REMEMBER WHEN

THE first Australian soldier to be awarded the Victoria Cross in 40 years did not see himself as a hero, but the Prime Minister insisted Trooper Mark Donaldson is ‘the stuff of Australian legend’.

Trooper Donaldson, 29, was awarded the VC medal – the nation’s highest military honour – for rescuing a coalition interpreter during fighting in Afghanistan in 2008. The Special Air Service (SAS) soldier was the first person to receive the Victoria Cross for Australia.

It was established in 1991 to replace the Imperial VC awarded previously to 96 Australians.

Trooper Donaldson said the award was a great honour, but it wouldn’t change who he was.

‘‘I’m still Mark Donaldson,’’ he modestly said.

‘‘I don’t see myself as a hero, honestly. ‘I still see myself as a soldier first and foremost.’’

But Prime Minister Kevin Rudd begged to differ.

Trooper Donaldson had joined an exclusive list of Australian heroes, he said. ‘‘Generations of schoolchildren will now know of the story of

Trooper Mark Donaldson.

‘‘It is a story of a hero, one which will be told in classrooms, workplaces and watering holes for many years to come.’’

Trooper Donaldson was travelling in a coalition convoy in Oruzgan Province on September 2, 2008 when it was ambushed by Taliban insurgent forces.

In the chaos that followed, Trooper Donaldson ran, under machine gun fire, across 80m of open ground to rescue a wounded interpreter. He also deliberately exposed himself to enemy fire to draw attention away from injured soldiers.