SMILES HIDE HEARTACHE

DOUG and Kaye Baird are remarkable people.

That is evident in the Bulletin’s special report today on a family that lost its second son in war and negotiates its way each day through the competing forces of grief and duty.

Next week the Gold Coast couple will steel themselves as a new chapter begins in the story of their commando son Cameron, killed in Afghanistan in a firefight that erupted as he led a team racing through a Taliban village to save a mate who had been shot.

When Corporal Cameron Baird died in June 2013 his parents and elder brother Brendan weathered the intense scrutiny of a sympathetic but inquisitive nation.

Soon after, the then chief of army, Lieutenant General David Morrison, visited them to advise their son was in line for the nation’s top military honour. The Bairds discussed the implications as a family and decided they had to be strong for Cameron and his regiment.

The then prime minister, Tony Abbott, announced in Parliament that a Victoria Cross was being awarded posthumously, and the surge in interest came again, this time like a tsunami as a nation wanted to know about Australia’s 40th Victoria Cross recipient and about his war in Afghanistan.

The Bairds expect another wave when a new book about Cameron’s life, and by association their lives, is published next week. It is a story they accept has to be told.

The book is compelling reading, at once confronting in the details of their son’s role and his death; revealing in its explanation of his rise through the ranks of Australian rules football until he stood on the threshold of an AFL career, only to be denied; and heartwarming in the anecdotes and family stories of a kid growing up.

And so the Bairds prepare to be in the spotlight again. They do so for good causes – Cameron’s story, his regiment, and the charity – Cam’s Cause – that works for the welfare of commandos and their families. But remarkable people are fragile.

It is not difficult to realise that as strong as the family seems and the brave face put on every time they tell a story of courage shown by a son, his comrades and his regiment, there is a price to pay. For them, the wound will reopen. The duty for the rest of the Gold Coast is to rally and support them.