Appendix 2 - 6th Division Honours and Awards

Summary

The system of awarding medals for bravery was notoriously uneven in application. Every combat veteran recalls someone who missed out unfairly on a ‘gong’. Some also have grievances about cases where individuals did win medals. There were quotas of medals set for campaigns and units, and there was great scope for personal prejudice and luck in the process of recommendation. Moreover, those with the power to give awards in the 6th Division seem to have taken perverse satisfaction in being parsimonious about it. For example, a wartime publication of the 2/2nd Battalion boasted that where decorations were concerned the unit had imposed standards that were ‘rigid to the degree of harshness’. The unit subsequently received one of the division's only two VCs: there should have been more. A similar example comes from the 2/5th Battalion. Private John Vincent, pictured in Photograph 9.9, took a leading role in a 10-day patrol in April 1943. After the war when he met his company commander, the latter reportedly told Vincent: ‘Sorry about the M.I.D. recommendation [for this patrol] – the Colonel didn't believe in decorations. He thought it was “One in All in”’.

Most of the division's awards for distinguished or gallant service or conduct are listed in Table 14. It is based mainly on the unit histories, the AWM Honours and Awards Database and the Australian Military Units section of the AWM website. It has at times been impossible to find conclusive figures.