"Bruce Amas will never forget hearing the news of his brother's death.

It was March 31, 1960, during his wife's birthday party, and the message came by telegram.

Bruce's older brother, George Amas, died of a collapsed lung.

George was serving as a soldier in the Malayan Emergency (1948 to 60), a guerrilla war that arose out of an attempt by the Malayan Communist Party to overthrow the British colonial administration of Malaya.

He was a private in C Company, 2nd Battalion, in the New Zealand Regiment.

George Amas was a loved sibling of four, happy-go-lucky and the life of the party. 

He was one of 15 New Zealanders to die over 12 years of conflict and was buried at Taiping Christian Cemetery, Malaysia, for the next 58 years.

George's remains are returning to Te Awamutu as part of a Government-funded operation called Te Auraki (The Return).

The remains of 27 New Zealand Army soldiers and one child buried in Malaysia and Singapore are being returned to their families at a ramp ceremony in Auckland this morning.

The Amas family is originally from Dunedin, but Bruce and his wife Beth have lived in Te Awamutu for the last 24 years.

"Te Awamutu is my home now, and to bring George back here, that to me is bringing him home."

New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) is repatriating personnel and dependents buried overseas between 1 January, 1955 and 1971 following a change in Government policy

Remains have been exhumed from three cemeteries in Malaysia — Taiping Christian Cemetery, Terendak Military Cemetery and Cheras War Cemetery, and Kranji War Cemetery in Singapore.

The military were serving in Malaysia and Vietnam when they died. Twenty-seven were New Zealand Army soldiers and one a Royal New Zealand Air Force Officer." [New Zealand Herald/Te Awamutu Courier· 16 Aug, 2018]