April 11, 2017
Bittersweet victory over war grave repatriation
New Zealand First defense spokesperson Ron Mark says news the Government has caved in to pressure to repatriate soldiers who died overseas is a bittersweet moment for their whanau.
The decision applies to military personnel buried in Singapore and Malaysia between 1955 and 1971, but the New Zealand Defense Force will look to extend the offer to cover other military deaths overseas during the same period.
Mr Mark says veterans feel the decision is being made now to pick up some votes in a tight election.
He says successive governments have fought repatriation, but the decision is about a small group of bodies.
"These servicemen and some of their family members were not buried in Commonwealth War Grave Commission graves. They were buried outside of that, one beside a motorway and one under an overbridge. The circumstance in which these bodies were lain were just appalling," Mr Mark says.
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