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BORN
7 June 1981

DIED
22 June 2013

Corporal Cameron Stewart Baird

For the most conspicuous acts of valour, extreme devotion to duty and ultimate self-sacrifice at Ghawchak village, Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, as a Commando Team Commander in Special Operations Task Group on Operation SLIPPER.

Corporal Cameron Baird enlisted in the Australian Regular Army in 2000, was discharged in 2004, and re-enlisted in 2006. In both periods of service, he was assigned to the 4th Battalion(Commando), Royal Australian Regiment. His operational service includes Operations TANAGER, FALCONER, BASTILLE and four tours on Operation SLIPPER. He was awarded the Medal for Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan in 2007–08.

On 22 June 2013, a commando platoon of the Special Operations Task Group, with partners from the Afghan National Security Forces, conducted a helicopter assault into Ghawchak village, Uruzgan province, in order to attack an insurgent network deep within enemy-held territory. Shortly after insertion, Corporal Baird’s team was engaged by small arms fire from several enemy positions. Corporal Baird quickly seized the initiative, leading his team to neutralise the positions, killing six enemy combatants and enabling the assault to continue.

Soon afterwards, an adjacent Special Operations Task Group team came under heavy enemy fire, resulting in its commander being seriously wounded. Without hesitation, Corporal Baird led his team to provide support. En route, he and his team were engaged by rifle and machine gun fire from prepared enemy positions. With complete disregard for his own safety, Corporal Baird charged towards the enemy positions, supported by his team. On nearing the positions, he and his team were engaged by additional enemy on their flank. Instinctively, Corporal Baird neutralised the new threat with grenades and rifle fire, enabling his team to close with the prepared position.

With the prepared position now isolated, Corporal Baird manoeuvred and was engaged by enemy machine-gun fire, the bullets striking the ground around him. Displaying great valour, he drew the fire, moved to cover, and suppressed the enemy machine gun position. This action enabled his team to close on the entrance to the prepared position, thus regaining the initiative.

On three separate occasions Corporal Baird charged an enemy-held building within the prepared compound. On the first occasion he charged the door to the building, followed by another team member. Despite being totally exposed and immediately engaged by enemy fire, Corporal Baird pushed forward while firing into the building. Now in the closest proximity to the enemy, he was forced to withdraw when his rifle ceased to function. On rectifying his rifle stoppage, and reallocating remaining ammunition within his team, Corporal Baird again advanced towards the door of the building, once more under heavy fire. He engaged the enemy through the door but was unable to suppress the position and took cover to reload. For a third time, Corporal Baird selflessly drew enemy fire away from his team and assaulted the doorway. Enemy fire was seen to strike the ground and compound walls around Corporal Baird, before visibility was obscured by dust and smoke. In this third attempt, the enemy was neutralised and the advantage was regained, but Corporal Baird was killed in the effort.

Corporal Baird’s acts of valour and self-sacrifice regained the initiative and preserved the lives of his team members. His actions were of the highest order and in keeping with the finest traditions of the Australian Army and the Australian Defence Force.

BORN
13 March 1937

DIED
13 November 1965

Warrant Officer Kevin ‘Dasher’ Wheatley

Kevin Arthur Wheatley (1937-1965), soldier, was born on 13 March 1937 at Surry Hills, Sydney, third child of Raymond George Wheatley, labourer, and his wife Ivy Sarah Ann, née Newman, both born in Sydney. Educated at Maroubra Junction Junior Technical School, Kevin worked as a milk carter, food sterilizer, machine operator and brick burner. At the registrar-general’s office, Sydney, on 20 July 1954 he married a 14-year-old milk-bar assistant Edna Aileen Davis, who used her stepfather’s surname, Gimson.

On 12 June 1956 Wheatley enlisted in the Australian Regular Army. Following recruit training he joined the 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, in September 1956 and transferred to the 3rd Battalion in March 1957. He served in the Malayan Emergency from September that year to July 1959, before transferring in August to the 2nd Battalion and in June 1961 to the 1st Battalion. In January 1964 he was promoted sergeant and in August, temporary warrant officer, class two. Short and stocky, he was a highly respected and well-liked non-commissioned officer with a reputation as a rough, wild man who was a good soldier. He was known as ‘Dasher’ for his Rugby Union football prowess.

Arriving in the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) in March 1965, Wheatley joined the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam. He distinguished himself on 28 May by risking heavy fire to rescue a 3-year-old girl. On 18 August, when South Vietnamese troops ceased advancing during an assault, he took the lead and inspired them to continue charging up a hill. His men routed some fifty People’s Liberation Armed Forces (Viet Cong) soldiers.

