Talking Point: We have an exact precedent for Sheean VC

Nearly eight decades after Sheean gave up his young life defending his ship and his shipmates, another Liberal government has repeated the insult, says Robert Cox

VALOUR: Teddy Sheean, second from left, with father James, mother Mary and three of his brothers who enlisted and fought in World War II.

UNEQUIVOCALLY, Tasmanian Teddy Sheean deserves a Victoria Cross. His right to one is unquestionable, not only for his extreme courage in the face of the enemy but because there is an exact precedent for him to be given such posthumous recognition.

I described it in the Mercury some years ago.

“On July 4, 1940, during an air raid on Portland, England, Leading Seaman Jack Foreman Mantle RN, who was manning the starboard 20mm pom-pom gun of HMS Foylebank, had his left leg shattered by a bomb blast early in the action.

“Although wounded several more times, he remained at his gun, training and firing it manually when Foylebank’s electric power failed, until he collapsed and died.”

The HMAS Armidale.

Mantle was deservedly awarded a Victoria Cross. So what did Teddy Sheean do differently that renders him ineligible for the same award? Nothing. His act of valour was identical to Mantle’s.

“On December 1, 1942, the Australian corvette HMAS Armidale was hit by two torpedoes launched by Japanese aircraft off Betano Bay, on the south coast of what was then Portuguese Timor (now East Timor).

“Although Ordinary Seaman Edward ‘Teddy’ Sheean, an 18-year-old Oerlikon gunner, was wounded by their explosions, he refused to abandon ship as Armidale began to sink.

“Instead, he strapped himself to his gun and engaged the attacking aircraft, shooting two of them down and reportedly damaging two others.

“Surviving crew members later recalled seeing tracer rising from beneath the surface as Sheean was dragged under water, firing until he and Armidale were gone.”

For his courageous sacrifice, which was indistinguishable from Mantle’s, Sheean was awarded a Mention in Despatches — the British Empire’s lowest award for courage in the face of the enemy.

It is so low on the ladder of military awards that it does not even rate a medal.

Two brave men, two identical acts of valour, but two awards that are polar opposites — obviously, there is inequity here.

Everyone knows it and none would deny it. Except the Australian government.

In 2001, as part of a campaign by the then Opposition leader, Kim Beazley, to secure more rights for war veterans, a Bill was introduced into the Senate seeking to have Sheean and two others awarded posthumous VCs. But it was subsequently rejected by the Liberal government of the day.

Now, nearly eight decades after Sheean gave up his young life defending his ship and his shipmates, another Liberal government has repeated the insult.

If Jack Mantle deserved his VC, as he assuredly did, so does Teddy Sheean.

The present government must set matters right. And soon.

To deny it any longer would be to exacerbate the insult to an Australian hero.

Robert Cox is a Tasmanian writer and a former Mercury subeditor.