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WHEN Trooper Mark Donaldson showed the extraordinary courage, character and inner strength that resulted in him being awarded the Victoria Cross, it was not the first time. Those same qualities had been forged earlier, in the mysterious and tragic circumstances of his family life, circumstances that utterly transformed him. Donaldson and his older brother, Brent, lost both parents between 1995 and 1998, when the boys were 16 and 17 respectively. Friends of the Donaldson family from the small town of Dorrigo, near Coffs Harbour, believe the sudden death by heart attack of their 47-year-old Vietnam veteran father, Greg, in a...

VICTORIA Cross recipient Trooper Mark Donaldson is not just a national hero but a young man who has overcome extraordinary tragedy. Residents of Dorrigo in northern NSW are so proud of Australia's latest Victoria Cross recipient that grown men shed tears in the street late last week. Trooper Donaldson, 29, was 19 and his brother Brent 20 when they were orphaned. Their mother Bernadette, widowed after the death of her husband Greg from a heart attack three years earlier, disappeared after planning to fly to the Gold Coast for a holiday. She never made her flight, and her disappearance -...

Homicide detectives will today search bushland at Bellingen, on the New South Wales mid-north coast, as part of a cold case investigation into the suspicious death of a woman more than 10 years ago. Police say Bernadette Donaldson, 46, had planned to fly to the Gold Coast in April of 1998. But Ms Donaldson never made her flight and has not been seen since. Today, officers will start clearing bushland at Bellingen looking for possible skeletal remains. The search is expected to take about a week, and comes after a coronial investigation in 1999.

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THE bravery of SAS trooper Mark Donaldson, the first Australian awarded the Victoria Cross in 40 years, has been acclaimed by the Prime Minister as "the stuff of Australian legend". But the man known to mates as "Donno" declared getting the nation's highest military honour in Afghanistan would not change him. "I don't see myself as a hero, honestly. I still see myself as a soldier first and foremost," Trooper Donaldson said after accepting the VC from Governor-General Quentin Bryce in Canberra yesterday. "I'm still Mark Donaldson and we'll keep going from day to day and see how we go."...

AUSTRALIA'S latest Victoria Cross winner, SAS Trooper Mark Donaldson, was not born when Keith Payne was awarded his VC for heroism in the jungles of Vietnam 40 years ago. Along with Edward Kenna, who won his VC for service in New Guinea in 1945, the pair are the only surviving Australian winners of the country's highest military honour. "From my own point of view I'm tremendously happy," Mr Payne said. "It takes me out of the youngest VC winner in Australia to one of the oldest." Praising Trooper Donaldson, he said; "He'll remember his little party (gun battle) all his...

SAS trooper Mark Donaldson exposed himself so much to enemy fire that when Australia's last VC winner heard about his award he assumed it would be posthumous. Over two hours in southeastern Afghanistan last September 2, Trooper Donaldson, 29, repeatedly fought alone in open ground raked by accurate and heavy Taliban machine-gun fire to allow his wounded comrades to be dragged to safety. Deliberate exposure to draw enemy fire away from the wounded would have been enough for a Victoria Cross recommendation, but Trooper Donaldson then sprinted 80m over the same killing ground to save the life of a seriously...

Mark Donaldson VC shows the way to other Australians MARK Donaldson does not think he is a hero. Heroes generally do not. He believes that everybody would do what he did. But the way SAS Trooper Donaldson earned his VC, on duty with the SAS in Afghanistan, was a rare act of selfless courage. During a Taliban ambush of a coalition convoy, Trooper Donaldson drew enemy fire away from wounded men while they were moved to some semblance of safety. But when Trooper Donaldson realised an interpreter had been left behind, he went back, crossing exposed ground under fire to...

Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce, AC, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia pins the Victoria Cross to Trooper Mark Donaldson VC. Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce, AC, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia congratulates Trooper Mark Donaldson VC at today's ceremony. Mr Keith Payne VC congratulates Trooper Mark Donaldson VC at today's ceremony. A congratulatory kiss from wife Emma to Trooper Mark Donaldson VC; with the Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie; Mrs Houston and the Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston looking on. The Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon. Kevin Rudd MP, congratulates...

AN Australian soldier has been awarded the first Victoria Cross in 40 years for his "exceptional bravery" in service in Afghanistan. Trooper Mark Donaldson has been awarded the nation's highest military honour... Donaldson was serving with the SAS in Oruzgan province in Afghanistan in October last year when his unit was hit by an ambush. He deliberately drew enemy fire to allow wounded soldiers to escape and be taken to safety. Then, "with complete disregard for his own safety ' Trooper Donaldson ran back 80m across exposed ground to rescue a wounded coalition force interpreter and take him back to...

