Branch of Service

Air Force

Conflict

Vietnam (1962-1975)

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

22/05/1943

Place of Birth

Burwood NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Mawson ACT

Service Number

A220871

Final Rank

Corporal

Final Unit

No.9 Squadron

British Empire Medal for Gallantry (Date of Commonwealth of Australia Gazette
16 December 1971, page 7595, position 13)

Stephens was part of a medevac team shot down in the Long Hai Hills in South Vietnam on 17 April 1971. As the helicopter hovered above the ground it was hit by Viet Cong fire and crashed. Two soldiers were killed as they tried to escape the crash. After it crashed an Army medic on the copter, Lance Corporal John Gillespie, was pinned beneath the aircraft. Stephens attempted to rescue Gillespie but had to leave him as the aircraft burned and ammunition exploded. For his actions Stephens was awarded the British Empire Medal for Gallantry - the only Australian to receive the honour in the Vietnam War.

He was discharged in December 1972, served four years in the Commonwealth Police in Canberra, ran a furniture business and rejoined the RAAF in 1985 as a refueller and truck driver. He left the air force in 1993 and trained with the Salvation Army.

Stephens became a representative of the Red Shield Defence Services, serving in a number of posts before being appointed to the Corps of Staff Cadets at the Royal Military College of Australia, Duntroon in January 1998. In January 2002 he was appointed as the Chief Commissioner (CCOM) of the Red Shield Defence Services (RSDS), Army HQ Canberra. The RSDS undertook works in East Timor, Somalia, the Solomon Islands, Vietnam and Cambodia under Stephens' administration. He retired from the position in January 2007.

Lance Corporal Gillespie was one of four Australians reported to be missing in action after the war - Robert Stephens was the last Australian to see him alive. His body was finally recovered in 2007 and buried in Victoria.

Nominal Roll of Vietnam Veterans http://www.vietnamroll.gov.au
The Canberra Times - 20 April 1971, 8 December 1971
Melbourne Herald Sun - 22 December 2007
Jon Belmonte, 'Retirement of Chief Commissioner Robert (Bob) Stephens BEM', www.mcf-australia.unitingchurch.org.au
AWM Honours and Awards www.awm.gov.au/honours