Meet Mark Donaldson VC
Sunday 16th February
Reporter: Ross Coulthart
Producer: Nick Farrow
At 15, Mark Donaldson’s father - a Vietnam veteran who’d returned from war with PTSD - passed away.
Four years later his mother was murdered.
The case has never been solved.
Not surprisingly, grief-stricken Donaldson went off the rails, becoming a punk and a drunk on the streets of Sydney, even disrupting an ANZAC dawn service.
In 2002, to get his life back on track, Donaldson joined the army.
Two years later he was accepted into the SAS, and around the same time, he met the love of his life.
The remarkable turnaround was completed in 2008 in Afghanistan, when Donaldson repeatedly put his life on the line to save his mates in a bloody battle with Taliban fighters.
"I was amazed that this little redhead that I'd dated was suddenly going to be bigger than Ben Hur... I was proud," said loving wife Emma.
The incredible bravery he showed was rewarded with the Victoria Cross, and Mark Donaldson was the first Australian in 40 years to receive this honour.
Tribute: Corporal Cameron Baird
FULL VIDEO
WEB EXTRA: MEET MARK DONALDSON VC
