Posthumous VC awarded to private Richard Norden for bravery in Vietnam War

Richard Norden is the 102nd Australian, and the fifth who served in Vietnam, to receive the nation’s highest military honour. But it didn’t happen without a fight.

The late army private Richard Norden has been awarded the Victoria Cross for his role in the Vietnam War’s Battle of Fire Support Base Coral. Picture: Supplied

Australian Army Private Richard Norden charged towards the enemy under heavy machine gun fire not once but three times, dragging out his wounded section commander and later the body of a forward scout.

To retired Lieutenant Colonel George Hulse, the late soldier’s actions following a May 14, 1968, ambush by North Vietnamese Army regulars were up there with those of any of Australia’s Victoria Cross recipients.

And yet, the army insisted he merited the lesser award of the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

On Monday, 56 years, five months and 28 days after Norden’s bravery in the Battle of Fire Support Base Coral, the Gundagai-born soldier was finally, posthumously, awarded the VC.

Norden, who returned from the war to become an ACT police officer but died on duty in a motorcycle crash, is the 102nd Australian, and the fifth who served in Vietnam, to receive the nation’s highest military honour.

But it didn’t happen without a fight.

Today we honour an Australian hero, the late Private Richard Norden, with the Victoria Cross for Australia.

For most conspicuous acts of gallantry in action in the presence of the enemy in the 'AO Surfers' Area of Operations in the Bien Hoa province, Vietnam, on 14 May 1968,… pic.twitter.com/6b2dTXtjJJ

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) November 11, 2024

Colonel Hulse took on the Australian Defence Force and won, then waited for more than two years with Norden’s family and fellow Vietnam veterans for the government to finally approve the award.

Norden is recognised in his official VC citation for his “most conspicuous acts of gallantry in action in the presence of the enemy”. It records that, as all hell broke loose, the 19-year-old soldier’s first instinct was to save his mates.

“Private Norden killed one North Vietnamese Army soldier while moving forward and, having expended his ammunition, recovered that enemy’s automatic weapon, which he used against further North Vietnamese Army soldiers,” his citation says.

“He then half-carried, half-dragged the severely wounded section commander back to the section.”

Private Richard Norden (back row, far left) after completing a hand-to-hand combat course. Picture: Supplied

Seriously wounded, Norden returned to try to save his other fallen comrade, killing a North Vietnamese soldier who was using him as a human shield. But the scout was already dead. Norden ran forward a third time armed with grenades to neutralise the enemy threat.

“Private Norden showed a complete disregard for his own personal safety, and his courage and selfless acts resulted in the enemy position being secured and likely saved the lives of other members of the platoon,” his citation reads.

It was an assessment Colonel Hulse came to years earlier, prompting him to seek a review of Norden’s DCM.

In 2020, then army chief Rick Burr rejected the submission, saying that in his view, Norden had received the appropriate award.

Undeterred, Colonel Hulse lodged an appeal with the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal, which ruled in his favour in July 2022.

“I had powerful witnesses including his platoon commander, Chris Forde, his mate Stan Barrett who covered him with a machine gun, and another soldier who saw the whole thing, Private Rodney Forster,” he told The Australian.

“The weight of their evidence was so strong that it was inconceivable that the tribunal could come up with any other recommendation but to award Dick Norden the Victoria Cross.”

Richard Norden returned from the war to join the then ACT Police in Canberra. He died in a motorcycle accident while on duty in 1972. Picture: National Police Memorial

Colonel Hulse, a former army engineer who has successfully taken on the army in seven such appeals, said it was Norden’s repeated charges towards the enemy that elevated his conduct to the level of a VC.

“Had he just attacked once and saved the life of his section commander, I would have thought the DCM would have been right for that,” he said.

“But he attacked for a second time. He was pretty badly wounded, but no bones broken, just a flesh wound.

“He realised that the second soldier who he was trying to recover was in fact killed in action, and so he came back – he needed more ammunition and grenades – and he attacked for a third time, because he realised his whole platoon was now at risk of being vanquished by this very well laid North Vietnamese Army ambush position.

“And so it was the second and third charges forward that galvanised me into thinking, ‘No, it’s Victoria Cross time. It’s not DCM time at all’.”

Governor-General Sam Mostyn, Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh and Anthony Albanese at the announcement for private Richard Norden at the Australian War Memorial on Monday. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The tribunal’s ruling sat on Defence Minister Richard Marles’s desk without any word on whether it would be acted upon until the award was bestowed at a Remembrance Day service at the Australian War Memorial. The minister’s office on Monday declined to explain the delay.

Governor-General Sam Mostyn said she informed Norden’s widow, Robynn Freeman, just days ago that the King had approved the VC for her late husband.

Norden’s brother, Roger, was “ecstatic” at the decision.

“I didn’t think it was ever going to happen. They’ve been putting it off for so long,” he told The Australian.

He described his brother as “a knockabout larrikin” who would not have thought twice about rushing to save his mates.

“He would have just done it. It’s just the way he was,” Mr Norden said.

He said his brother, a volunteer rifleman who served two tours in Vietnam, never spoke in detail about the battle.

“The second time he came home, we were just having a yarn and he said ‘I think they want to give me a medal’. He never said anymore about it. He didn’t even say what he’d done to get it,” he said.

Then-NSW governor Sir Roden Cutler, third left, congratulates Kevin Wickerson, left, Norden and William Young.

Anthony Albanese said Norden’s deeds were “more than worthy of the highest military honour our nation can bestow”.

“The Hall of Valour here at the Australian War Memorial bears the names of 101 Australians who have been awarded the Victoria Cross. By any standard, the late Private Richard Norden belongs in their esteemed company,” the Prime Minister said.

“In honouring Richard Norden and all he fought for, Australia also honours all those who fought for him, his fellow veterans, those who served alongside him, and those who took up his cause when they learned of his story.”

Vietnam Veterans’ Association president Max Ball, who also fought in the battle of Fire Support Base Coral, said the award was overdue, but “ultimately the right decision has been made”.

“I think it casts a bigger lamp, if you like, on the quality of the young men who served in the military forces during the Vietnam War,” he said.

“There were lots of young men of about Dick Norden’s age serving in combat in Vietnam, and doing it day after day, on patrol with the risk of contact with the enemy at all times.

“From my point of view, as a young captain and unit commander, I thought all my soldiers were absolutely first class, and nearly all the other soldiers I dealt with were the same.”

The late Private Richard Norden on his return from Vietnam. Picture: Supplied

Mr Ball said many had an impression of combat from movies and the news, but it was difficult to convey the reality of the experience to those who hadn’t been through it.

“It often starts without warning. The world goes from being quiet and serious to very noisy and dangerous in a matter of literally seconds. It’s a very unique environment.”

Prior to Norden’s award, the most recent VC bestowed on an Australian was for naval seaman Edward “Teddy” Sheean, in December 2020, for heroic conduct when HMAS Armidale was sunk by Japanese bombers in the Timor Sea in 1942.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison authorised the posthumous award, overruling his defence minister, Linda Reynolds, who had earlier rejected a Defence Honours and Awards Appeal Tribunal recommendation that Sheean receive the VC.