Mairi Speight and husband, David (right), with a picture of
their son, Nicolas, and the Dag Hammarskjold Medal, which
was awarded by Major Peter Aymes (left) on Saturday.With
them are Nicolas' siblings (from back left) Jeremy Speight,
Nadia Wright and Simon Speight. Photo by James Beech.
Arrowtown humanitarian aid worker Nicolas Geoffrey
Speight was posthumously honoured in an informal outdoor
ceremony at his parents' home on Saturday for his services to
peace.
More than 20 members of the Speight family came from Wanaka,
Te Anau, Palmerston and Auckland to see Major Peter Aymes, of
4 Otago and Southland Regiment present the distinguished Dag
Hammarskjold Medal to Nicolas' parents, Mairi and David
Speight, of Speargrass Flat.
Nicolas Speight (32), a former New Zealand Army officer, was
shot and killed in Arbil, northern Iraq, on April 24, 1999.
He was working as a programme manager in a United
Nations-contracted land-mine clearing operation.
David Speight said the family felt honoured to receive the
award.
Not many days went by when he did not think about his son, he
said.
Mairi Speight said she had mixed feelings about the medal.
Nicolas was humble and would have thought others should have
been recognised for their humanitarian work before him, she
said.
Of 1500 Dag Hammarskjold medals awarded worldwide to the
families of civilian and military personnel who died in the
service of the UN, only seven have been to New Zealanders.
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