Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jul 18, 2012 15:42:15 GMT 12
Hero Willie Apiata quits SAS
Willie Apiata leaving NZ army
By DANYA LEVY - The Dominion Post | 2:18PM - 18 July 2012
ACTION MAN: Willie Apiata in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul. — PHILLIP POUPIN/1 NZSAS group SAS.
NEW ZEALAND's only living recipient of the Victoria Cross, Corporal Willie Apiata is leaving the army.
Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman has just told reporters at Parliament that Apiata is ending his service with the Defence Force.
The man often described as a reluctant hero had decided after 10 years in the elite Special Air Service (SAS) it was time to move on to a new phase in his life, Coleman said.
There was no suggestion he was disillusioned with life in the Defence Force.
"It's always time for reflection when someone leaves but hey, people leave the Defence Force all the time."
Apiata had give "excellent service" to the Defence Force, Coleman said.
"We wish him well with his future endeavours."
Apiata received the Victoria Cross in 2007 for heroics in Afghanistan in 2004 after he rescued a fellow soldier "in total disregard of his own safety" while under fire.
He carried his wounded comrade across a 70-metre stretch of battle zone, fully exposed to heavy enemy fire. He then re-armed himself and rejoined the fight in counter-attack.
Apiata was in the headlines again in 2010 when photographs by French photojournalist Philip Poupin were published of him and other SAS troops in the thick of a deadly gunfight in Afghanistan.
Publication of the photographs, taken moments after a battle that left three Taleban militants dead, prompted an international outcry and shocked the Victoria Cross recipient's family.
Chief of Defence Force, Lieutenant General Rhys Jones, said in a statement Apiata was leaving to pursue employment in the private sector.
He had advised the Defence Force several months ago of his intention to leave. He would remain a member of the Defence Force's Reserve Forces.
"Since the award was announced on 02 July 2007, Corporal Apiata has worked extremely hard to discharge his new responsibilities as a public figure, while also maintaining his role as a member of the New Zealand Special Air Service Regiment," Jones said.
"The NZ Defence Force thanks Corporal Apiata for his significant contribution and wishes him well with his future career."
Jones said details of Apiata's new role or the date that he would be officially released from the Defence Force would not be disclosed.
Apiata was born Bill Henry "Willie" Apiata in the Waikato town of Mangakino on June 28, 1972. He has three sisters and spent his early childhood up north in Waima before his family moved to Te Kaha in the Bay of Plenty when he was seven.
Apiata attended Te Whanau-a-Apanui Area School in Te Kaha but he left on the day of his 15th birthday. He enlisted as a territorial soldier in the New Zealand Army in October 1989.
From July 2000 to April 2001 he served in East Timor as part of the United Nations' operations there.
On his return he became a full-time soldier. He joined the Special Air Service (SAS) in November 2001 after he tried, but failed, to join in 1996. As a Lance Corporal, he was awarded the Victoria Cross in 2007.
He affiliates to the Ngâ puhi iwi through his father. His home marae are Tukaki Marae at Te Kaha and Ngati Kawa Marae at Oromahoe, just south of Kerikeri.
www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/7302227/Hero-Willie-Apiata-quits-SAS
