Tasmanian World War II hero Teddy Sheean will not be awarded a Victoria Cross, with the Federal Government deciding to hold to an earlier decision that his actions “did not reach the particularly high standard” for Australia’s highest wartime honour — a decision blasted by Senator Jacqui Lambie as “cowardice”.
Key points:
- Edward ‘Teddy’ Sheean was a seaman on board HMAS Armidale when it was attacked by the Japanese in 1942
- Sheean, who was already wounded twice, was last seen firing an anti-aircraft gun at enemy airplanes when the Armidale sank
- A long-running campaign to have Sheean awarded a Victoria Cross has failed
The Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal was reconsidering whether the sailor should receive the honour, something his nephew Garry Ivory had spent 30 years campaigning for.
The Defence Minister Linda Reynolds confirmed on Wednesday afternoon the Victoria Cross (VC) will not be awarded.
Sheean died in 1942 defending HMAS Armidale from Japanese warplanes off the coast of what is now known as East Timor.
The wounded 18-year-old Ordinary Seaman strapped himself to an anti-aircraft cannon and fired