Orders, Decorations and Medals

Five: Warrant Officer Martin Andrew Connellan, Royal Australian Engineers, who died in a brawl in July 1985

Vietnam 1964 (28208 M. A. Connellan); Australia Defence Force Service Medal 1982, no bar (27208 Connellan M.A.); Army L.S. & G.C., E.II.R., 2nd issue, Australia (27208 M. A. Connellan); Commonwealth of Australia Meritorious Service Medal, E.II.R., 2nd issue (27208 M. A. Connellan); South Vietnam Medal 1964, 1 clasp, 1960- (27208 M. A. Connellan) mounted as worn, some contact marks, very fine (5) £500-600

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Long Service Medals from the Collection formed by John Tamplin.

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Martin Andrew Connellan was born on 15 December 1934. He enlisted in N.S.W. in December 1955. He served in the Royal Australian Army Service Corps and underwent training at the Jungle Training Centre at Canungra in Queensland. He served in South Vietnam with the 17th Construction Squadron in the Phouc Yuy Province, 8 April 1970-7 April 1971. He was awarded the Army L.S. & G.C. (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette 4 May 1972) as a Warrant Officer Class 2. In 1973 he was serving with the Royal Australian Corps of Transport. From December 1972 to December 1975 he served with the ANZUC Force in Singapore. He was awarded the M.S.M. as a Warrant Officer Class 2 with the Royal Australian Engineers (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette 30 September 1975). He was discharged from the Australian Army on 15 December 1975. Ten years later, in July 1975, in Newcastle, N.S.W., he was involved in a brawl which resulted in his death. In a report in the Newcastle Herald, 22 July 1985, it stated:

‘Two men were charged yesterday with the murder of a 50 year old man who died after a brawl outside a roadside cafe at Doyalson. Police said Martin Andrew Connellan, of Anna Bay had become involved in an argument outside the cafe with three youths on Friday night after accusing them of having sworn in front of his defacto wife Ms Betty Brown. The police were called but the scuffle broke up before they arrived and Mr Connellan had gone home. The next morning Ms Brown found him dead in bed with a fractured skull. Newcastle Police said the two men aged 19 and 20, from Nords Wharf would appear in Newcastle Court this morning charged with murder. Police were still looking for a third male suspect’. Sold with copied research.