Rfn. Edward Frank Sanday Vakabua4th Batallion - The Rifles
9 /14 / 83 * * *7 / 6 / 07
Suva, Fiji * * * *Basra, Iraq
Forever "Swift and Bold"
"We have just held a service of farewell for Vaka," writes Lt.Col. PNYM Sanders, OBE
". . .in the dusty, stifling chapel we have made for ourselves here, just above the room where he slept with his friends. It was almost unbearably moving and the tears that flowed down the cheeks of all of us packed into the room were only disguised by the sweat on our faces. His fellow Fijians sang for him – how they sang.
They come from a great tradition of harmony singing, but tonight their powerful, clear, sweet voices rang out across the Shatt Al Arab, singing a hymn with more passion, faith and feeling than I have ever heard. It raised the hairs on the backs of our necks and was a fitting and wonderful tribute to a fallen friend whose faith, courage, selflessness and simple decency defined him and inspired all who knew him."
His sisters and his numerous older cousins back home in Fiji teased Teddy for being "spoilt" as the baby of the family. What they meant was that he enjoyed more space in the house as they embarked on their own lives and suffered less in the way of hand-me-downs. He even got to play new-fangled video games at which he excelled.
While the island republic is rich in beauty, half of Fiji's population live below the poverty line; Teddy's late arrival on the family scene came with some advantages.
And some severe disadvantages.
"We lost our father when Edward was just about 13," remembers his sister, Arieta Carna. "It did not make Edward grow up angry at the world. He took the loss with grace and humility and enveloped his Mum with all the love and support he could muster."
Throughout his life Vaka impressed people as humble and laid back, a fellow who kept an even keel. Lt. Col. Sanders remembers "a gentle giant; a courteous, smiling, humble man with a natural warmth of spirit, a gentle sense of humour, truly unselfish; in short a gentleman."
His Captain, Will Peltor, recalls "no matter how much you had shouted at him an hour before, [he] would still give you a winning smile and have no hard feelings towards you when you then asked him to do you a favour."
"Edward was advanced for his age," Arieta notes, "In his dictum and the way he carried himself, he was like an old soul......"
His schooling done, Vaka enlisted in the British Army at 20, joining 2,000 Fijians under the Union Jack including his brother, Joji, serving in the 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery. Idyllic tropical paradise notwithstanding, Fiji carries the DNA of a warrior tradition that finds expression at home or abroad. The Republic is a reliable U.N. partner in peacekeeping operations, providing toops from its military to far flung hotspots.
By all accounts Vaka was an instant fit with the mortar platoon of The Rifles. "He loved his rest he loved his food," recall mates Lcpl. Zwijnen and Cpl. Grievson, "he loved his rugby and he hated running; he was a true mortarman!"
Vaka "moved from being the quiet Rifleman at the back to being the quiet Rifleman at the front," insists Capt. Peltor, "setting the example to the younger Rifleman; be it whilst maintaining the vehicles with grease all over his arms and hands to preparing the vehicles prior to going out on patrol to actually being out on patrol and 'cutting' about on the ground; not needing to be told what to do.
"He was a team player, he would always do more than his fair share and never think that a more junior Rifleman should do a job instead of him."
And when the chips were down, Vaka was capable of tapping into a reserve of courage.
"Vaka was constantly volunteering for duty in the rooftop sangars - the most dangerous spot," Lt. Col. Sanders writes. "And when a sangar was struck with a direct hit by a mortar round severely injuring a fellow Rifleman, it was Vaka that volunteered to drive the vehicle taking him to the emergency helicopter landing site for evacuation, braving the incoming mortar rounds as he did so with several exploding very close to him. That Rifleman is now recovering in hospital and he owes his survival in part to Vaka's courage."
And through all this mayhem and tedium, Capt. Peltor says, Vaka "incessantly read books; especially large volumes of books on military history as well as his favourite Special Forces books. It was for this reason and his exceptionally neat writing that he always guaranteed himself for being pinged when a 'scribe' was required."
Those traits were brought forward from childhood, according to Arieta, who remembers that he "loved movies and books. And again not those meaningless movies with a lot of sound and action. Movies that challenged the mind, was what Edward loved. Edward was well read."
"He was also exceptionally bright," Lt. Col. Sanders concurs. "He scored top of his basic skills examination and read avidly, with a love of military history which he found inspiring. When I last saw him he was reading 'Redcoat' and we had a long discussion about the books we particularly loved.
"He loved being a Rifleman" the Colonel reflects, "and wanted nothing more than to stay with his mates in the Platoon and talked of serving to his twelve year point. He had no desire or inclination for promotion; it was not that he lacked ambition" Sanders asserts,"his ambition was simply to be the best Rifleman he could be."
If any hearts are not broken at the loss of such a soldier, let them break now: Vaka was killed in his sleep as a result of foolish -- foolish -- horeseplay with a loaded weapon.
"What happened was just a mindless accident," one of the lads in 4 Rifles told the tabloids, "Nobody thinks Edward was murdered. But at the same time it’s the number one rule in the Army that you don’t play around with weapons. It was appalling stupidity and someone deserves to get locked up for a long time.
"Edward’s death was the last thing we needed at the time and left everyone really down. The enemy were killing enough of us without any of us having to help them."
The grief, especially for those who knew of the circumstances in advance of the April, '08 announcement from the Ministry of Defence, bore heavy on The Rifles. Nine of Vaka's mates and a handful of his officers joined his brother Joji accompanying the casket on the repatriation flight home.
Letters to Vaka's family arrived from London. Prime Minister Gordon Brown called Vaka a true son of Britain and Fiji "as he died a hero". In his note to Vaka's mum, Sera, Prince Charles expressed his sincere sympathy. His wife, Duchess of Cornwall Camilla Parker-Bowels, Royal Colonel of the Battalion, also sent her condolences. Later in the year, she commemorated Vaka in a year-end speech to The Rifles at their base in Bulford.
Slightly homier condolences are expressed by Vaka's mates at the memorial page maintained for him at the regimental website:
Rifleman Milner said:
"Take care my brother and don’t bother those good looking angels like I know you’re probably doing now. You will not be forgotten."Rifleman Sharpe said:
"Take care mate I will never forget you. You’re a cracking lad, rest in peace bro."Rifleman Croker said:
"There will always be a gap in this platoon in which you belong. At least you won’t be doing phys up Kiwi hill any more. Rest in Peace mate."Lance Corporal Zwijnen and Corporal Grievson said:
"Vaka was a gentle giant. He was a true Rifleman and Mortarman. . . .Even though he was quiet he was a legend to everyone who knew him. He will be greatly missed in mortar platoon. Rest in peace. Three rounds fire for effect followed by rate eight 'Vaka'. Job done."_______________________________________________________
And from tafarian95 at YouTube, this memorial video
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Music on the video is by Daniel Rae Costello.
The Rifles' motto "Swift and Bold" (`Celer et Audax`) dates to 1759 at the Battle of Quebec when General Wolfe so characterized the actions of the 60th Royal Americans, ancestral unit to The Rifles. The battalion website makes for precisely the sort of reading Vaka is said to have relished.
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