Sharples Pita: Motions — New Zealand Defence Force—Deaths of Air Force Personnel in Anzac Day Helicopter Crash 
Sharples Pita: Motions — New Zealand Defence Force—Deaths of Air Force Personnel in Anzac Day Helicopter Crash 
[Volume:662;Page:10445] 
Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 Every year on 25 April New Zealanders gather and listen to the words of a poem written in 1914 for the fallen. Those words had even more poignant relevance this year: 
They went with songs to the battle they were young 
Straight of limb true of eye steady and aglow. 
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted 
They fell with their faces to the foe. 
They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old; 
Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn. 
At the going down of the sun and in the morning 
We will remember them. 
They are the words that will play out in the hearts and memories of the family of Squadron Leader Nick Cree killed in the line of duty in January this year. They will be words of meaning to the family of Flight Sergeant Andrew Forster who was killed near Waiouru 2 months earlier. And today we think of the families of three wonderful young men staunch to the end against all odds. They are young men who shall not grow old who are robbed of their potential for a bright future and whose families are deprived of their loved one who died in the course of his calling to duty. 
The Maori Party stands to honour the lives of Flight Lieutenant Hayden Madsen Flying Officer Daniel Gregory and Corporal Ben Carson. We express our deepest sympathies to their wives and to the families they leave behind. We pay a special acknowledgment to the members of the Defence Force who will be grappling with such heavy grief in their collective loss. 
The significance of such a tragic accident occurring on Anzac Day will now become part of the legacy for our nation. The fierce and intense battles fought on Gallipoli in 1915 have always stood as a vivid metaphor for the power of the human spirit. The first major military action fought by the Australian and New Zealand forces during World War I brought to the foreground attributes of great bravery incredible courage in the face of adversity tenacity ingenuity and powerful forces of loyalty. The cost to New Zealand was 2721 dead and 4725 injured—a staggering 88 percent casualty rate. It is a loss that has been sustained over the generations and has led to what we might now describe as the debt of suffering in which Australia and New Zealand unite to remember the fallen. This year that loss was given a tragic and personal meaning through this extraordinarily bitter blow. 
We also acknowledge the passing of Linton army camp Private Te Tahuna Daniel Tahapeehi. Our thoughts also extend to the one surviving crewman Sergeant Stevin Creeggan and I am sure we join with all the House in wishing him a full and effective recovery. 
We extend our aroha to all the families involved to the families of all servicemen and servicewomen to the Defence Force and to all New Zealanders as we commemorate this devastating loss. 
Na reira haere koutou haere koutou haere. Haere ki te okiokinga hei whariki ma matou. 
[ 
So depart you who have died farewell. Go to the resting place and become our mat. 
] 
At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.