Peter (adopted name Badcock) Badcoe VC

Ancestors

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Biography

Peter (adopted name Badcock) Badcoe VC is Notable.

Peter Badcoe VC has left great impressions with those who were close to him. He was noted to be a quiet, gentle and retiring man who confided mainly in his wife. His colleagues found him inscrutable; he avoided boisterous mess activities, preferring to read military history. A 'teetotaller' who also did not smoke, Peter regaled his colleagues on military matters, even whilst off-duty. Peter was nick-named 'the Galloping Major' because he was 'always on the go'.

Peter John Badcock, later Badcoe, was born on 11th January 1934 in Malvern, South Australia, Australia. He attended Adelaide Technical High School before gaining employment as a clerk with the South Australian Public Service in 1950.

On 26th May 1956, Peter married Denise Maureen MacMahon in the Methodist (now Uniting) Church, Manly, New South Wales. ^[1] They have three daughters.

Military career

Peter enlisted in the Australian Regular Army and entered the Officer Cadet School, Portsea, Victoria. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Australian Artillery on 13th December 1952. Subsequent promotions were attained to Lieutenant in 1955 and Captain in 1958. During 1961, he changed his surname to Badcoe (soldiers can be cruel!), before serving a tour of duty in the Federation of Malaya in the aftermath of the Malayan Emergency. Detached to South Vietnam in November 1962, Peter observed how that country was combating the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese insurgency. He then returned to Australia. In August 1965 he transferred from the Artillery to the Royal Australian Infantry Corps, with promotion to Major. In June 1966 Peter was posted to the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) and, in August, arrived in South Vietnam. ^[2]

Victoria Cross

Peter (adopted name Badcock) Badcoe VC was awarded the Victoria Cross.

Major Peter (adopted name Badcock) Badcoe VC was killed in action at Thừa Thiên-Huế during Vietnam War.

Sadly, on the final occasion, on 7th April 1967, Peter was killed by a burst of machine gun fire. He is buried in the Terendak military cemetery, 13 miles north of Malacca, Malaysia. Peter John Badcoe's name is located at panel 4 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra. ^[4]

Legacy

The respect and high regard in which Peter Badcoe was held by both South Vietnamese and American allies, saw him also awarded the:

• Silver Star (United States)
• Knight of the National Order of Vietnam
• Cross of Gallantry with Bronze Star (Vietnam)
• Armed Forces Honour Medal, 1st Class (Vietnam)

Peter was also awarded the Vietnam Service Medal by the Australian Government for his service.

Peter's VC and associated medals were displayed at the South Australian Museum in Adelaide prior to being toured to seventeen regional towns in South Australia in 2009. Since 2016 they have been displayed permanently at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

The Port Adelaide Australian Rules Football Club presents the Peter Badcoe VC Medal annually to a player during its ANZAC Day match. ^[5]

Various buildings and awards have been named in the honour and memory of Peter Badcoe, including a soldiers' club in South Vietnam, an assembly room and library at Portsea, and the main lecture theatre at the Royal Military College, Duntroon.

Of course, none of these take away the deep sense of loss, yet pride, of Peter's loved ones ...