RSL collectors will be at the gates at Friday night’s big match, while on-field Vietnam Veteran Tich (Paul) Tyson will recite the Ode in the pre-match ceremony as the representative of the RSL (SA Branch).
Tich – the RSL’s State Welfare Officer – is a Vietnam Veteran and served as a regular Army Warrant Officer in Vietnam in 1971 and 1972 in the Field Hospital and Field Ambulance Medic Units. His grandfather Smokey also served in the Army in the First World War, while Tich’s son Darren has also served in East Timor and Iraq. As an added bonus, Tich is a staunch Port Adelaide FC member.
Players from the two teams will again compete for the Peter Badcoe VC Medal, which will be awarded to the player who best exemplifies the ANZAC spirit during the game.
The medal is named after Peter Badcoe VC, the last South Australian to receive the military’s highest honour for bravery, the Victorian Cross. Major Badcoe’s Victoria Cross was awarded for not one, but three actions of bravery in Vietnam which occurred between 23 February and 7 April 1967. They were the rescue of an American medical adviser whilst moving across gun fire swept ground; the leadership of an attack over open terrain to capture a heavily defended enemy position; and the rallying of his men after they were stopped by heavy fire, during which he was killed by machine gun fire.
Past winners of the Badcoe Medal are:
2008 – Kane Cornes
2007 – Chad Cornes
2006 – Brendon Lade
2005 – Warren Tredrea
2004 – Josh Carr
Major Badcoe’s niece Gillian Kelton-Smith will present the Peter Badcoe medal this year.
The Power will also host the Australian Defence Force (ADF All Stars) and Australian Combined Emergency Services (ACES) football teams, which will compete at Adelaide Oval on Saturday in the annual Anzac Day Challenge, as a curtain raiser to the Central District v Glenelg Grand Final re-match.