Wheatley and another Australian, Warrant Officer R. J. Swanton, were on a search and destroy mission in the Tra Bong valley, Quang Ngai province, with a platoon of the Civil Irregular Defence Group on 13 November 1965 when it was attacked by the Viet Cong. The platoon broke in the face of heavy fire and began to scatter. Swanton was shot in the chest. Although told that Swanton was dying, Wheatley refused to leave him. Under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire, he half-dragged and half-carried Swanton out of open rice paddies into the comparative safety of nearby jungle. He refused a second request to withdraw, pulled the pins from his two grenades and waited with his motionless colleague while the enemy approached. Two grenade explosions were heard, followed by several bursts of fire. Wheatley and Swanton were found at first light next morning, dead from gunshot wounds.

The Australian policy at the time was to bury war dead overseas but Wheatley’s body was returned to Australia after funds were raised privately. Survived by his wife, and their son and three daughters, he was buried with full military honours in Pine Grove cemetery, Eastern Creek, Sydney. A public outcry resulted in the government announcing on 21 January 1966 that the remains of service personnel who died overseas would in future be returned to Australia at public expense if their families desired.

For refusing to abandon a wounded comrade in the face of overwhelming odds Wheatley was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. He had also been awarded the United States of America’s Silver Star. The Republic of Vietnam had appointed him a knight of its National Order and awarded him its Military Merit Medal and Cross of Gallantry with Palm. In 1993 Wheatley’s V.C. and other medals were presented to the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.

BORN
7 June 1981

DIED
22 June 2013

Corporal Cameron Stewart Baird

For the most conspicuous acts of valour, extreme devotion to duty and ultimate self-sacrifice at Ghawchak village, Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, as a Commando Team Commander in Special Operations Task Group on Operation SLIPPER.

Corporal Cameron Baird enlisted in the Australian Regular Army in 2000, was discharged in 2004, and re-enlisted in 2006. In both periods of service, he was assigned to the 4th Battalion(Commando), Royal Australian Regiment. His operational service includes Operations TANAGER, FALCONER, BASTILLE and four tours on Operation SLIPPER. He was awarded the Medal for Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan in 2007–08.

On 22 June 2013, a commando platoon of the Special Operations Task Group, with partners from the Afghan National Security Forces, conducted a helicopter assault into Ghawchak village, Uruzgan province, in order to attack an insurgent network deep within enemy-held territory. Shortly after insertion, Corporal Baird’s team was engaged by small arms fire from several enemy positions. Corporal Baird quickly seized the initiative, leading his team to neutralise the positions, killing six enemy combatants and enabling the assault to continue.

Soon afterwards, an adjacent Special Operations Task Group team came under heavy enemy fire, resulting in its commander being seriously wounded. Without hesitation, Corporal Baird led his team to provide support. En route, he and his team were engaged by rifle and machine gun fire from prepared enemy positions. With complete disregard for his own safety, Corporal Baird charged towards the enemy positions, supported by his team. On nearing the positions, he and his team were engaged by additional enemy on their flank. Instinctively, Corporal Baird neutralised the new threat with grenades and rifle fire, enabling his team to close with the prepared position.

With the prepared position now isolated, Corporal Baird manoeuvred and was engaged by enemy machine-gun fire, the bullets striking the ground around him. Displaying great valour, he drew the fire, moved to cover, and suppressed the enemy machine gun position. This action enabled his team to close on the entrance to the prepared position, thus regaining the initiative.

On three separate occasions Corporal Baird charged an enemy-held building within the prepared compound. On the first occasion he charged the door to the building, followed by another team member. Despite being totally exposed and immediately engaged by enemy fire, Corporal Baird pushed forward while firing into the building. Now in the closest proximity to the enemy, he was forced to withdraw when his rifle ceased to function. On rectifying his rifle stoppage, and reallocating remaining ammunition within his team, Corporal Baird again advanced towards the door of the building, once more under heavy fire. He engaged the enemy through the door but was unable to suppress the position and took cover to reload. For a third time, Corporal Baird selflessly drew enemy fire away from his team and assaulted the doorway. Enemy fire was seen to strike the ground and compound walls around Corporal Baird, before visibility was obscured by dust and smoke. In this third attempt, the enemy was neutralised and the advantage was regained, but Corporal Baird was killed in the effort.

Corporal Baird’s acts of valour and self-sacrifice regained the initiative and preserved the lives of his team members. His actions were of the highest order and in keeping with the finest traditions of the Australian Army and the Australian Defence Force.

BORN
19 June 1889

DIED
04 October 1957

Lieutenant Robert Cuthbert Grieve

Robert Cuthbert Grieve (1889-1957), soldier and businessman, was born on 19 June 1889 at Brighton, Melbourne, son of John Grieve, clerk and later warehouseman, and his wife Annie Deas, née Brown, both Victorian-born. Educated at Caulfield Grammar School and Wesley College, he became an interstate commercial traveller in the softgoods trade. On enlistment in the Australian Imperial Force on 16 June 1915, after nine months service in the Victorian Rangers, he was posted to the 37th Battalion. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 17 January 1916 and promoted lieutenant on 1 May; a month later the battalion embarked for training in England. When the 10th Light Trench Mortar Battery was organized there Grieve was seconded to it in January 1917 but on 19 April he rejoined the 37th Battalion in France, receiving his captaincy and the command of ‘A’ Company. The appointment was well received by his fellow soldiers who respected his quiet, understanding style of command.

