VC winner risked all for his mate

In the finest tradition of our Diggers, Australia’s 102nd Victoria Cross winner, army private Richard Leslie Norden, then 19 and from Gundagai, risked his life to save a mate when their unit was under North Vietnamese fire in Binh Duong province in May 1968. His citation reads: “Private Norden, a member of the leading section, ran forward under heavy enemy fire to the section commander and forward scout who were wounded during the initial contact.”

Moving forward, Norden killed an enemy soldier and, out of ammunition, recovered the soldier’s automatic weapon, then carried and dragged his mate to safety. Badly wounded, Norden pressed ahead again to the forward scout, who was dead. Venturing forth a third time, he cleared the area with grenades. Norden, sadly, died four years later in a motorcycle accident while serving as an ACT police officer. His posthumous honour, announced on Monday, Remembrance Day, by Governor-General Sam Mostyn and Anthony Albanese, was richly deserved.

As the Prime Minister said, the Hall of Valour at the Australian War Memorial bears the names of 101 Australians who have been awarded the Victoria Cross. Norden, whom a childhood mate described as “a down-to-earth ordinary fella”, belongs among them. The award comes more than two years after the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal ­recommended it. It was approved by the King.

As Ms Mostyn said, the VC “speaks to Private Norden’s courage and selflessness in the heat of battle, his ongoing legacy and the bravery of generations of our service personnel”. Lest we forget.