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Post by anthony on Jan 20, 2011 14:36:56 GMT
Australian media is reporting that a soldier awarded the Australian Medal for Gallantry in 2006 will be invested with the Victoria Cross for Australia in Perth, Western Australia on Sunday, 23 January. The Governor-General of Australia Quentin Bryce will present the award and the ceremony will be attended by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard. It is a feature of the Australian Gallantry Awards that both the announcement and presentation takes place on the same occasion. The last Australian imperial gallantry awards for war service was in 1972 for service in Vietnam. This will be the second award of the Victoria Cross for Australia. Just over two years ago Trooper Mark Donaldson received the first Victoria Cross for Australia. Although similar in appearance to the Victoria Cross, the Victoria Cross for Australia is awarded under the Australian Honours System with its own regulations, recommendation and approval process. The soldier is said to be in his 30s and was born in Western Australia.
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Post by Les on Jan 20, 2011 16:08:42 GMT
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Post by anthony on Jan 21, 2011 23:25:07 GMT
Yes another SAS man. With no slight on any recipient I do regret that the Royal Australian Regiment was not awarded a VC in Korea or Vietnam and has yet to be awarded the VCFA. Anthony |
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Post by anthony on Jan 22, 2011 2:40:42 GMT
The ‘West Australian’ today has revealed the name of the new Australian Victoria Cross for Australia recipient. He is Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith, 32 who received a Medal for Gallantry in 2006 for courage under fire in Afghanistan's Chora Valley. He is married and father of two and will receive his award from the Governor-General tomorrow in Perth, Western Australia,. He joined the Australian Army after graduating from Hale School in 1995 and is the son of Len Roberts-Smith, a former Supreme Court judge and judge advocate-general who will retire from his position as Chief of the Corruption and Crime Commission in two weeks.
Roberts-Smith is known as RS and Rob Maylor used the nickname when writing about Roberts-Smith in his book ‘SAS Sniper’. He had originally been with 3RAR but joined the SAS in 2002. He is being awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia is for intense fighting in the Shah Wali Kot region of Kandahar last June when up to 30 Australian soldiers came under heavy fire. Roberts-Smith stormed a nest of Taliban fighters and silenced three machine-guns.
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Post by anthony on Jan 23, 2011 8:52:41 GMT
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Post by Les on Jan 23, 2011 9:56:56 GMT
Nice link Anthony. I dare say there will be a bit of TV & newspaper coverage on this today. Looking forward to trawling through the interweb for clips.
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Post by Les on Jan 23, 2011 11:19:07 GMT
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Post by roberthenry on Jan 24, 2011 6:27:34 GMT
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