DANIEL KEIGHRAN VC

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TRAVELS FROM BRISBANE WITHIN AUSTRALIA & INTERNATIONALLY

Daniel Keighran VC is Australia’s 99th Victoria Cross recipient and the first soldier from the Royal Australian Regiment to be awarded a Victoria Cross. He is currently one of only ten living Victoria Cross recipients worldwide. Born in Nambour, Queensland, Dan enlisted in the Army at 17 years old and served with the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment. He deployed to East Timor, Iraq and twice to Afghanistan.

It was on 24 August 2010, during his second Afghanistan deployment, Dan Keighran was part of an Afghan and Australian fighting patrol engaged by a numerically superior and coordinated enemy force near the village of Derapet – (De Ra Pet) Uruzgan (Aw Ruz Gaan) province, Afghanistan. For his actions on this day, Corporal Keighran was subsequently awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia.

An extract from Dan Keighran’s citation reads:

Corporal Keighran was a member of a partnered fighting patrol with soldiers of the Afghan National Army which was engaged by a numerically superior and coordinated enemy attack from multiple firing points in three separate locations.

In the early stages of the attack, and upon realising that the forward elements of the patrol needed effective fire support, Corporal Keighran and another patrol member moved under sustained and accurate enemy fire to an exposed ridgeline to identify enemy locations and direct the return fire of both Australian and Afghan machine guns. On reaching this position and with complete disregard for his own wellbeing, Corporal Keighran deliberately drew enemy fire by leaving the limited cover he had and moved over the ridgeline in order to positively identify targets for the machine gunners of the combined patrol as well as the Australian Light Armoured Vehicles in fire support. His actions resulted in the effective suppression of enemy firing points, which assisted in turning the fight in the favour of the combined patrol.

When his patrol sustained an Australian casualty, Corporal Keighran with complete disregard for his own safety, left his position of cover on the ridgeline to deliberately draw fire away from the team treating the casualty. Corporal Keighran remained exposed and under heavy fire while traversing the ridgeline, in order to direct suppressing fire and then assist in the clearance of the landing zone to enable evacuation of the casualty.

Corporal Keighran’s acts of the most conspicuous gallantry to repeatedly exposed himself to accurate and intense enemy fire, thereby placing himself in grave danger, ultimately enabled the identification and suppression of enemy firing positions by both Australian and Afghan fire support elements. These deliberate acts of exceptional courage in circumstances of great peril were instrumental in permitting the withdrawal of the combined Australian and Afghan patrol with no further casualties.

Dan discharged from fulltime service with the Australian Army in 2011 to embark on a career within the mining industry as an underground blaster. During this period, he continued to serve the Army Reserves being posted to the 11th/28th Battalion, Royal Western Australia Regiment.

In 2015, Dan and his wife Kathryn – A Redcliffe local having attended Humpybong State School and Southern Cross Catholic College – returned to their home state of Queensland and just recently, Dan attended Villers-Bretonneux where he took part in the commemorations for Anzac Day.

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