One of Australia’s most decorated war heroes will sell his medals to help his family in a heartbreaking illustration of the cost of living crisis gripping the country.
Daniel Keighran plans to sell his 12 medals, including his Victoria Cross, which is the highest military honor a soldier can receive.
Keighran received the VC award in 2012 for his actions in Afghanistan and his medal collection will be auctioned in November, where it is expected to fetch $1.25 million.
Mr Keighran told the Sydney Morning Herald The considerable sum would be used to help his family.
“It was not a decision taken lightly, my partner and I had a conversation,” he said.
‘There are some family members whose health was not excellent.
‘My mom turns 80 this year. I’m lucky to earn a pretty good salary, but things are pretty tough out there.
“I managed to buy him a place. The reason for getting rid of the medal is to take care of my own family.
One of Australia’s most decorated war heroes will sell his medals to help his family in a heartbreaking illustration of the cost of living crisis gripping the country.
Daniel Keighran photographed with his then-fiancé Casey Nixon after their proposal in 2021
‘It would give us the opportunity to go to school and also have a place to live as a family. These are tough times, things are tough, especially for a family of five, which others might relate to as well.’
Keighran lives in Brisbane with her partner and five children, a seven-year-old son from her previous marriage, while her partner has a 13-year-old daughter and a nine-year-old son from a previous relationship.
The life she is giving her children is a world away from the dirt flats she grew up on in regional Queensland, with no electricity or money.
Keighran, who works as an executive in the defense industry, said receiving the VC “upended his life.”
He said he took it out of the work he did in the mines so he could get a Master’s Degree in Business.
His VC for Australia, the first awarded to a non-Special Forces Australian soldier and one of only three ever awarded, was presented to Mr Keighran by former Governor-General Quentin Bryce for his actions in Afghanistan in August 2010. .
At the time, Keighran was 27 years old and deployed to Afghanistan with the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment.
Keighran, an Army veteran with 10 years of service in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan, was participating in “Operation Slipper.”
The young corporal was on patrol when he and his Afghan patrol were overrun by Taliban fighters.
Mr Keighran lives in Brisbane with his partner and five children, a seven-year-old son from his previous marriage, while his partner has a 13-year-old daughter and a nine-year-old son from a previous relationship.
Mr Keighran’s Victoria Cross for Australia is the first awarded to a non-special forces soldier and one of only three awarded.
For almost four hours the battle raged, during which Keighran repeatedly exposed himself to intense enemy fire to help identify targets and evacuate the wounded.
He lost his close companion, Corporal Jared MacKinney, in the battle.
‘I don’t think what I did was really brave. It was what was required at the time,’ he would say of his actions that day.
The citation for the VC reads: “For most conspicuous acts of gallantry and extreme devotion to duty in action under circumstances of great danger at Derapet, Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan, as part of Mentoring Task Force One in Operation SLIPPER.”
The auction catalog states that Mr Keighran’s “acts of exceptional bravery in circumstances of great danger were instrumental in enabling the withdrawal of the combined Australian and Afghan patrol without further casualties”.
Auctioneer Noble Numismatics’ representative Jim Noble told Nine newspapers the sale “was a great opportunity for someone to own something very special”, especially as VC was awarded to someone still living.
When asked if he would still commit the same acts of heroism today, Keighran admitted that having a child made him evaluate the risk differently, but he was still the same person.
‘I saw my team in need and acted appropriately. “I thought I would do everything I could to save their lives and I think I would probably do the same to this day,” he told Nine newspapers.
Mr Keighran last wore his VC at a Remembrance Service in Canberra, but only because he forgot his other medals and had to ask them from the Australian War Memorial because they had been loaned to him for permanent display.
He hopes that whoever buys the medal will lend it to him for permanent display; However, the medal will not have that restriction, but will not be sold to anyone who intends to take it out of Australia.
