[naturalman1975]

Full headline: 'Australia's deadliest soldier': Len Opie won a Distinguished Conduct Medal for single-handedly capturing an enemy position against overwhelming odds - and his heroic exploits in three wars are now part of military folklore

One of my personal heroes. The main reason he never received the Victoria Cross was the general requirement for three witnesses (at least one of whom was an officer) could not be met because he tended to either operate alone, or outrun everybody who was with him when they started. The Distinguished Conduct Medal he did receive was the second highest decoration for valour by a non-officer (in those days, Britain and the Commonwealth had a number of decorations where officers and 'other ranks' received different medals for the same action). Opie finished his army career as a Major, having been a private soldier then a non commissioned officer, then a warrant officer, then a commissioned officer.

[Tax-chick]

A very interesting article. Sort of the Australian Audie Murphy. I checked my library catalog for the book, but it wasn’t there. Maybe it will turn up after a while: surprising things do.

What a British face Mr. Opie had!

[Cen-Tejas]

Awesome story! Thanks for posting.

[DoughtyOne]

[B4Ranch]

ping

[archy]

One of my personal heroes.

Len Opie's Australian War Archive interview from 2004