The 37th Battalion took part in no major action, although its strength had been tested in several sharp raids, until the battle of Messines in June. Grieve was to receive the Victoria Cross for gallantry in this attack. Before the battle the unit made a detailed study of its role and Grieve ensured that his men were as fully informed as possible. On the night of 6 June the 37th began its approach march and soon suffered an intensive gas-attack. Just before dawn it reached its assembly trenches, moved about 11 a.m. towards its objective and came under heavy shell-fire; the resulting casualties, with those of the previous night, seriously depleted its strength.

In the afternoon of 7 June, Grieve’s company was in position on the battalion’s left flank. In front of its objective lay a thick band of wire and as the company ran through several gaps it came under intense fire from a German pillbox. An attempt to mortar this strong point was unsuccessful. Grieve, the only unwounded officer in ‘A’ Company, decided to attack the pillbox alone. Taking a supply of Mills bombs he dashed forward, taking cover wherever possible. His well-aimed grenades silenced some of the gunners, allowing him time to reach the nearby trench and bomb the rest of the machine-gun crew. His company was then able to advance and had scarcely gained its objective when a sniper’s bullet severely wounded Grieve in the shoulder. He was the first member of the 3rd Division to receive the Victoria Cross.

He was evacuated to England and returned to his unit on 29 October but soon afterwards suffered acute trench nephritis and double pneumonia and was invalided to Australia in May 1918. On 7 August, at Scots Church, Sydney, he married Sister May Isabel Bowman of the Australian Army Nursing Service who had nursed him during his illness. She died some years later and there were no children of the marriage. After demobilization Grieve established the business of Grieve, Gardner & Co., softgoods warehousemen, in Flinders Lane, Melbourne, and was managing director until 4 October 1957 when he died of cardiac failure; he had suffered from nephritis since 1917. He was buried with military honours in Springvale cemetery. He was a staunch supporter of Wesley College to which his Victoria Cross was presented in 1959.

BORN
31 December 1885

DIED
20 December 1935

Private Martin O’Meara

Martin O’Meara (1885-1935), sleeper-cutter and soldier, was born on 6 November 1885 in the parish of Lorrha, Tipperary, Ireland, son of Michael O’Meara, labourer, and his wife Margaret, née Connor. He arrived in Western Australia as a youth, having worked his passage as a stoker.

Giving his occupation as sleeper-hewer, he joined the Australian Imperial Force in Perth on 19 August 1915 and left Australia with the 12th Reinforcements for the 16th Battalion in December. After training in Egypt in early 1916 the battalion moved to the Western Front in France where it fought on the Somme. On 9-12 August the 16th mounted an attack on German positions at Mouquet Farm near Pozières. Devastating German artillery fire caused heavy casualties, an entry in the battalion war diary on 12 August stating laconically that ‘the trench as a trench had ceased to exist’.

During this period O’Meara, then acting as a stretcher-bearer, behaved in a manner which led one officer to describe him as ‘the most fearless and gallant soldier I have ever seen’. He was credited with having saved the lives of over twenty-five wounded men by carrying them in from no man’s land ‘under conditions that are undescribable’. Even after the battalion was relieved its commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel E. Drake-Brockman, saw O’Meara returning to the front line through the bombardment to rescue two wounded comrades despite having himself ‘reached a position of comparative safety’. At other times he had, on his own initiative, brought up much-needed supplies of grenades, ammunition and food. For these actions O’Meara was awarded the Victoria Cross.

O’Meara spent the rest of the war with the 16th Battalion; he was wounded three times and promoted sergeant. In November 1918 he returned to Australia and was discharged from the A.I.F. in Perth in November 1919. His war experiences caused a complete breakdown in his health for he spent the rest of his life in military hospitals, suffering from chronic mania. He was too ill to attend a special Armistice Day dinner in 1929 given by the governor of Western Australia for the State’s V.C. recipients. He died in Claremont Mental Hospital, Perth, on 20 December 1935. His death certificate gave his occupation as ‘returned soldier’. He was buried with full military honours in Karrakatta Catholic cemetery by Fr John Fahey. The mourners included three V.C. recipients, C. Sadlier, J. Woods and Thomas Axford. Senator Sir George Pearce was a pallbearer.

In 1917 O’Meara had revisited his native Ireland where money was raised as a testimonial to him from Lorrha and neighbouring parishes; he left it to the parish for restoring historic Lorrha Abbey. That task being beyond this sum, it was instead applied to repairs of the existing parish church. In 1986 his V.C. was donated to the West Australian Army Museum.

Little is known about O’Meara personally but one officer of the 16th described him at Mouquet Farm as ‘always cheerful and optimistic’, willing ‘to volunteer for any job’. He was unmarried.