Nine months after his son was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery, former Carlton footballer Doug Baird has met with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
Doug and his wife Kaye represented their boy, the late Corporal Baird, who at 32 years of age was killed when he assaulted an insurgent-held compound during a Special Forces raid in Afghanistan in mid-2013.
Corporal Baird became this nation’s 100th recipient of the military honour, the fourth from Australia’s long war in Afghanistan, the first awarded posthumously since 1967 and the first to an Australian commando.
Doug and Kaye accepted Cameron’s VC from the then Governor General Quentin Bryce at government house back in February.
The Bairds with Governor General Quentin Bryce and Prime Minister Tony Abbott in February. (Photo: Supplied)
Overnight, his parents represented him in a ceremony held at the palace, which involved 23 living recipients of the George Cross (for civilian gallantry) and the Victoria Cross – amongst them Australian VC recipients Ben Roberts-Smith, Daniel Keighran and Mark Donaldson who all served in Afghanistan - and former Victorian policeman Michael Pratt, who was awarded the George Cross in 1978 and is this nation’s only living recipient of that award.
Also present was Lady Joan Cutler, wife of the late former Governor of New South Wales and VC recipient Sir Roden Cutler.
The eminent party met with Prince Charles on Monday, the Queen and Prince Philip on Tuesday and Prince Harry on Wednesday.
Doug, a six-game Carlton forward through 1969 and the Premiership year of ’70, was quoted as saying that he found it an “extreme honour” to be spending time with the medal recipients who reunite every two years.
The Bairds meet Prince Harry at Buckingham Palace. (Photo: Supplied)
“There are some incredible stories and people in that group,” he said.
“We feel that Cameron would rightly be able to sit at that table equal with any of them with the deeds that he did.”
Doug added that Corporal Roberts-Smith, who knew Corporal Baird, got to share a beer with him at “Buck House”.
“Ben was very glowing in his remarks (about Cameron),” Doug said. “He made a comment which I think sums it up. (He said) ‘We were both cut from the same cloth’.”
The Bairds, who live on the Gold Coast, jet back this weekend via the United Arab Emirates where they’ll visit Australia’s outpost at Al Minhad Air Base.
It’s now known as Camp Baird in tribute to their fallen son.
