As Prime Minister John Key continues his southeast Asian tour, calls are growing for the Government to repatriate the bodies of New Zealand soldiers buried in Malaysia.
Mr Key says they should stay where they are. But one lower North Island town wasn't prepared to let that happen. The residents of Eketahuna banded together to bring one of their own sons home.
Whenever she can Linda Haddon makes the quiet trip to a quiet cemetery to see her brother, Bryan Peterson.
"He was such a kind, gentle, caring person," she says. "I miss him very much, loved him very much, even though it's been 40 long years."
Mr Peterson was just 21 when he was killed in Vietnam in 1968. To have him home means so much to his family.
"It's so nice to be able to visit him, absolutely," says Ms Haddon.
Told of his death at 1am, she says her family were given six hours by the military to decide if they wanted to have his body returned. There was a catch – they'd have to pay. That was the official repatriation policy at the time.
"He gave his life. That was payment enough. And yet that government, the National government of that time, said that, no, you had to pay more money, pay more than the life of your son."
Her father, himself a World War II veteran, had no idea how he would raise the $400 needed – a large sum at the time. But then a special thing happened.
"The townfolk of Eketahuna then did this amazing thing," says Ms Haddon. "They had a meeting at the RSA and they put together $800 and gave it to my father and said, 'Here, bring your son home.'"
It was a final thank you from the place and way of life Mr Peterson had believed he was fighting to protect. Ms Haddon says her family are forever indebted to their community.
"My mother, if she could have spent every day at the cemetery she would have spent every day at the cemetery. It was very hard for her to lose her son. That's what this community is like – you are a part of it and everyone cared about everyone else."
The Government still won't bring Mr Peterson's fallen comrades home.
"It's one of those things where there is no perfectly right answer here," says Mr Key. "But for a long time successive governments have taken the view that is best left as long as those graves are properly maintained."
Despite the Government's assurances there's nothing to fear, the families argue the graves are at risk from future public works because they're not in official Commonwealth war grave cemeteries.
"It's not fair on those families," says Ms Haddon. "They gave their son, their husband, their father, and now they've got nothing."
But she has got something – something very important – because the people of Eketahuna didn't forget her brother, Mr Peterson, who gave everything.
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