Modern Military Heroes

by

Narelle Biedermann

Enter Narelle Biedermann, a former Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps officer whose first book was an account of the work of Australian Army nurses in South Vietnam. Her second book will have wider appeal to Association members; “Modern Military Heroes” provides the details and the background to recent bravery and gallantry awards to Australian soldiers, sailors and airman, and includes the exploits of a couple of Army aviators. All bar one are recipients of modern Australian decorations, Star of Courage, Medal for Gallantry, Bravery Medal, awarded for a wide range of actions and incidents on operations and in peacetime.

Each of the thirteen recipients featured has their own chapter and where there have been multiple awards for a single incident (Black Hawk accident in Townsville, Kibeho massacre) they are grouped accordingly. The chapters are lead by some background to the particularly set of circumstances that each recipient found him or herself in, and the full citation that accompanied their award. But it is what follows that gives the book its unique and telling value. In their own words, the recipients recount how they came to be in the situation, what drove them to take the action that they did, and how it has subsequently affected them.

It is riveting reading. Of course, bravery in the air is of particular interest, but all of the accounts are compelling. There is the story of a young corporal tank crewman faced with a runaway tank and a very severely injured driver unconscious in the driver’s compartment. The corporal climbed out of the turret and onto the hull where he cradled his injured mate’s head and, despite being seriously injured himself, managed to steer the tank up a slope and eventually bring it to a stop after 600 metres. It is to be read to be believed. He shares the common modesty of all the recipients, “I don’t think I deserved an award for doing what I did,” but his actions speak much louder than his words, and there is no doubt that that he did.

Two Army aviation recipients are featured, (then) Corporal Greg Kirkham’s Star of Courage from the Black Hawk accident in Townsville, and (then) Captain Scott Watkins’ Distinguished Flying Cross earned in Iraq (See July 2005 Fourays). In addition, the award of a Bravery Medal to RAAF Warrant Officer Murray Spriggs while crewing an Army Black Hawk on a very long range rescue at sea gives you some understanding of the limits of endurance.

While the individual accounts make for compelling reading, some simple errors in fact in other areas detract a little from its enjoyment. Captain James Newland, at 35 years of age, is the oldest 1st AIF VC winner; the oldest Australian winner is Lieutenant Colonel Charles Anderson who was just shy of his 45th birthday when he was involved in a desperate defensive action in Malaya in World War Two. The Distinguished Service Cross bolded in the precedence list at the back of the book is incorrect. The DSC higher up the list is the Australian award. In addition, to suggest that “the changing face of military service” where servicemen are “no longer in situations where feats of extreme personal bravery are required” drove the institution of the new Australian system of awards is curious, to say the least.

But the errors do not mean that “Modern Military Heroes” is a book to avoid; far from it. Biedermann has added significantly to the growing body of recent Australian military history and she has brought to life the stories behind the spare one line descriptors that accompany the press reports of Honours and Awards lists. Each one of them will have you wondering “what would I have done?