Retrospective Australian VC

For almost eighty years, Australian Leading Seaman ‘Teddy’ Sheean was denied the Victoria Cross he had unquestionably earned. That omission was rectified in 2020 when Her Majesty the Queen authorised an unprecedented retrospective award of a posthumous VC

One of the most remarkable and poignant recent awards of the Victoria Cross was that granted retrospectively – and posthumously - to -year-old Ordinary Seaman Teddy Sheean, a gunner in the Royal Australian Navy during the Second World War when, on December €‚, during operations in the Timor Sea, HMAS Armidale came under aerial bombardment and torpedo attack from Japanese aircraft. One of those onboard was ‘Teddy’ Sheean. The brief details of his VC action are shown in its citation.

For reasons that have never been adequately explained, the Tasmanian teenager was never decorated appropriately for his incredible heroism but was instead rewarded with a Mention in Dispatches, a recognition that was long regarded by his family and surviving comrades as an insult given his sacrifice and extreme heroism. Collectively, they believed that Sheehan should have been awarded the Victoria Cross. Of the ““ Victoria Crosses awarded to Australians before Teddy Sheean, ” were won by soldiers and four by airmen. None had gone to the Australian navy. That is, until August ‚“‚“.

Following a review of Sheean’s case, as well as vigorous campaigning by family, friends, and other interested and invested parties, Her Majesty the Queen approved the posthumous awarding of the VC for Australia.

The award of a richly deserved VC — years after the event is unique in the long history of the Victoria Cross, especially when the awarding of medals retrospectively to soldiers, sailors, and airmen who died courageously decades ago is understandably fraught with difficulties. In the end, however, it was decided that ‘Teddy’ Sheean had been denied a Victoria Cross which he had so clearly earned.

In addition to his VC, ‘Teddy’ Sheean had one of the Australian Navy’s Collins-class submarines named after him - the first Australian naval vessel named after an ordinary seaman rather than an officer.

■ HMAS Armidale coming under attack by Japanese aircraft in the Timor Sea on 1 December 1942 during the action for which ‘Teddy’ Sheean was retrospectively awarded the Victoria Cross. (Courtesy John Taylor) ■ Below left: The dramatic painting by Dale Marsh depicting ‘Teddy’ Sheean during the action for which he was later awarded a Victoria Cross. (AWM)

(Australian Navy) ■ The Chief of the Australian Navy presented ‘Teddy’ Sheean’s Victoria Cross to his family on 1 December 2020 at an event attended by members of his family, including two female sailors who were then serving in the Australian Navy.