Fed: First VC recipient in 40 years "stuff of legend", Rudd says
16 Jan 2009 2:00 PM
EDS: Reissuing to include pix advisory
CANBERRA, Jan 16 AAP - The bravery of Trooper Mark Donaldson, the first Australian awarded the Victoria Cross in 40 years, is "the stuff of Australian legend", Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.
Trooper Donaldson on Friday was awarded the VC medal for his bravery in rescuing a coalition interpreter during fighting in Afghanistan in September last year.
The SAS soldier also became the first person to receive the Victoria Cross for Australia - the nation's highest military honour - established in 1991 to replace the Imperial VC awarded previously to 96 Australians since the Boer War in 1900.
Governor-General Quentin Bryce presented Trooper Donaldson with his award during a ceremony at Government House in Canberra.
Ms Bryce described Trooper Donaldson as an "inspiration".
"We are here to dedicate your contribution, your unconditional surrender to duty and humanity, your abandonment of your own necessity so that others may be secured," she said.
Mr Rudd said Trooper Donaldson had joined the list of Australian heroes, adding that his bravery would forever be engraved in Australian history.
"His feat under fire now becomes the stuff of Australian legend.
"It is a story of a hero, one which will be told in classrooms, workplaces and watering holes for many years to come."
Trooper Donaldson said the award was overwhelming and a great honour, but it wouldn't change who he was.
"I'm still Mark Donaldson, and we'll keep going from day to day and we'll see how we go," he told reporters after receiving the award.
"I don't see myself as a hero, honestly. I still see myself as a soldier first and foremost."
Defence force chief Angus Houston said Trooper Donaldson joined a band of brothers - only 10 VC winners are alive around the world today - so admired for their valour.
"Victoria Cross recipients are at the very core of the ethos of which our military identity has been forged," Air Chief Marshal Houston said.
"We in the modern Australian Defence Force strive to live up to the heroism and the values of the Victoria Cross recipients that have gone before us."
In keeping with military protocol the air chief marshall saluted Trooper Donaldson.
"As the highest-ranking member of the defence force, there has been no current serving member that I salute, until now," he said.
"Tradition holds that even the most senior officer will salute a Victoria Cross recipient as a mark of the utmost respect for their act of valour."
Trooper Donaldson was awarded the VC after deliberately exposing himself to enemy fire in order to draw attention to himself and away from wounded soldiers during a battle in Oruzgan Province.
Later, as coalition vehicles moved more than four kilometres away from the engagement area, a severely wounded coalition force interpreter was inadvertently left behind.
Trooper Donaldson, displaying complete disregard for his own safety, moved alone, on foot, across about 80 metres of exposed ground to recover the interpreter.
His movement, once identified by the enemy, drew intense and accurate machine gun fire from entrenched positions.
Upon reaching the wounded interpreter, Trooper Donaldson picked him up and carried him back to the relative safety of the vehicles, then provided immediate first aid before returning to the fight.
