Exclusive VC club's meeting with Queen not for the faint-hearted

IT'S known as the world's most exclusive club for extreme bravery, and it meets only once every four years.

IT'S known as the world's most exclusive club for extreme bravery, and it meets only once every four years.

This year's gathering at Buckingham Palace of the Queen and all who hold the Victoria Cross or George Cross, the Commonwealth's highest honours for bravery, marked the first time Mark Donaldson had been eligible to attend.

The Corporal became a hero after last year receiving the Victoria Cross for conspicuous gallantry under fire in Afghanistan.

Yesterday, he joined fellow Australians Keith Payne and Michael Pratt at the Queen's reception, where she greeted 27 representatives from five countries whose acts of heroism spanned 70 years, from World War II to conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It was a five-royals occasion: Prince Philip and the Queen's youngest son, Prince Edward, and his wife, the Countess of Wessex, also circulated among the soldiers and civilians, as did the Duke of Kent. After posing for pictures in the opulent Music Room there was a "class photograph".

Of the nine surviving Victoria Cross holders, seven were present, among them Mr Payne, 76, from Ingham, Queensland, who received the honour for heroism in Vietnam, and his wife, Flo.

The Queen recognised Mr Payne instantly. "We've met many time before, I think," she said warmly.

Mr Payne, who first conversed with the Queen at his investiture on the HM Britannia in 1970, sported an impressive 23 medals including America's second highest decoration for military valour, the Distinguished Service Cross, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.

The rack, he confided, had impressed Prince Charles at tea the previous day. "He told me he'd have to go and see if Lord Mountbatten had more," Mr Payne said.

The George Cross is the highest decoration for courageous acts by civilians as well as military personnel when not in the face of the enemy.

Mr Pratt, 55, Australia's only living George Cross holder, earned his medal in 1976 when, as a young off-duty constable in the Victorian police force, he was seriously wounded after being shot while attempting to thwart an armed robbery .

Corporal Donaldson, 30, has returned to fight in Afghanistan twice and been promoted since receiving his award.

The then Trooper Donaldson was serving with special forces and Afghan forces in September 2008 when his group was ambushed by a superior force of Taliban.

As the group withdrew under a hail of rockets and automatic weapons fire and after Trooper Donaldson had repeatedly drawn fire to allow the wounded to be loaded on to trucks, he realised a wounded Afghan interpreter had been left behind.

Again under heavy fire, he crossed about 80m of open ground to rescue his Afghan colleague, carrying him back to a vehicle where he provided critical first aid.

Corporal Donaldson described the group of heroes, who gathered for a four-day program of events culminating in yesterday's Remembrance Day celebrations, as a "family" and admitted it was nice to be "taken under their wing".

Corporal Donaldson and Mr Payne wore replicas of their VC medals at the ceremony.

Corporal Donaldson's is on long-term loan to the Australian War Memorial and Mr Payne sold his for an undisclosed amount to the Maryborough Military and Colonial Museum in 2007.