Wheatley VC

Saigon, South Vietnam. 8 August 1965.

Warrant Officer Class II, (WO2), Kevin (Dasher) Arthur Wheatley VC, a member of the Australian Army Training Team, Vietnam, (AATTV) standing on the roadside near Saigon. WO2 Wheatley was awarded a Victoria Cross (VC) posthumously for action against the Viet Cong.

He moved a wounded soldier, WO2 R. J. Swanton, from the open paddy fields into a wooded area and remained with him knowing the Viet Cong were moving in on their position. (Donor W. Connell)

Nine of these decorations were awarded to Australian servicemen, but permission from the Australian Government for them to be worn was not granted until the late 1990s. Recipients were: Warrant Officers J T Malone, L Steele, R J Swanton and K A Wheatley VC, Corporals A H T Fotheringham and F J Smith, Lance Corporal T Ross and Privates R E Field and W L Nalder.

South Vietnamese Military Merit Medal, an award of the Second Republic. This decoration was the South Vietnamese equivalent of the French Medaille Militaire. It is a circular gold coloured medal, the obverse bearing the words 'TO-QUOC-TRI-AN' ('The gratitude of the Fatherland') in a central disc. A thin band around the disc contains the words 'QUAN-CONG-BOI-TINH', and the whole is surrounded by a wreath. The reverse is similar, but the words 'VIET-NAM CONG HOA' appear in the central disc. The medal is suspended from a pair of rings supporting a trophy of arms (crossed swords). The ribbon is yellow, with a broad green and narrow white stripe at each edge. In the centre are seven closely grouped green lines.

The National Order of Vietnam was the country's highest award, and could be granted on a military or civil basis. Only the Fourth (Officer) and Fifth (Knight) Classes were awarded to Australians. 11 Knights of the National Order were awarded to Australian servicemen of all ranks, but permission for them to be worn was not granted by the Australian Government until the late 1990s. The awards were made to: Air Commodore C H Spurgeon, Brigadiers S C Graham, W G Henderson, R L Hughes, B A McDonald, C M I Pearson and S P Weir, Lieutenant Colonel J J Shelton, Major P Badcoe, Warrant Officer K Wheatley and Private D J Pattison. Seven Fourth Class awards were also made to Australians.

National Order of Vietnam, Fifth Class (Knight of the Order). The National Order was intended as a combination of the French Legion d'Honneur and the Order of the Dragon of Annam, a French colonial award. The medal has a central circle in which the words 'TO-QUOC-TRI-AN' '(The Gratitude of the Fatherland') appear in gold on a red enamelled background, surrounded by a Greek key pattern in gold on a blue enamelled band. From this central disc five golden rays issue, the gaps between them being filled by green enamel in the form of a dragon's tail. The medal is suspended from two rings at the bottom of a rectangle in the shape of a dragon's head, a single ring at the top taking the ribbon. The ribbon is red with a 5 mm yellow band at each edge.

Quang Tri, South Vietnam. 1965.

Warrant Officer 2 K.A. "Dasher" Wheatley (left) and WO2 L. J. Dowsett with Montagnard tribesmen.

WO2 R. J. Swanton and Captain Allan (A. S.) Hinds, visiting Australian Public Relations Officer, are in the background.

On 1965-11-13 Wheatley and Swanton were on patrol with Vietnamese irregulars operating from the Tra Bong Special Forces outpost when Swanton was wounded in the chest, and although the medical assistant told Wheatley that Swanton was dying he refused to leave him.Instead Wheatley half dragged, half carried Swanton, under heavy enemy fire from the paddy field to a wooded area about 200 metres away. Wheatley was again urged to leave Swanton, he refused. He was last seen alive with a grenade in each hand awaiting the encircling Viet cong. For his action Wheatley was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. This was the first Victoria Cross to be awarded in the Vietnam War. (donor: Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) Association)