A journey to reunite brothers

Waikuku’s Jono Taylor prepares for another night on the road as he navigates through the Australian Outback. PHOTO: SUPPLIED

Reuniting two long lost brothers, separated by war, is the goal of Canterbury man Jono Taylor.

On August 14, 1939, Jono’s grandfather Stewart Taylor and his great-uncle Esmond Theodore Taylor enlisted in the New Zealand Army just prior to the start of WW2 - one as a medical officer, the other as a rifleman.

They farewelled each other at the Christchurch Railway Station with Stewart bound for Trentham and Esmond to Burnham for his basic training.

For these two men the war had very different outcomes.

Stewart came home, Esmond did not.

In February this year, Jono departed on a motorbike to take a portion of his grandfather's ashes to Crete to bury in the earth on Esmond’s grave at Suda Bay War Cemetery, 85 years after the brothers said their final goodbye.

Esmond had enlisted in the 23rd Battalion, also known as the Canterbury-Otago Battalion, serving in an infantry battalion as part of the 2nd NZ Expeditionary Force (2NZEF).

They were originally sent to England to help the British as they prepared for the German Invasion, which never came.

One day while walking around London sightseeing, Esmond got hopelessly lost, but fortunately met his future wife, a local lass named Rose Harding.

He asked her for directions and she decided it would be easier to show him how to get to the local station by walking him there.

She said it was love at first sight and he proposed within 48 hours of meeting her.

They were quickly married, but sadly his battalion was posted back to Egypt.

Esmond took part in the failed Greek campaign before being evacuated to Crete.

He died there on May 22, 1941, near Maleme, of injuries sustained during the 23rd Battalion’s valiant defence of the airfield against German Army Fallschirmjager (parachutists). He is buried at the Suda Bay War Cemetery.

Meanwhile Stewart Taylor, serving as a medical officer aboard the newly converted Hospital Ship HS Maunganui, had only just arrived in the Suez on May 22, 1941, to carry casualties from the Greece and Crete campaigns back to New Zealand.

Sadly he saw his brother’s name appear as ‘missing’ on the daily casualty lists .

He hoped he was just unaccounted for in the fog of war, but two days later, Esmond's status was upgraded to ‘‘killed in action’’.

Jono’s part in this tragic story of separation begins in 2008.

He is a dog handler for MPI at Christchurch Airport. By 2008, his granddad Stewart Taylor’s health was failing.

“I made the trip to Crete to find Esmond’s grave and cried for a man I had never met.

‘‘I took a scoop of earth from his grave, had it treated at the airport when I got back, then placed in Stewart’s coffin when he passed at the end of 2008.

‘‘My granddad was cremated and unbeknown to me, I was allocated a portion of his ashes as he wished they would be put in the earth on Esmond’s grave to close out the separation from when they had last seen each other in 1939.’’

He is riding cross-country aboard a Honda CT125 motorcycle. After shipping the bike from Christchurch to Melbourne he rode to Perth through the outback of Australia.

‘‘In the spirit of the Anzacs, Qantas came onboard, airfreighting it from Perth to Jakarta, Indonesia, for me.”

He then rode through Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand before again airfreighting the bike from Bangkok to Kathmandu in Nepal three weeks ago.

His plan is to ride through India, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey, to Crete in Greece.

Jono says riding the Honda CT125 is not new as he has previously taken trips through the Australian outback on the smaller Honda CT110, and even ridden up to Mt Everest on the Chinese side.

‘‘It’s a slow ride but you get to enjoy the countryside you are passing through.’’

Staff at Canterbury Honda in Woodend helped Jono prepare his small farm bike for its long arduous journey, helping out with spare parts and accessories.

‘‘It’s not a fast bike but if he keeps the maintenance up on the small 125 cu cm engine, it should continue to power him right through the journey.

‘‘We are hosting his messages and photos on our Facebook site so friends and family can follow his amazing journey,’’ says Kevin Wells, a salesman at Canterbury Honda.

Jono says the trip is going well despite a few punctures,

‘‘The riding is actually the easy part, getting visas and permits is the hard part, especially heading into India, Pakistan, and Iran.

‘‘The people I have met along the way have been warm, and welcoming. He says he has plenty of stories to tell friends and family when he returns including how his helmet was run over by the Victorian police, to transporting the bike on a Banana boat across the Malacca Strait from Northern Sumatra to Port Klang, Malaysia.''