Should Ben Roberts-Smith be allowed to keep his Victoria Cross? A heated debate has already begun, with some former soldiers and historians cautioning against stripping the fallen hero of his award, despite the damning findings against him.
They argue, essentially, that Roberts-Smith won the VC for a single act of extraordinary courage and that this will always be true despite the findings of Justice Anthony Besanko that he is a war criminal who murdered Afghan civilians in cold blood.
Former special forces commando Heston Russell has said that taking Roberts-Smith’s Victoria Cross away should be “out of the question”.
“I also want to address one point that is being sensationalised at the moment. Ben received his Victoria Cross for a single act of gallantry, of bravery, it’s not for his entire deployment over there,” he said.
The Australian War Memorial’s former head historian also says Roberts-Smith should keep his Victoria Cross. “It’s in the long run that his reputation will be understood and evaluated,” said professor Peter Stanley.
With the greatest of respect, I believe these views are wrong. There are compelling reasons why Roberts-Smith should become the first Australian soldier to have his VC revoked.
A court has found there to be substantial truth in reports that he murdered four unarmed civilians as well as other acts of criminal thuggery while serving with the SAS in Afghanistan.
The findings have shattered Roberts-Smith’s reputation, have brought shame upon the elite SAS and have unfairly tarnished the legacy of those many thousands of brave Australian military personnel who served honourably and with distinction in Afghanistan over 20 years.
It is for these soldiers – and for the broader reputation of Australia’s military – that a decision should be taken to strip Roberts-Smith of the country’s highest military honour.
It is irrelevant that the VC was given to him for a specific feat of bravery in 2010.
Roberts-Smith has sullied that feat by his subsequent shameful actions. To argue that these issues should be kept separate fails to understand how the Victoria Cross is seen in Australia today. The Victoria Cross is not just a medal, it is a statement that represents the country. When an Australian wins a VC – and there have been only four this century – the recipients are placed on a pedestal. Roberts-Smith certainly was, initially. Living VC recipients are given audiences with queens and kings, pride of place in royal funerals and coronations, and appear around the country at speeches, functions and schools. They embody Australia’s notions of courage and honour.
How can we allow a war criminal, a murderer, to still carry this medal on their chest? To do so would be completely out of kilter with the norms of modern Australia and would pander to a very narrow group of military purists.
Only eight VC recipients have ever had their medals revoked, and all were British soldiers between 1856 and 1908. No Australian has ever had their VC forfeited.
These soldiers lost their VCs for crimes ranging from theft and bigamy to embezzlement and desertion. One even lost his VC for stealing a cow; another lost his for failing to pay a 10-shilling fine for stealing some iron.
Given the relatively petty nature of these crimes, perhaps it was no surprise that King George V in 1920 expressed strong objections to Victoria Crosses ever being forfeited. Since then, no VC has been forfeited.
But none of those who lost their VC committed anything like the murderous war crimes of Roberts-Smith.
The future of Robert-Smith’s VC may depend on whether he is ultimately charged or convicted in a criminal court of the war crimes that Justice Besanko, in a civil court, found he had committed.
But a decision on whether Roberts-Smith should be stripped of his VC should not have to wait until any criminal prosecution. There is already more than enough evidence to show that he is manifestly unfit to wear a medal that is so venerated by Australians.
To allow him to keep it would be an insult to all military personnel and would sully the good name of the country’s highest military honour.
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