Rex Clark (14 September 1935 — 19 October 1978) was an officer of the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...

and a collector of orders, decorations and medals as well as military history books and ephemera. Clark gained notoriety due to his service as a

mercenary A mercenary is a private individual who joins an armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather t ...

in foreign wars while on leave from the Australian Army. He was appointed Officer of the

Order of Saint John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic Church, Catholic Military order (religious society), military order. It was founded in the Crusader states, crusader K ...

and received Imperial and Australian awards for Vietnam service and long service. He was awarded a number of foreign awards although during his lifetime such awards were not officially recognised by Australia. He ended his own life while being investigated in relation to the disappearance of

militaria Militaria, also known as military memorabilia, are military equipment which are collected for their historical significance. Such items include firearms, swords, sabres, knives, bayonets, helmets and other equipment such as uniforms, military ...

from museums and private collections.

Military service

Major Rex Clark served as a member of the

Australian Army Training Team The Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) was a specialist unit of military advisors of the Australian Army that operated during the Vietnam War. Raised in 1962, the unit was formed solely for service as part of Australia's contribution t ...

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...

in 1963–1964. In April 1964, during operation Lam Son 115, while one of two Australian observers with Vietnamese Rangers, they found themselves under fire from entrenched Viet Cong around their helicopter landing zone. The Australians switched from observers to leaders, organized two groups from the disorganised rangers and while Clark's group provided supporting fire, the other Australian led his group to attack and clear the enemy. He was assigned to the Army staff in London for two years in 1968 and returned to Vietnam as project officer in the ''Australian Army Assistance Group Vietnam'' in 1972.CLARK, Rex, Service No: 24263"
on the Department of Veterans' Affairs site"Major's death may end medals case, say police", ''

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'', 28 October 1978 Clark also served secretly while attached to an American unit which was fighting in Cambodia. The Dhofar Rebellion in Oman that raged between 1962 and 1976 attracted foreign mercenaries to help fight the Marxist guerrillas who were threatening the regime of the British-educated Sultan Qaboos bin Said al-Said. This war attracted soldiers with combat experience, who were recruited into battlefield leadership roles to shore up the Sultan's regime and to help prevent the key oil-exporting

Strait of Hormuz The Strait of Hormuz ( ''Tangeh-ye Hormoz'' , ''Maḍīq Hurmuz'') is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world's most strategica ...

from falling under communist control. Attached to the Iranian Brigade as a liaison officer Clark was wounded during a successful bid to save Iranian soldiers caught in a battle during the rebellion. While on

long service leave In Australia, long service leave (LSL) is a period of additional paid leave granted to employees who have completed an extended period of service with an employer. Under Australian legal system, Australian law, most employees are entitled to long ...

from the Army in August–September 1978 he fought unofficially with Rhodesian troops against guerrilla forces.

Decorations and awards

Major Rex Clark received the

General Service Medal (1962) __NOTOC__ The General Service Medal (1962 GSM, originally referred to as the Campaign Service Medal), is a campaign medal of the United Kingdom introduced in 1962 to replace both the General Service Medal (1918), as awarded to the Army and RAF, ...

with clasp South Vietnam, the Vietnam Medal 1964-73 and the South Vietnam Campaign Medal 1964-73 for service in South Vietnam. Some sources claim that he was the most decorated Australian serviceman to serve in South Vietnam. Due to Australian Government policy and military regulations at that time, permission to wear foreign awards for Vietnam service, other than the South Vietnam Campaign Medal 1964-73, were neither approved nor gazetted."Another award for major"
''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', 15 June 1972 He was also controversial for serving as a

in foreign wars while on leave from the Australian Army and where he was awarded a number of foreign awards for bravery."Can wear one medal, not other"
''

Star-News ''StarNews'' is an American, English language daily newspaper for Wilmington, North Carolina, and its surrounding area (known as the Lower Cape Fear (region), Cape Fear). It is North Carolina's oldest newspaper in continuous publication. It was ...

'', 1 June 1972, p.8

Vietnam War

He was awarded the US

Soldiers Medal The Soldier's Medal is an individual decoration of the United States Army. It was introduced as Section 11 of the Air Corps Act, passed by the Congress of the United States on July 2, 1926., Appendix 5, p. 126. The Soldier's Medal is equivalent ...

for saving two wounded South Vietnamese soldiers by crawling through a

minefield A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, wh ...

, and the South Vietnamese Life Saving Medal for rescuing a young girl who was drowning in Da Nang harbour. Major Clark received the following US and South Vietnamese awards for his Vietnam War service: *

(US) *

Bronze Star Medal The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious a ...

for Valour (Four Awards) (US) *

for Service (US) *

Air Medal The Air Medal (AM) is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. It was created in 1942 and is awarded for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. Criteria The Air Medal was establi ...

for Valour (Three Awards) (US) *

for Service. (US) * Joint Services Commendation Medal (US) * Cross of Gallantry with Gold Star (Republic of Vietnam) * Life Saving Medal (Republic of Vietnam) * Armed Forces Honor Medal 1st Class (Republic of Vietnam) * Staff Service Medal (Republic of Vietnam) *

Technical Service Medal The Technical Service Medal () was a military award of South Vietnam established in 1964. The medal was awarded in two classes and was awarded for outstanding initiative and devotion an individuals assigned staff duty. Also known as the ''Republ ...

(Republic of Vietnam) *

Meritorious Unit Commendation The Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC; pronounced ''muck'') is a mid-level unit award of the United States Armed Forces. The U.S. Army awards units the Army MUC for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding achievement or ...

