Bidspirit auction | Victoria Cross Mark Donaldson VC,

Victoria Cross Mark Donaldson VC, Edward Kenna VC signed Internetstamps official VC FDC. Mark Gregor Strang Donaldson, (born 2 April 1979) is an Australian soldier and a recipient of the Victoria Cross for Australia, the highest award in the Australian honours system. Then Trooper Donaldson was a member of the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) when he exposed himself to enemy fire to protect injured troops and then rescued an interpreter under heavy enemy fire in the Battle of Khaz Oruzgan during Operation Slipper, the Australian contribution to the War in Afghanistan. He was presented with the decoration by the Governor-General of Australia, Quentin Bryce, in a ceremony in Canberra on 16 January 2009. Edward Kenna, born in Hamilton, Victoria on 6 July 1919, worked as a plumber before enlisting in the Second AIF in August 1940. Initially posted to the 23rd/21st Battalion, his service path shifted when the unit was dissolved in 1943, leading to his reassignment to the 2nd/4th Battalion. He deployed to New Guinea in late 1944 during the final stages of the Pacific campaign. Kenna's defining moment came near Wewak on 15 May 1945. When a pair of Australian sections came under withering machine-gun fire, halting their advance, Kenna took it upon himself to break the deadlock. Exposed in open ground and under intense fire, he stood upright and engaged the enemy with a Bren gun and rifle, exchanging fire at close range with gunners just fifty metres away. Incredibly, despite rounds slicing the air around him, he remained unscathed. His bold action silenced the enemy post and allowed the attack to proceed. For his exceptional courage, he received the Victoria Cross. Three weeks later, Kenna sustained a gunshot wound to the face and spent over a year recovering in hospital. Discharged in 1946. Good condition Est.