Obituary: Ian Burrows

From The New Zealand Herald.

Saturday August 19, 2006
By Phoebe Falconer

Brigadier Ian Burrows, OBE, MC. Died aged 75.

Ian Hamilton Burrows was awarded a Military Cross for bravery during his time with the New Zealand Special Air Service in Malaya from 1955 to 1957.

But had the young soldier thought a little longer about his career when he left school, he might well have taken up portrait painting instead.

Burrows (nicknamed Buzz for his short, fuzzy hair) joined the army in 1950 and spent the next four years at the Royal Military College of Duntroon in Canberra. He was following something af a family tradition.

His father, "Gentleman Jim" Burrows, was a former All Black and a highly regarded soldier during battles in Crete and at Monte Cassino in Italy during World War II. He too reached the rank of brigadier. Later he was rector of Waitaki Boys High School, where Ian Burrows was educated.

The younger Burrows was awarded the Malayan Conspicuous Gallantry Medal for his efforts during that conflict. On his return home, he married Judy Jenkinson and the couple had three children by the time he was sent off to fight in the jungles of Borneo for two years. When Burrows retired after 32 years in the regular army, he had served variously as commander of NZ Army Land Forces, commander of NZ Forces in Southeast Asia, and commandant of the Army Schools in Waiouru.

Retirement brought the chance to devote time to painting, and Burrows acquired the skills he needed at the Auckland Society of Arts.

He remained involved in the community, however, joining the board of the Outward Bound Trust, and serving as president for a time.

He was also chairman of the Rothmans Foundation, which sponsored sports such as soccer, cricket, athletics and softball in New Zealand.

Brigadier Burrows was awarded an OBE in 1979. He is survived by his wife Judy, daughters Joanna and Wendy, sons Jamie (also a former member of the SAS) and Tony, and their families.



Last edited by John Feltham on Mon Sep 11, 2006 5:42 am; edited 1 time in total
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Merdeka, Merdeka, Merdeka,
from the HD Committee and its decision.

From the London Daily Telegraph

Brigadier Ian 'Buzz' Burrows
(Filed: 11/09/2006)

Brigadier Ian "Buzz" Burrows, who has died aged 75, won an MC with the SAS in deep jungle patrol actions in Malaya.

In 1956 Burrows, then a lieutenant in the Royal New Zealand Infantry, was a troop commander in Malaya on attachment to 22 SAS Regiment. On April 27, after two days' tracking, he led a dawn assault against a Communist terrorist camp and killed the occupants, one of whom was an insurgent of considerable importance.

A month later, after ordering his patrol to halt for the night, he set off with a comrade to look round the area. Shortly before nightfall, he killed a Communist terrorist at a range of 70 yards. He was immediately joined by his patrol and they attacked an occupied camp that was discovered several hundred yards away, forcing the terrorists to withdraw.

On October 17 Burrows learned that two terrorists were in a temporary camp six miles away. Despite an injured foot, he formed a patrol and set off with only two hours of daylight remaining through thick jungle and over a ridge 4,000 ft high.

At first light, after 10 hours' travelling, much of it on their hands and knees and tied together with parachute rigging lines, the patrol reached its objective. Although he and his men were exhausted, Burrows mounted an immediate attack and killed one of the terrorists. He was awarded his MC.

Ian Hamilton Burrows was born on November 11 1930 at Christchurch, New Zealand, and educated at Waitaki Boys' High School, Oamaru. His father, Brigadier Jim Burrows, who was awarded two DSOs in the Second World War and was a former All Black, was rector there.

At school, Burrows (always known as "Buzz") captained the first XI and was a member of the first XV as well as being a proficient boxer, junior tennis champion and a talented artist.

From the Royal Military College, Duntroon, where he captained the first XI, played in the first XV and won at his weight in boxing, he was commissioned into the Royal New Zealand Infantry in 1953. Two years later he went to Malaya as a troop commander with the newly formed 22 SAS Regiment.

After returning to New Zealand Burrows was an instructor at the School of Infantry before being appointed ADC to the Governor- General, Lord Cobham.

He served for two years as adjutant with the Nelson Marlborough West Coast Regiment and then trained a replacement battalion which went to Malaya in 1963. Then a major in command of B Company, he again saw action in the Malay Peninsula, and subsequently in Borneo during the Indonesian "Confrontation".

In 1965 he commanded the New Zealand SAS Squadron at Papakura, New Zealand, and graduated from the Royal New Zealand Air Force Staff College. After being promoted lieutenant-colonel, a staff appointment was followed by a three-year posting to Kuala Lumpur as defence liaison officer.

Burrows was appointed Commandant Army Schools in 1973 and, after attending the Joint Services Staff College in Canberra, became Director Army Training. He took command of 3rd Task Force Region in 1977 and was promoted brigadier upon his appointment as Commander Land Forces in Auckland in 1981.

After two years in Singapore as Commander NZ Forces South East Asia his final appointment was again Commander Land Forces. Following his retirement from the New Zealand Regular Army in 1985, he was appointed Colonel Commandant of the New Zealand SAS, an appointment that he held for 10 years.

Burrows became chairman of the Rothmans Sports Foundation in 1987. The government was unsympathetic towards an organisation associated with the tobacco industry and it was eventually closed. During its life, however, under Burrows's stewardship the foundation made a significant contribution to sport, the arts and education.

He became a councillor of the Outward Bound Trust (New Zealand) in 1987 and was elected president in 1991 He was appointed OBE in 1979.

Burrows confessed to having been a frustrated artist through most of his years of professional soldiering, and when he retired from the Army he set about acquiring some formal training. He was fascinated by facial features and skin tones, and his house at Remuera, Auckland, was stacked with finished portraits.

Buzz Burrows died on July 22. He married, in 1959, Judy Jenkinson, who survives him with their two sons and two daughters.


_________________
Merdeka, Merdeka, Merdeka,
from the HD Committee and its decision.

John

I hope that the Whitehall Suits read this perhaps they will then hang their heads in shame! Thanks for posting this poignant piece


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HD Committee: Amateurs in a Professional World
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