(US). * Cross of Gallantry with Palm Unit Citation (Republic of Vietnam)

Dhofar Rebellion

While on

leave Leave may refer to: * Permission (disambiguation) ** Permitted absence from work *** Leave of absence, a period of time that one is to be away from one's primary job while maintaining the status of employee *** Annual leave, allowance of time awa ...

from the Australian Army in 1975, he joined the

Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces The Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces (, transliterated: ''al-Quwāt ul-Musallaḥatu lis-Sulṭān 'Umān'') or Sultan's Armed Forces (SAF) () are the armed forces of Oman. They constitute the Royal Army of Oman, Royal Navy of Oman, Royal Air For ...

to fight as a

against Marxist insurgents from

South Yemen South Yemen, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, abbreviated to Democratic Yemen, was a country in South Arabia that existed in what is now southeast Yemen from 1967 until Yemeni unification, its unification with the Yemen A ...

during the Dhofar Rebellion. While serving as a mercenary in Oman, Major Rex Clark was awarded the ''Sultan's Gallantry Medal'' (Oman) — Oman's highest military award. Clark infuriated the

Australian Defence Forces The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia and its national interests. It consists of three branches: the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and the Royal Australian Air F ...

by joining the army of pre-revolutionary Iran, an Omani ally, while on leave in 1975. He was awarded the ''Iranian Gold Medal for Valor'' — Iran's highest award and the only foreigner to win the award, for saving Iranian soldiers caught in a battle during the Dhofar Rebellion.

Other awards

In 1972, Major Clark was appointed as a serving brother of The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (Order of Saint John) for services to

St. John Ambulance St John Ambulance is an affiliated movement of charitable organisations in mostly Commonwealth countries which provide first aid education and consumables and emergency medical services. St John organisations are primarily staffed by volunte ...

brigade. In 1974, he was gazetted as an Officer Brother of the Order of St John.

Military history publications

Major Rex Clark contributed to a number of military history publications including ''Sabretache'', The Journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia, and articles in the

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

Militaria collections scandal

Major Rex Clark was an established authority on

and possessed an extensive

collection Collection or Collections may refer to: Computing * Collection (abstract data type), the abstract concept of collections in computer science * Collection (linking), the act of linkage editing in computing * Garbage collection (computing), autom ...

. In 1967 his expertise was cited in a case of counterfeit medals being sold in militaria shops in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. It was claimed that he possessed the world's largest collection of military medals awarded to Australians. In the 1970s Clark was working at the

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial (AWM) is a national war memorial, war museum, museum and archive dedicated to all Australians who died as a result of war, including peacekeeping duties. The AWM is located in Campbell, Australian Capital Territory, C ...

in Canberra as one of the unofficial army historians connected with the museum due to his knowledge of military history and also due to his connections with military museums overseas. Certain militaria from these museums were found to be missing or replaced by copies, and Clarks was believed to be the only person who had accessed them during his visits. During this time, the medals of the Australian war hero Harold Elliott, were discovered to be missing from the Australian War Memorial. These were never recovered. In April 1974, Clark was

arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be question ...

ed by Australian

Commonwealth Police The Commonwealth Police (COMPOL) was the federal law enforcement agency in Australia between 1917 and 1979. A federal police force was first established in 1917, and operated under different names and in some periods as multiple organisations. I ...

in Canberra on a warrant for

extradition In an extradition, one Jurisdiction (area), jurisdiction delivers a person Suspect, accused or Conviction, convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforc ...

to Britain. The extradition warrant said that Clark was accused of "conspiracy to steal, stealing, receiving stolen goods and bribery in the United Kingdom". The charges involved more than A$12,000 in goods. The application for extradition was dismissed in May 1974 due to lack of evidence. Following an investigation in the disappearance of rare military relics and medals from collections and museums around the world, in 1978 Australian Commonwealth Police discovered duplicate military medals in Sydney and also recovered the original tunics of Sir

John Monash General (Australia), General Sir John Monash (; 27 June 1865 – 8 October 1931) was an Australian civil engineer and military commander of the World War I, First World War. He commanded the 13th Brigade (Australia), 13th Infantry Brigade befor ...

and Sir

Thomas Blamey Field marshal (Australia), Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey (24 January 1884 – 27 May 1951) was an Australian general of the First World War, First and Second World Wars. He is the only Australian to attain the rank of field marshal. Bl ...

, stolen from the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Clark was implicated in their theft and was believed to have duplicated medals after borrowing them from collectors. He was suspected of keeping the originals and returning copies to the unsuspecting collectors. Clark was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head at his home in the Canberra suburb of

Page Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to: Roles * Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation * Page (servant), traditionally a young m ...

, while still being under investigation.

References

External links

Biographical cuttings on Major Rex Clark
at the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

List of publications by Rex Clark
at

TROVE Trove is an Australian online library database owned by the National Library of Australia in which it holds partnerships with source providers National and State Libraries Australia, an aggregator and service which includes full text documen ...

List of publications by Rex Clark
at the

Rex Clark, a fighting soldier
text of the Rex Clark's obituary plus a photo of his awards. {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Rex Australian Army officers Australian military personnel of the Vietnam War Recipients of the Air Medal Australian recipients of the Gallantry Cross (Vietnam) People from Canberra 1978 deaths 1935 births Suicides by firearm in Australia Australian anti-communists Australian expatriates in Oman Australian mercenaries Military personnel from New South Wales