Kevin Wheatley Memorial Rest Area, NSW Australia - Specific Veteran Memorials on Waymarking.com

Copied from the sign here:
"Kevin Wheatley VC Rest Area
Dedicated to t he memory of a gallant soldier who gave his life for his comrades and his country. 29890 Warrant Office Class II Kevin Arthur Wheatley. Austalian Army Training Team Vietnam. 13 November 1965, at Tra Bong Valley, Quang Ngai, Province, South Vietnam. "On 13th November 1965 at approximately 1300 hours, a Vietnamese Civil Irregual Defence Group company commenced a search and destroy operation in the Tra Bong Valley. Accompanying the force were Captain F. Fazekas and Warrant Officers KA Wheatley and RG Swanton. At about 1340 hours, Warrant Officer Wheatley reported contact with the enemy. Enemy resistance strengthened and finally Warrant Office Wheatley asked for assistance. Captain Fazekas immediately organized the centre platooon to help and personally led and fought towards the action area. While moving forward he received another radio message from Warrant Officer Wheatley to say that Warrant Officer Swanton had been hit in the chest, and requested an air strike and an aircraft, for the evacuation of casualties. At about this time the right plaoon broke in the face of heavy enemy fire and began to scatter. Althought told by the medical assistant that Warrant Officer Swanton was dying, Warrant Officer Wheatley refused to abandon him. He discarded his radio to enable him to half drag, half carry Warrant Officer Swanton, under heavy machine-gun and automatic rifle fire, out of the open rice paddies into the comparative safety of a wooded area, some 200 metres away. He was assisted by a Private Dinhy Do who, when the Viet cong were only some ten metres away, urged him to leave his dying comrade. Again he refused, and was seen to pull the pins from two gerandes and calmly awaited the enemy, holding one gernade in each hand. Shortley afterwards, two grenade explosions were heard, followed by several bursts of small arms fire. The two bodies were found at first light the next morning after the fighting has ceased, with Warrant Officer Wheatly lying beside Warrant Officer Swanton. Both had died of gunshot wounds. "Warrant Officer Wheatley displayed magnificent courage in the face of an overwhelming Viet cong force which was later estimated at more than a company. He had the clear choise o abandoning a wounded comrade and saving himself by escaping or of staying with Warrant Officer Swanton and thereby facing certain death. He deliberately chose the latter course. His acts of heroism, determination and unflinching loyalty in the face of the enemy will always stand as examples of the true meaning of valour." (London Gazette: 13 December 1996, Supplement, 15 December 1966) Kevin Arthur Wheatley was born in Sydney on 13 March 1937. He was buried at Pine Grove Memorial Park, Blacktown, New South Wales. This rest area was established and is maintained by the Roads and Traffic Authority, NSW."

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