services. My own Army service began at Waiouru - a place also know for its wind and rain. Our air force colleagues, from Ohakea, are also well familiar with the place where the 'four winds meet'. Every sailor knows that a kind wish is to a 'fair wind and a following sea'. So, no matter what our background, we can all feel a sense of kinship here at Kaiparoro.

Wairarapa has special links with the Royal New Zealand Air Force. 1940 saw the RNZAF occupy, expand and develop Hood Aerodrome, in Masterton. By April 1942, No. 14 Squadron had reformed at Hood Aerodrome, using American built Harvard trainers and P-40 Kittyhawk fighters. Later in 1943, 14 Squadron left Masterton to fight in the South Pacific. It is a sad duty of mine to now be the Minister responsible for the 2001 decision to disband the Air Combat Wing, known only now as the Air Combat Force Disposal Unit - of which 2, 14 and 75 squadrons RNZAF are a part.

However, I don't believe that the pilots and crews of those or any other unit - navy, army or air force - would want to be remembered by that. Every wind and every flood brings good and bad. I think that those who have passed on and also those who have served and are still with us would rather be remembered for what they achieved than what they didn't.

The tragic loss of three RNZAF air crew, this morning, is a poignant reminder of this and also of the huge impact on any community of the death of just one of its sons or daughters. To emphasise this, I'd like to read the last verse of a poem written in 1942 by Flight Mechanic Sykes. While it is about airmen, the same sentiments are true of any service.

"He doesn't want glory, but please tell his story,
spread a little of his fame around,
He's just one of a few - so give him his due,
and Three Cheers for the man on the ground."

In an army field engineer bridging team, the smallest member is the 'pin man'. The sappers in the audience will instantly know what that means. It's the smallest person in the section who gets dangled precariously over the edge to drive in the pins that hold the girder structures together. You might be surprised to learn that I was always the 'pin man'. But without the pins and the little guy who puts them in, the bridge is useless. Without the young people of today being here and willing to learn the lessons of the past, our country and our people would be at risk of having to re-learn them.

This humble bridge at Kaiparoro is a powerful symbol because it not only joined communities across a sometimes swollen river for 34 years but now joins generations across decades in remembrance. In doing so it is as powerful and effective as any bridge in the world. It is fit for purpose. It unites. It enables us to remember them. It is one small Kiwi bridge but one with a big heart and purpose. We could do with more of them.

Lest we forget.

ENDS

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