'All my mates ever got was a wooden cross': Victoria Cross recipient's heartfelt Anzac Day dawn service speech moves crowds to tears

‘All my mates ever got was a wooden cross’: Victoria Cross recipient’s heartfelt Anzac Day dawn service speech moves crowds to tears

Corporal Mark Donaldson delivered a heartfelt and powerful Anzac Day speech
Quoted words of Cyril Bassett, a New Zealand soldier awarded a Victorian Cross
Corporal Donaldson reminded all of reality that comes with service and sacrifice

Victoria Cross recipient Corporal Mark Donaldson has reminded Australians of the sobering reality that comes with service and sacrifice in a heartfelt Anzac Day speech.

Speaking at the national dawn service at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on Thursday morning, he quoted the powerful words of Cyril Bassett, a New Zealand soldier awarded a Victorian Cross at Gallipoli during World War I.

‘I have a lot to be thankful for. I do not want to skite, in case my luck turns,’ Corporal Donaldson quoted.
‘When I received my medal, I was disappointed to find out I was the only New Zealander to receive one from Gallipoli.

‘Because hundreds of Victoria Crosses should have been awarded there. All my mates ever got was a wooden cross.’

He described Corporal Bassett as a reluctant hero.

‘He is recognised not for storming machineguns or rescuing wounded,’ Corporal Donaldson told the crowd.

‘His citation reads: ”Under continuous heavy machinegun and rifle fire, he succeeded in laying a telephone line from the old position to the new one on Chunuk Bair. He had to crawl into no-man’s land to retrieve the separated ends and repair them with no shelter or covering fire, face down in the earth”.’

Corporal Donaldson used this year’s dawn service to urge young people to visit the Australian War Memorial in the nation’s capital to learn and be inspired by the deeds of those who served before them.
‘Look at the age of those who went, who stood up, and who committed. They were your age. If not younger,’ he said.

‘A celebrated, amazing feat can also be the worst day of another person’s life.

‘The day that they never walked again. Talked again. Or never returned home. Today, and every day, remember all those sacrifices. Those who suffered yet fought on, and those who continue to do so. Today, not just in combat, but also in support of others.’

He also spoke of the sobering reality that comes with service and sacrifice.

‘We honour their sacrifice by living a good life, in respect of others, enjoying the freedoms, and inspiring others to build a better Australia, a stronger Anzac spirit,’ he said.

‘We should strive to be worthy of these sacrifices made for each of us.’

Corporal Donaldson became the first recipient Australia’s highest military honour for bravery in almost 40 years in 2009.

The Special Air Service soldier was presented the Victoria Cross after rescuing a coalition forces interpreter from heavy fire in Oruzgan Province in Afghanistan several months earlier.

‘It’s extremely important that we always remember,’ he later told Sky News.

‘The way we can do that is by living a good life, looking after each other and by living the values of those who have gone before us.’