DVA 65 Monday 14 May 2001

This Week in History - Our Wartime Heritage

Issued by the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Bruce Scott, to foster awareness of Australia’s wartime history and heritage during the Centenary of Federation.

May 18-24

18 May 1915: Major General Sir William Bridges, Commander of the 1st Division Australian Imperial Force died of wounds received at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, on 15 May.  General Bridges is buried in the grounds of the Royal Military College, Duntroon.

19 May 1915: Death in Gallipoli of Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick of "Simpson and his donkey" fame.  Simpson, 3rd Field Ambulance, Australian Army Medical Corps, was part of the 25 April Gallipoli landings and quickly gained a reputation of being undaunted by enemy fire while carrying wounded soldiers to dressing stations on a donkey.

19-20 May 1915: Captain Albert Jacka, 14th Battalion AIF, born in Winchelsea, Victoria, became the first Australian to win a Victoria Cross during World War I for his actions at Gallipoli.  On 19 May the Turks launched a major attack against the Australians to push them into the sea.  At the northern end of the trenches, Jacka circled behind a group of attacking Turkish soldiers, shooting five, bayoneting two more and forcing the others to flee.

20 May 1941: German paratroopers invaded Crete, aiming to prevent the Allies using the island’s airfields as a base to attack German forces in Greece and vital oilfields in Romania.  The three airfields were defended by a collection of Australian, New Zealand, British and Greek forces evacuated from Greece three weeks earlier and local forces.  The Allies put up fierce resistance, inflicting enormous losses on the paratroopers, but German transport planes brought in reinforcements, ultimately forcing the Allied troops to evacuate.  To mark the 60th anniversary of the campaign, the Hellenic Australian Memorial will be dedicated at Rethymno, Crete on 19 May 2001.  The memorial commemorates all Australians who served in Greece and Crete and the Allied and Greek forces and civilians who fought alongside them.  An Australian mission of 22 veterans and war widows, led by the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Bruce Scott, will attend the dedication.

21 May 1988: The Australia Hellenic Memorial was dedicated on Anzac Parade in Canberra.

24 May 1969: Warrant Officer Class 2 Keith Payne, from Ingham, Queensland, was awarded a Victoria Cross for his actions in South Vietnam.  Commanding the 212th Company of the 1st Mobile Strike Force Battalion, his battalion came under heavy fire and many, including WO Payne, were wounded.  Assembling as many dispersed troops as possible, WO Payne retreated. When night fell, WO Payne tracked down the enemy and organised the rescue of about 40 prisoners.  Warrant Officer Payne is one of

Australia’s three living recipients of the Victoria Cross.

Media Contact:   Mark Croxford   02 6277 7820    or     0408 645 787



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