Gurr Battalion Reunion

E nga mana, e nga reo, nga rangatira me nga toa o Te Ope Tuatahi ki Aotearoa, e huihui nei, tēnei aku mihi māhana ki a koutou, kia ora tātou katoa. Distinguished guests, soldiers of the 1st Battalion, warm greetings to you all.

I specifically acknowledge: Brig Ian Thorpe, Dining President for the Reunion Dinner; Lt Col Stan McKeon, the oldest and most senior surviving member of the Gurr Battalion; Bill McDonald, Chair of the Organising Committee and your deputy, David Ransfield DCM; Lt Col Glenn King, current Commanding Officer of 1 RNZIR; Lt Gen Don McIvor, National President of the RNZRSA; Peter Gallacher, Rotorua RSA President; Your Worship Kevin Winters, Mayor of Rotorua.

Thank you for inviting me to attend and speak at this reunion dinner for the men of 1 RNZIR – the Gurr Battalion in 1964-65. 

I stand before you wearing a number of hats.  I served as a soldier, as an officer and as a Commanding Officer.  Now, of course, I’m the Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief.  And through all of that, I have fond memories of my time with the Regiment, especially the 50th anniversary celebrations at Linton in 2007, which many of you may have attended.

So, like you, I have seen 1 RNZIR from many angles, from the inside and from the outside.  It has a proud history, having served New Zealand with honour and distinction, both at home and aboard.  It has seen operational service in demanding environments such as Malaya, Borneo, South Viet Nam, Bosnia, Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands and Afghanistan, to name but a few.

From its formation in 1957, the first Battalion has been a cornerstone of the NZDF’s ability to support New Zealand’s role in security: on combat and peacekeeping operations.  It has a well-deserved reputation as a capable, professional and effective military unit.

Bob Gurr’s time as Commanding Officer, and your service, marked a pivotal time in 1 RNZIR’s history.  Gurr like others in your Battalion had previously served in the Second World War.  In Gurr’s case it was with the Third New Zealand Division in the Pacific and the Second New Zealand Division in Italy as well as with J Force in Japan.  In my view, a Battalion takes on the persona of its CO.  Gurr was known for delegating responsibilities to others, but he only did so after making a keen assessment of an individual’s abilities.  You had to measure up or you were reassigned.  As Chris Pugsley noted in his book, From Emergency to Confrontation: “He (Gurr) was conscious of the range of talent and experience in his battalion, which he conducted like a professional orchestra.”   You all know how that panned out for your Battalion!

Your Battalion was the first 1st Battalion RNZIR.  In July 1964, your Battalion was granted the title Royal, which was marked by the Trooping of the Colours of 1 NZ Regiment in Terendak.  The battalion was reviewed by the then High Commissioner to Malaysia, Hunter Wade, who secured the release of 1 RNZIR to assist in the struggle against Confrontation.   The Battalion responded to aggressive incursions by Indonesian groups into peninsular Malaysia and, from May 1965, in Borneo.  In a series of skirmishes, you inflicted substantial losses on the enemy without suffering any fatal casualties.  All of that was a testament to your soldiering and the leadership of Bob Gurr. 

The operations in Malaya and Borneo marked a new chapter for New Zealand’s Army.  They were an important stage in the movement of New Zealand military forces from a non-regular to a regular framework of organisation.  They also offered an opportunity to develop professional skills, and laid the basis for effective service in the Vietnam War.  Again, as Chris Pugsley also noted: “Gurr’s 1 RNZIR was the peak of the New Zealand Army’s cumulative experience in South-East Asia.”

Bob Gurr himself made a similar comment in the 1 RNZIR history published in 2007.  He said of you, his men: “They were men of many skills operationally, and in the administrative, staff, intelligence and communications fields.  It is tempting to put names to many events and episodes deserving of more awards than ever came their way.  To do them all justice would require pages.  They were a buoyant, good-natured team full of humour and initiative.  There were our moments of serious concern, but, for all who served the 1 RNZIR of the era, it was a time to acquire a wealth of experience in the field.”

Such was 1 RNZIR’s significant commitment and involvement in South-East Asia, that by the time I was CO in the early 1990s, the Battalion was making its final transition back into a New Zealand-based force.   Indeed, one of my first significant duties as CO was a ceremonial parade and the honour of receiving, on behalf of all those who had served in the Battalion, and especially those who served in South Vietnam, the Theatre Honour “South Vietnam 1967 – 1970.”

The 1 RNZIR of today has changed much from the Battalion that I commanded in the 1990s and the Battalion that you served in the 1960s.  New equipment, especially personal kit, vehicles, some of the weapons and much of the communications gear, is very modern technology.  Likewise, the doctrine, joint tactics, techniques, and procedures, and organisational structures that have been, and continue to be, developed by 1 RNZIR to reflect solutions to contemporary challenges to ensure that the Army is able to provide a combat-capable and ready battalion.

Some things, however, have not changed.  The quality and calibre of the people who form the sections, platoons and companies of “the Battalion”, and the way the unit has got on with the job are the same now as they have always been.

The Battalion’s training and preparation for operations—be it contributing to disaster relief, delivering humanitarian aid, peacekeeping or conducting combat operations—underlie the key principle that if you train hard, you fight easy.  This approach to training was set at the outset, it continued through the time of Bob Gurr’s leadership, and it continues to this day.  That approach and the calibre of soldiers who have served in the Battalion has ensured that 1 RNZIR has remained an effective, agile and professional Army unit that is the best in everything it does.

I want to take this opportunity, as Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief, to thank you, those who served in Gurr’s Battalion, for your service to our Queen, to our country, to our Defence Force and to our Army.  

I also want to close by acknowledging those who have passed on, and most notably Bob Gurr, who died in 2010.  To do that, I want to recite the last section of the Battalion haka, He Tohu Aroha ki te hokowhitu a tu—The warriors of the God of War, adopted in 1987:

O nga ika-whiro i takina
Atu ki te areare a
Hinenui i te po
Kua takapauhia ki te
Kakahu a whiro
Ka waihotia he whetu
Marama mo Aotearoa
Hi au e, hei!

To our brave and loved friends
Who have journeyed on into the realm
Of the goddess of death
To be caressed with the cloak
Of the god whiro
They will be left like shining stars
Honoured by all New Zealanders
Let them always be remembered!

Thank you. Kia ora huihui tātou katoa.