Keith Payne
Keith Payne, (born 30 August 1933) is an List of Australian Victoria Cross recipients, Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry "in the presence of the enemy" awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth armed forces. Payne's VC was awarded for his actions during the Vietnam War. Aged , he is the last living Australian recipient of the original "Imperial" Victoria Cross.Mark Donaldson, Ben Roberts-Smith and Daniel Keighran are recipients of the Victoria Cross for Australia, a separate award to the original Victoria Cross. Edward Kenna, the last living Australian recipient from the Second World War, died on 8 July 2009. Early life Keith Payne was born at Ingham, Queensland, on 30 August 1933, the son of Romilda (Millie) Hussey and Henry Thomas Payne. He attended Ingham State School and later became an apprentice cabinet-maker. Dissatisfied with working as a tradesman, Payne joined the Australian Regular Ar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ingham, Queensland
Ingham is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Hinchinbrook, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Ingham had a population of 4,426 people. It is named after William Bairstow Ingham and is the administrative centre for the Shire of Hinchinbrook. Geography Ingham is approximately north of Townsville and north of the state capital, Brisbane. The town is positioned about 17 km inland within the Herbert River floodplain where Palm Creek drains the low-lying lands. It is surrounded by sugar cane farms which are serviced by a number of private railways The North Coast railway line passes through the town, which is served by the Ingham railway station. The Bruce Highway also passes through the town. Tokalon is neighbourhood in the south-east of the locality (). It takes its name from the Tokalon railway station, which was named by the Queensland Railways Department on 24 December 1924, from the name of a local selection. ''Tokalan'' is an Aboriginal word meanin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mark Donaldson
Mark Gregor Strang Donaldson, (born 2 April 1979) is an Australian soldier and a recipient of the Victoria Cross for Australia, the highest award in the Australian honours system. Then Trooper Donaldson was a member of the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) when he exposed himself to enemy fire to protect injured troops and then rescued an interpreter under heavy enemy fire in the Battle of Khaz Oruzgan during Operation Slipper, the Australian contribution to the War in Afghanistan. He was presented with the decoration by the Governor-General of Australia, Quentin Bryce, in a ceremony in Canberra on 16 January 2009. On 25 January 2010, Donaldson was named the 2010 Young Australian of the Year. He was promoted to corporal in June 2010. Early life Donaldson was born on 2 April 1979 in Waratah, New South Wales, the younger son of Greg, a Vietnam War veteran, and Bernadette Donaldson. He grew up in the small northern New South Wales township of Dorrigo, attending Dorrigo High Sc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Officer Training Unit, Scheyville
The Officer Training Unit, Scheyville (OTU Scheyville, pronounced Skyville) was a military training establishment for officers of the Australian Army. Located in the area of in the Hawkesbury region of Sydney, Australia, the establishment was opened in April 1965 to train officer cadets who had been called up for service under the national service scheme and offered a short but rigorous commissioning course for trainees, tailored to meet the Army's need to increase the number of junior officers being produced in order to meet commitments to train national servicemen, and to provide platoon commanders for units serving overseas in Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia. It was closed in 1974 after the national service scheme was abolished in December 1972 and the last OCS Portsea class finished their time at Scheyville. History On 24 November 1964, the '' National Service Act'' was passed by the Australian Federal parliament, allowing the Menzies government to re-establish th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sergeant
Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other units that draw their heritage from the British light infantry. Its origin is the Latin , 'one who serves', through the French term . The term ''sergeant'' refers to a non-commissioned officer placed above the rank of a corporal, and a police officer immediately below a lieutenant in the US, and below an inspector in the UK. In most armies, the rank of sergeant corresponds to command of a squad (or section). In Commonwealth armies, it is a more senior rank, corresponding roughly to a platoon second-in-command. In the United States Army, sergeant is a more junior rank corresponding to a squad- (12 person) or platoon- (36 person) leader. More senior non-commissioned ranks are often variations on sergeant, for example staff sergeant, gunn ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Federation Of Malaya
The Federation of Malaya ( ms, Persekutuan Tanah Melayu; Jawi script, Jawi: ) was a federation of what previously had been British Malaya comprising eleven states (nine Malay states and two of the British Empire, British Straits Settlements, Penang and Malacca)''See'': Cabinet Memorandum by the Secretary of State for the Colonies. 21 February 1956 that existed from 1 February 1948 until 16 September 1963. The Federation became independent on 31 August 1957,The UK Statute Law DatabaseFederation of Malaya Independence Act 1957 (c. 60)/ref> and in 1963, Malaysia was formed when the federation united with the Colony of Singapore, Singapore, Crown Colony of North Borneo, North Borneo, and Crown Colony of Sarawak, Sarawak Crown Colonies. History From 1946 to 1948, the eleven states formed a single British crown colony known as the Malayan Union. Due to opposition from Malays (ethnic group), Malay nationalists, the Union was disbanded and replaced by the Federation of Malaya, which ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Corporal
Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corresponds to commanding a section or squad of soldiers. By country Argentina NCOs in the Argentine Armed Forces are divided into junior and senior NCOs, with three and four ranks, respectively. The three junior ranks are called "corporal" (cabo) in both the Navy and the Air Force, while in the Army the third rank is called "sergeant" (sargento). National Gendarmerie and Coast Guard junior NCOs ranks are similar to those in the Army and Navy, respectively. Australia Corporal is the second lowest of the non-commissioned officer ranks in the Australian Army, falling between lance-corporal and sergeant. A corporal is usually appointed as a section comman ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Women's Royal Australian Army Corps
The Women's Royal Australian Army Corps (WRAAC) was formed as an all women's corps of the Australian Army in April 1951. Its Colonel-in-Chief was Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon. The purpose of the corps was to counter a personnel shortage that developed due to fighting during the Korean War and post-World War II full employment. At the time of its formation, many senior WRAAC personnel had previously served in the Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS), which had been raised during World War II, and as a result the WRAAC is considered to have its origins in the AWAS. The corps consisted of both Regular and part-time personnel, and had commissioned officers, warrant officers, non commissioned officers and other ranks who filled a variety of roles including general duties, cooking, clerical work, instruction, warehousing, and signalling. There were also librarians, coders, projectionists, and psychologists. Training was completed separately from male recruits at various lo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1 RAR) is a regular motorised infantry battalion of the Australian Army. 1 RAR was first formed as the 65th Australian Infantry Battalion of the 34th Brigade (Australia) on Balikpapan in 1945 and since then has been deployed on active service during the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency, the Vietnam War, Unified Task Force in Operation Solace, Somalia, East Timor, Iraq War and War in Afghanistan (2001–present), Afghanistan. Additionally, the battalion has deployed on peacekeeping and other operations to a number of countries including Occupied Japan, Japan, Rifle Company Butterworth, Timor Leste, RAMSI, Solomon Islands, Tonga and the Philippines . 1 RAR remains one of the Australian Army's most heavily deployed units sending individuals and detachments to domestic, regional and other enduring operations. The battalion is currently based in Coral Lines at Lavarack Barracks, Townsville, Queensland, where it forms part of the 3rd Brigade ( ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
The 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (2 RAR) is an amphibious light infantry battalion of the Australian Army part of the 1st Division Amphibious Task Group based at Lavarack Barracks in Townsville. 2 RAR was initially formed as the Australian 66th Battalion in 1945 as part of the 34th Brigade (Australia) and since then it has seen active service during the Korean War, Malayan Emergency and Vietnam War. In addition, the battalion has participated in peacekeeping operations in Japan, Rwanda, East Timor and the Solomon Islands and has contributed rifle companies to the security force protecting the Australian embassy in Baghdad following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In May 2006, 2 RAR's headquarters, support company and a rifle company deployed to Iraq as part of the third rotation of the Al Muthanna Task Group. In June 2011, the battalion deployed to Urozgan Province, Afghanistan as Mentoring Task Force Three (MTF3). In 2011, 2 RAR was selected to be the Army's Amphibio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Citizen Military Forces
The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the reserve units of the Australian Army. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, the reserve military force has been known by many names, including the Citizens Forces, the Citizen Military Forces, the Militia and, unofficially, the Australian Military Forces. In 1980, however, the current name—Australian Army Reserve—was officially adopted, and it now consists of a number of components based around the level of commitment and training obligation that its members are required to meet. Overview For the first half of the 20th century, due to a widespread distrust of permanent military forces in Australia, the reserve military forces were the primary focus of Australian military planning.Grey 2008, pp. 66–83. Following the end of World War II, however, this focus gradually shifted due to the changing strategic environment, and the requirement for a higher readiness force available to support collective security g ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Australian Regular Army
The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Australia), Chief of Army (CA), who is subordinate to the Chief of the Defence Force (Australia), Chief of the Defence Force (CDF) who commands the ADF. The CA is also directly responsible to the Minister of Defence (Australia), Minister for Defence, with the Department of Defence (Australia), Department of Defence administering the ADF and the Army. Formed in 1901, as the Commonwealth Military Forces, through the amalgamation of the colonial forces of Australia following the Federation of Australia. Although Australian soldiers have been involved in a number of minor and major conflicts throughout Australia's history, only during the Second World War has Australian territory come under direct attack. The Australian Army was initially composed a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Edward Kenna
Edward Kenna, VC (6 July 1919 – 8 July 2009) was an Australian soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth armed forces. Before his death, he was the last surviving Australian to have been awarded a Victoria Cross during the Second World War. Second World War Kenna served in the Citizen Military Forces from August 1940 and was allotted service number V55955. In December 1941, the Citizens Military Force was called up for full-time service for the duration of the war. In June 1942, Kenna volunteered for the Second Australian Imperial Force and was allotted new service number VX102142. He served in the 23rd/21st Battalion in Victoria and later in the Darwin area. In June 1943, his unit returned to Victoria before being sent to Queensland. At this point, the unit was disbanded and its members allotted as reinforcements to other units. Kenna was assign ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |