Injured Golden Bay soldier Allister Baker returns to New Zealand for recovery
Golden Bay soldier, Private Allister Baker, who was injured last week in an attack in Bamiyan province, Afghanistan, is now back in New Zealand and recovering at Christchurch Hospital.
With him have been his parents, Steve and Debbie Baker of Ligar Bay, and also his fiancée Jae Barrett, formerly of Rockville.
Jae’s father, Rockville plumber Peter Barrett, confirmed that both his daughter and Allister’s parents had been with the soldier since he was flown back to New Zealand on Saturday afternoon.
“Understandably, my daughter just wants to be by his side, so she’s been staying with him in hospital. He’s receiving the best possible medical care and seems to be bouncing back, but at this stage we have no idea when he’ll be coming back to Golden Bay.”
The couple had been planning to marry in Golden Bay this summer.
Allister has been in the news solidly for the last 10 days. He was travelling in the turret of one of a convoy of military vehicles that was hit by a roadside bomb and then ambushed by insurgents. The 23-year-old-sniper suffered serious burns to his left arm, and a broken foot. That attack killed Lieutenant Tim O’Donnell of Feilding, and also injured Lance Corporal Matthew Ball. The men were part of the 106 NZ Defence Dept personnel serving with the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamiyan, the 16th six-month rotation sent there, in the latest deployment that began last April.
The fatality has understandably became a national fixation; not only was it New Zealand’s first fatality in Afghanistan, but also our first combat-related fatality for 10 years.
The two injured men were initially flown for 11 hours back to Bamiyan base for treatment there, then a coalition forces plane evacuated them, along with the body of Lt O’Donnell, from Bagram airbase. They were transferred to a NZ Defence Force Boeing 757 waiting at Dubai for the final stretch home to Whenuapai Air Force Base just north of Auckland, arriving there last Saturday.
Even though Allister’s injuries were reported as serious, Army Chief Major General Rhys Jones said before the plane touched down that the two injured soldiers were expected to fully recover and be able to return to full military service.
“Longer-term rehabilitation is the men’s top priority.”
Last Sunday, both national TV news channels zoomed in on a bearded and blanketed Allister in a wheelchair, lined up with 200 personnel, family members, friends and dignitaries at an emotionally charged ramp ceremony at Ohakea Air Force Base. There, Lt O’Donnell’s casket was carried out of the Hercules aircraft and his body was returned to the care of the army. Not up to media interviews, Allister did manage a “doing OK” to a passing reporter.
Lt Tim O’Donnell was then given a full military funeral at Linton Army camp on Wednesday, the biggest this country had ever seen. Undeterred by his injuries, Allister was there.
After Allister’s deployment to Afghanistan, Jae went to flat with her sister in Wellington and found work, but her father says she will now move down to Christchurch to be near Allister, who is based at Burnham Military Camp.
Initially, a spokesperson for Army HQ in Nelson had said neither of the two injured soldiers were from the region, but it didn’t take local media long to pick up Allister’s association with Golden Bay. He was raised here and attended Golden Bay High School from 1998 until August 2003. His mum, Debbie, helps out at the Hospice Shop, while father Steve has been a long-term worker on the Harwoods’ farm at Upper Takaka. Now their son will always be regarded as the heroic Golden Bay soldier who narrowly escaped death in Afghanistan and who returned to tell the tale. Gerard Hindmarsh