THE first Victoria Cross for Australia has been awarded to a Trooper Mark Donaldson this morning for his bravery in Afghanistan. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Governor-General Quentin Bryce made the historic announcement today at Government House in Canberra. Tropper Donaldson received the award for his actions in Afghanistan on September 2 last year, when, under heavy fire, he ran 80 metres to save an interpreter for the coalition forces and carried him to safety under sustained and accurate shooting. The Victoria Cross is the highest possible award for acts of bravery in wartime, ahead of the Military Cross. Queen...

ALBERT Jacka is regarded as one of Australia's finest soldiers. His exploits at Gallipoli and on the Western Front are legendary, and he was the first Australian in World War I to be awarded the Victoria Cross. Clearly honoured and smiling broadly, his great nephew Simon Jacka, 25, yesterday became the first in the family to join the military since his famous ancestor almost a century ago. "I am proud to serve the nation as a member of the Australian Defence Force," hesaid. "Formally joining the army was a proud moment for the family. I am continuing the association between...

SEVEN Network boss Kerry Stokes will return a Victoria Cross awarded to one of the country's greatest war heroes to the Australian War Memorial. The media mogul and the South Australian Government were yesterday revealed as the mystery bidders of the medal, which sold at auction in Sydney for $488,000. It is the third Victoria Cross Mr Stokes has bought at auction and returned to the War Memorial since 2006, spending almost $2 million to save the pieces of Australia's history from being lost to the public. Carey Badcoe, daughter of Adelaide-born digger Major Peter Badcoe, was happy her father's...

A VICTORIA Cross medal from the Vietnam War has sold for $488,000 at auction in Sydney as part of a collection of 12 medals and memorabilia. The medal was awarded to Adelaide-born Major Peter Badcoe for a series of heroic actions during the Vietnam War in 1967. The Victoria Cross, the Commonwealth's highest decoration for gallantry, was sold to an anonymous buyer, but will remain in Sydney, the auctioneer said. Three bidders were in the race to buy the medals, with spirited bidding starting at $300,000 in Bonhams & Goodman's auction house in Double Bay tonight. Bonhams & Goodman chairman...

FOUR weeks ago, auction house chairman Tim Goodman received a call from a wealthy client in the US. The businessman, a passionate military memorabilia collector, had learned that medals and frontline archival material belonging to Australian army Major Peter Badcoe, who was killed in action in Vietnam in 1967, would feature in Bonhams and Goodman's May auction, to be held in Sydney on Tuesday. The collector told Mr Goodman he intended to bid for the Badcoe collection, which includes the only Vietnam War VC medal still in private hands and awarded to Major Badcoe posthumously. The estimated price for the...

A Royal Marine who threw himself onto an exploding grenade to save the lives of his patrol has been put forward for the UK's highest military honour. Lance Corporal Matt Croucher, 24, a reservist from Birmingham, survived because his rucksack and body armour took the force of the blast. He was part of a reconnaissance troop in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in February, when the incident happened. The Ministry of Defence said he could be considered for the Victoria Cross.

Havildar Bhanbhagta Gurung, VC Gurkha who was decorated for his courage and skill in capturing a Japanese position in fierce hand-to-hand fighting Havildar Bhanbhagta Gurung, VC Bhanbhagta Gurung won his Victoria Cross in Burma in 1945. His action was the culmination of a series of extraordinarily gallant actions by this soldier of quite exceptional courage, yet it occurred while he was in disgrace, albeit unjustly. Born in the hill village of Phalbu in western Nepal, he was recruited into the old Indian Army soon after the outbreak of the Second World War, and joined 3rd Battalion 2nd King Edward VII’s...

The medal was awarded to 21 New Zealanders Nine rare and valuable Victoria Cross (VC) medals awarded for acts of extreme bravery in combat have been stolen from a military museum in New Zealand.The thieves managed to evade security patrols, cameras and an alarm when they broke into the Army Museum in Waiouru on North Island early on Sunday. Defence Minister Phil Goff called the raid "a crime against the nation". Military officials estimate the medals are worth millions of dollars, but say they will be difficult to sell. The Victoria Cross, inscribed "For valour", is the highest honour...

That the award of two more Victoria Crosses should even be under consideration says a good deal about our campaign in Afghanistan. No other nation has produced a medal so prized. This unprepossessing gun-metal cross, with its simple two-word inscription, is the supreme award that a soldier can win. By tradition, officers and men of all ranks salute its holder. Only 14 VCs have been awarded since the end of the Second World War; two of these (one the New Zealand version) were won in Afghanistan. The citations for the two latest candidates read like episodes from a war film....

Two British soldiers from the same battalion have been nominated for the Victoria Cross in recognition of their incredible bravery in the face of the enemy. The citations for Britain's highest gallantry award came after the men were involved in fierce fighting against the Taliban in Afghanistan. The first is Captain David Hicks – who would become the first officer to win the VC since Falklands hero Lieutenant-Colonel Herbert 'H' Jones. The second is believed to be Lance-Corporal Oliver 'Teddy' Ruecker, 20. Last month Capt Hicks, 26, refused morphine when mortally wounded in order to lead a counter-attack against a...