Australian SAS soldier Mark Donaldson awarded Victoria Cross

[Collo]

Australian SAS soldier Mark Donaldson awarded Victoria Cross


UPDATE: Christian Kerr and staff reporters | January 16, 2009
Article from: The Australian

MARK Donaldson has become the first Australian soldier awarded the Victoria Cross in 40 years, for his "exceptional bravery" in service in Afghanistan.

Trooper Donaldson has been awarded the nation's highest military honour in a ceremony in Canberra this morning by Governor-General Quentin Bryce.

Trooper Donaldson was serving with the SAS in Oruzgan province in Afghanistan on September 2 last year when his unit was hit by an ambush, wounding nine Australians.

He deliberately drew enemy fire to allow wounded soldiers to escape and be taken to safety.

Then, "with complete disregard for his own safety" Trooper Donaldson ran back 80m across exposed ground to rescue a wounded coalition force interpreter and take him back to a vehicle.

His citation said he "displayed exceptional courage in circumstances of great peril" and saved the life of the interpreter.

An official Defence account of the action in December detailed the ambush and heroism of Australians, referring to Trooper Donaldson as Trooper F.

Major General Tim McOwan said a joint US, Australian and Afghan Humvee convoy was ambushed when returning to base after inflicting 13 Taliban kills a day earlier.

"In order to regain the initiative several SAS soldiers reacted to the ambush without regard to their own safety," Major General McOwan said.

"One soldier, whom I shall refer to as Trooper F, moved between positions of cover to engage the enemy, using anti-armour weapons as well as his personal weapon.

"The soldier deliberately exposed himself to enemy fire on several occasions in order to draw fire away from those soldiers who were already wounded in the initial heavy fire."

During an attempt to move the convoy away from the heavy enemy fire, a severely wounded Afghan interpreter fell from a truck. "Trooper F saw he had fallen and was lying to the rear in the open in ground being raked by machinegun fire," Major General McOwan said.

"Without prompting and without regard to his own safety, Trooper F went back to recover the wounded Afghan. He ran across about 80m of fire-swept and exposed ground, drawing intense and accurate machinegun fire from the entrenched enemy positions."

Trooper F lifted the wounded man on to his shoulders and carried him back to the vehicles before applying first aid and then returning to the firefight.

The Taliban ambush resulted in nine Australian soldiers being wounded, the most in a single action since the Vietnam War.

Ninety six Australians have been awarded the Imperial Victoria Cross.

Trooper Donaldson becomes the first recipient of the Victoria Cross for Australia, which replaced the imperial honour in 1991.

The first Australian to be awarded a Victoria Cross was Captain Sir Neville Howse VC KCMG CB KStJ in 1900 during the Boer War. He also served in World War I and later as Commonwealth Minister for Health, Defence and Repatriation.

The most recent Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross was Warrant Officer Keith Payne VC OAM in 1969 for gallantry during the Vietnam War. Under heavy enemy fire Warrant Officer Payne instigated a daring rescue of more than forty men, many of them wounded, and led the party back to the battalion base.

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This is an amazing event. Congratulations Trooper Donaldson Sir.

[txb&b]

Splendid job, Trooper Donaldson.

[Collo]

Below is a photo of Trooper Mark Donaldson VC and wife and another photo of the Trooper withe Warrant Officer Class Two (WO2) Kieth Payne VC OAM.

Kieth Payne is a winner of the VC from the Vietnam War. Kieth Payne VC OAM also holds the US Distinguished Service Cross and the US Silver Star.



Also; since the presentation this morning; this story has rightfully dominated the Sky News. It so so good to see that no matter where we look; people are getting behind our Heroes.

[Javelin66]

Well done.

I spent some time in Townsville with 4RAR on an exercise, and served with Aussies overseas. This experience led me to some enduring conclusions:

The US has no better friend than Australia
Australia will stand beside the US in any endevour, and vice versa
Never go out for 'a beer' with an Aussie

[Collo]

Originally Posted by Javelin66

Never go out for 'a beer' with an Aussie

What did they have you hitting back?

[Javelin66]

My American pals and I developed a fondness for VB. There was another, with XX's on the bottle that we liked as well.

I also found that Aussie wines were very good. We were there during there during the off season in what is normally a resort town, so we got to enjoy the restaurants and pubs, etc, without the big crowds.

We had everything from fish and chips at a shop near the ANZAC memorial to a formal dinner at a very nice restaurant, and everything was incredible. Of course, there was the night that one of us ordered the kangaroo and nearly got us laughed out of the place. I guess that marks you as a tourist

[reddog]

Great story and I salute those two Heroes, Collo. Thanks for posting.
Sir, what did you get when you ordered the kangaroo?
Easy Brother,
Reddog...

[Javelin66]

I didn't order it; my Aussie counterpart had already let me know that they regarded it somewhere along the lines of eating a giant rat.

One of the other Yanks did order it on the last night of our trip. The waitress rolled her eyes and everyone at the tables around us started laughing. This was in a resort town during the off season, so they weren't afraid to make fun of a tourist. She took our order and came back a minute later to let us know that they didn't carry it during the off season. I had a feeling that the cook didn't want to cook it.

[Collo]

Originally Posted by Javelin66

My American pals and I developed a fondness for VB. There was another, with XX's on the bottle that we liked as well.

Yeah VB is alright; good for a Friday night AND XXXX is pretty much the same thing really;l a Queensland equal to VB.

there was the night that one of us ordered the kangaroo and nearly got us laughed out of the place

Good old Roo. Love it. Yeah they are normally a all year meat but it takes effort to ship them in since the cull has gone mad, so they tend to only cook them when the tourist are in bulk.

[Rabbit]

I've had me some "skippy" before, as well as other macropods. My buddy tried to turn me on to some Fosters beer once, didn't care for it much. More of a Newcastle type of guy.

Back to topic, well done Donaldson!