Just like Dad
Only crash surviver wants to be a soldier

Matthew Wykniet plays soldier under the watchful eye of Capt Richard Taylor, A Sqn 12/16HRL. Photo by Maj Alan Croft, LHQ

By Maj Alan Croft

WITH his dad’s inspiration in his heart and a floppy green hat on his head, car accident survivor Matthew Wykniet is taking hesitant steps into a new future.

The nine-year-old from Armidale in NSW’s New England highlands lost his entire family in a motor vehicle accident in October last year.

Capt Ron Wykniet, 39, his wife Cecilia, 41, and their daughters Sarah and Bridgette, aged seven and four, died in a crash from which Matthew escaped with just a couple of scratches.

Matthew’s dad was a man of respect and example in the community, a schoolteacher, an Army Reserve soldier and volunteer firefighter who had recently won a bravery award for battling a blaze amid live ammunition in a local gun shop.

Capt Wykniet was a member of SUR’s infantry company based at Armidale.

He was on the Inactive Reserve at the time of his fatal accident, having decided to spend the majority of his available spare time away from his family, studying to become a teacher.

He joined the reserve in July 1982, was commissioned as an officer in 1986 and for a time was temporarily posted as a major at HQ Training Command in Sydney.

Despite his Inactive status, Capt Wykniet maintained a close social contact with the Army Reserve and attended the 50th anniversary parade of SUR in 1998.

The SUR company in Armidale was transferred to the University of NSW Regiment in 2002.

The OC of the present UNSWR Armidale unit, Capt Tim Butcher, knew Capt Wykniet well and said his surviving son would always be welcome at the Armidale depot.

Matthew’s sudden plight and his manifest fortitude in the face of catastrophe attracted the attention of national media.

Interviewed by Network Seven’s “Today Tonight” program, Matthew said he too would like to be an Army reserve soldier when he was old enough.

So 12/16HRL had an M113 crew and officer training team waiting for Matthew to arrive one autumn morning in the care of his new legal guardians and a television current affairs team.

“Mount up” was never going to be fast enough.

“The community of New England welcomes and sustains us and gives us people like Matthew’s father, so it is an honour to return that respect to someone like his son,” CO 12/16HRL Lt-Col Geoff Hawke said.

“Matthew obviously has a keen interest in things military and despite his young age, it is a delight to have him here learning the basics of soldierly life from the boys and girls of 12/16.”

For a still reserved Matthew, his outing in an APC was “awesome” and the camouflage clothes he took home he would wear to tatters or until he was old enough to volunteer for an official uniform of his own.