Australian Penthouse

FOR VALOUR

Director: Serge Ou

UMBRELLA ENTERTAINMENT

RECIPIENTS of the Victoria Cross leave behind a legacy worthy of the highest honour. For Valour details the remarkable true stories of these men.

The most coveted and honoured decoration available to members of the Australian Defence Force—the Victoria Cross ratifies the achievements of our most highly decorated soldiers. The iconic cross is made from remnants of a 19^th century canon.

“More than one million have taken up arms but less than 100 have won the Victoria Cross”

For Valour was the highest rating program on The History Channel in 2009. The documentary, hosted by Neil Pigot, is presented as a road trip, taking in the Remembrance Highway from Sydney to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, stopping at the 22 rest areas situated along the route, each featuring a plaque or cenotaph constructed in memory of the few, the fair and the brave—winners of the Victoria Cross.

The rest areas and cenotaphs were erected by the government in lieu of grave sites to represent the thousands of soldiers killed in the Great War who were buried overseas, offering families a site to honour the fallen, whose graves could not be visited.

Featuring dramatic re-enactments and interviews with recipients and war historians,  For Valour explores the mateship, camaraderie and personal courage of our nation’s defenders—from World War I to the Vietnam conflict.

“Courage in support of others is the high ideal”

Victoria Cross stories told include: Neville (later Major General) Howse, who faced enemy fire during the second Boer War to rescue a fallen trumpeter. Despite being shot in the neck and chest John Edmondson risked his life at the siege of Tobruk to aid an officer in distress, and during the Vietnam War Keith Payne entered enemy territory to aid the rescue of “about 40″ injured and lost soldiers.

“One man amidst the madness who hasn’t lost it”

Additional interviews with Keith Payne VC and Ted Kenna VC are especially enlightening. Other war heroes remembered via re-enactment and profile include:

Pilot Officer Rawdon Hume Middleton, VC – died: 1942, in the English Channel

Cpl J.H. Edmondson, VC – died: 1941, Tobruk, Egypt

Arthur Stanley Gurney, VC – died: 1942, Tel el Eisa, Egypt

Percy Gatwick, VC, age 40 – died: 1942, North Africa

James Gordon, VC, age 77 – died: 1986, Western Australia (fought the Vichy French in the Syrian-Lebanon campaign)

Arthur Roden Cutler, VC, age 86 – died: 2002 (artillery’s only VC winner and Governor of NSW for 15 years)

Hughie Edwards, VC, age 68 – died: 1982 (Governor of WA, and the most highly-decorated Australian serviceman of the Second World War)

Charles Groves Wright Anderson, VC, age 91 – died: 1988 (served in Malaya, age 44, Japanese P.O.W. for 3 years, Member for Hume)

Pilot William Ellis (Bill) Newton, VC, age 24 – died: 1943, Salamaua (one of 23 soldiers executed by decapitation on orders of  Admiral Fajita, and the only Australian airman to earn the decoration in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II, and the only one while flying with an RAAF squadron)

Bruce Steel Kingsbury, VC, age 24 – died: 1942 (one of only two Australian VCs of the Kokoda campaign, for the Battle of Isurava, New Guinea)

Lieutenant Albert Chowne, VC, age 25 – died: 1945 (also awarded the Military Medal, buried at Lae War Cemetery in New Guinea)

Cpl John Alexander French, VC, age 28 – died: 1942 (former bodyguard to both King George V1, and British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. Buried at Bomana War Cemetery Port Moresby)

Thomas Currie “Diver” Derrick, VC, age 31 – died: 1945 (Australia’s most decorated soldier of WWII)

Albert Jacka, VC, age 39 – died: 1932 (awarded Australia’s first Victoria Cross of the First World War. Won the Military Cross and a bar to that award in 1917. Mayor of St Kilda)

Frank John Partridge, VC, age 40 – died: 1964 (the youngest VC in WWII also one of just three people to win all 40 boxes on 1960s game show Pick-a-box. Hero of Bougainville and the last VC of WW2)

Mark Donaldson, VC, born: 1979 – the first Australian serviceman in almost 40 years to be awarded the VC under its new title of ‘The Victoria Cross for Australia’ for his actions in Afghanistan. Trooper Donaldson is the first VC ever awarded to a member of the Australian Army’s elite Special Air Service Regiment.

Australia awarded four more VCs in Vietnam: two posthumously.

Rayene Simpson, VC, age 52, – died: 1978 (Did three tours, and was renowned for his “conspicuous gallantry”. For his actions during fighting on 6 and 11 May in Kontum Province, near the Vietnam/Laos border, Simpson was awarded the Victoria Cross. For actions during fighting near Ta Ko on 16 September, 1978, Simpson was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.)

Keith Payne, VC, born: 1933 – for rescuing wounded soldiers in Vietnam, moving more than 40 men to safety, Payne was awarded the Victoria Cross. He received the Distinguished Service Cross and the Silver Star from the United States. The Republic of Vietnam awarded Payne the Cross of Gallantry with Bronze Star.

Major Peter John Badcoe, VC, age 33 – died: 1967 (led his company in an attack that turned what seemed certain defeat into victory, at Huong Tra, Vietnam)

Kevin Wheatley, VC, age 28 – died 1965 (joined the armed forces at 19 and died protecting his wounded mate. His Victoria Cross was personally approved by HRH Queen Elizabeth.

FOR VALOUR, Umbrella Entertainment, $24.99: http://umbrellaent.com.au/