Exactly 32 years previously, on August 13 1990, Private Stewart died in a blizzard on Mt Ruapehu in an army training exercise that went hideously wrong. He was 23. Stewart would almost certainly have survived had it not been for his selfless efforts to save the lives of his fellow soldiers.
He could have saved himself by burrowing into his sleeping bag, his only protection against the raging snowstorm. Instead he repeatedly exposed himself to the elements, moving around in near-zero visibility in an attempt to help others in the party and keep up morale. He ended up dying of exposure after his sleeping bag blew away as he attempted to share it with two comrades.
Stewart was one of six young men – five soldiers and one naval rating – who died that night. It was the worst loss of life experienced by the New Zealand Defence Force in a single event since the Second World War.
