Family passes VC to war memorial

Australia and France are now best mates but at the start of World War II a vicious and little-known campaign claimed more than 400 Australian and 1000 French lives.

In the month-long fight to evict pro-German Vichy French forces from Syria, two Australians won the Victoria Cross and at last both are in the hands of the Australian War Memorial.

One was awarded to Sir Roden Cutler (1916-2002), a towering figuring who served as governor of NSW for a record 15 years.

The other went to Private James Gordon (1909-86), a West Australian farmer whose VC remained with his family until his son Lindsay passed it to the war memorial at a ceremony on Thursday morning.

The war memorial said Gordon's story was one of an ordinary man doing extraordinary things in a remarkable situation.

He was awarded the VC for heroism on July 10, 1941 during an action in which his company was held up by intense machine gun fire. On his own initiative, Private Gordon crept forward then charged the position, killing four enemies with his bayonet.

He subsequently fought in campaigns in northern New Guinea and after the war returned to being a farmer. He decided he liked being a soldier and re-enlisted in 1947, finally retiring in 1968. For the next seven years he worked as groundsman at the Special Air Service Regiment barracks in Perth.

Nick Fletcher, head of military heraldry at the war memorial, said the Gordon VC was one of the few Australian VCs which had remained in private hands.

"It would seem that Lindsay has been thinking about it for some time. He felt that the public had an entitlement to be able to see things like this and he had a talk to us about it," he told AAP.

The medal now goes on display at the war memorial's Hall of Valour, along with 72 other VCs awarded to Australians and three to Britons.

A total of 100 VCs have been awarded to Australians. Those not on display at the war memorial remain are in public and private collections, with a few overseas.

More are set to go on display in the hall of valour, with war memorial director Brendan Nelson making arrangements with other institutions to borrow their VCs during the WWI centenary.