Australia’s Prime Minister honors Afghanistan war hero Corporal Daniel Keighran

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard (L) and Quentin Bryce (R), Governor-General of Australia with Corporal Daniel Keighran at an Investiture Ceremony at Government House in Canberra. photo: australia's DOD
 
(BMLTV) AUSTRALIA - On November 1, 2012, Australia’s Prime Minister, Julia  Gillard gave  a statement at an awards ceremony which honored  Corporal Daniel Keighran for the most conspicuous acts of gallantry and extreme devotion to duty in action in circumstances of great peril at Derapet, Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan as part of the Mentoring Task Force One on Operation SLIPPER.  The Corporal recieved Australia’s 99th Victoria Cross.

Prme Minister Gillard said the following. “It's with a tremendous sense of pride that I am here today to honour Corporal Daniel Keighran.

I join with Her Excellency and with every distinguished guest here in paying tribute to you and to your courage.

Daniel, Kathryn, if I can say something personally to you.

We had the opportunity to meet yesterday but it was only for a brief time.

But I've left that meeting with a very clear impression of the two of you.

And I'm very clear in my impression that pomp and circumstance is not your natural home and that there are aspects of today that you have probably thought about a great deal and maybe even lived a little bit in trepidation of. 

I've also left with a very clear impression about your modesty, about the amazing acts of valour that you performed. 

And so to you, Corporal Keighran, here today despite your modesty, we acknowledge those acts of valour.

We acknowledge them because it is always important to accurately record the history of our nation and what makes our nation.

And these acts of courage speak to who we are as Australians.

You don't need to be a religious person to understand the force of the words that greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for his friends.

You showed your preparedness to lay down your life for your mates.

We are so glad that your spectacular acts of bravery still saw you returned home to us safe and to your family and friends safe.

But they were spectacular acts of bravery, where in the moment you did not put your personal safety first but you put that Anzac tradition of mateship first. 

That's why we are honouring you today; that's why it will be another moment in our history where we can say that this is the best of who we are and the best of what Australians can do.

Thank you for proving that once again for our nation.

I trust in the days to come that apart from the whirlwind, there are some quiet moments for you to reflect with your family and friends on what this means.

You can tell some remarkable stories.

You told me some yesterday about the difference in sound a bullet makes depending on how close it is to your head and that you were conscious of that in the moment.

A remarkable story.

Kathryn told me that perhaps she didn't really know why you were getting the VC until it was clear that you were getting the Victoria Cross because you hadn't come home to share that.

That was something that you had kept to yourself and to your mates.

All of that speaks of a tremendously Australian character.

That's who you are and we honored you today.

Corporal Keighran is only the third recipient of the Victoria Cross for Australia, which in 1991 replaced the British or Imperial Victoria Cross awarded to 96 Australians. He is the first member of the Royal Australian Regiment to receive the country’s highest military honour.

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