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The News
Thursday April 16 2015
Anzac Day spirit . . . Shane Luzak is looking forward to representing the Rangiora RSA DAVID HILL. at Gallipoli on Anzac Day.
Gallipoli beckons By DAVID HILL Shane Luzak is looking forward to getting into the Anzac Day spirit at Gallipoli. The Rangiora RSA executive committee member, who served 35 years as an army medic in the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), will represent the Rangiora RSA at the dawn service at Chunuk Bair, on the Gallipoli Peninsula, on Anzac Day. Mr Luzak secured his pass to Gallipoli in the Government’s veterans’ ballot, while the Rangiora RSA has assisted with his airfares. To get to Chunuk Bair he will undergo seven different security checks for the privilege of attending the Anzac Day dawn service. ‘‘There will be a lot of waiting and standing around, but I’m looking forward to it because it will be one of the biggest parades I have been to and I have been on a few big parades.’’ He says around 2000 New Zealanders will be at Chunuk Bair and 8000 Australians at Pine Gap on the Gallipoli Peninsula on Anzac Day and there will be several Australians on the ‘‘engineers tour’’ he has signed up for. ‘‘The Australians like to talk about Pine Gap. ‘‘But if they do it on the bus trip I will be able to point that the monument at Chunuk Bair is bigger and that’s because Atatu ¨ rk acknowledged the New Zealanders were not defeated. ‘‘Chunuk Bair was only recaptured after the British took over, whereas the Australians were defeated at
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Pine Gap.’’ Mr Luzak immigrated to New Zealand with his family at intermediate school age in 1970. His Polish father lived in a German concentration camp during World War 2 as a child. He joined the Royal New Zealand Army as a regular force cadet at age 15 and during his career served six months in East Timor and went on two deployments to Singapore. Mr Luzak rose to the rank of staff sergeant and in East Timor he was the senior NCO (noncommissioned officer) in the medical section. While his parents settled in Auckland, Mr Luzak was based at Burnham for 20 years, ‘‘so I’m a Cantabrian’’. His last major deployment, before he retired from the NZDF in October 2011, was in Christchurch following the February 2011 earthquake. ‘‘We were gearing up for a big exercise, so we had all the army medics at Burnham and we were already geared up to go. ‘‘So it was quite lucky.’’ Mr Luzak earned six medals for his service, including a United Nations medal for his service in East Timor, and a good conduct medal for 15 years service ‘‘being a good boy and not getting caught’’. Since leaving the army, Mr Luzak works as a health simulation technician at the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology. Mr Luzak plans to be part of the Rangiora RSA contingent heading to Belgium in November 2017 for the centenary of the battle of Passchendaele.
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