Major Badcoe VC family DPR/TV/719

The DART target system was one of the training projects that the late Major Badcoe was engaged in, in 1966, prior to his posting to Vietnam. He was responsible for teaching snap shooting to a number of young soldiers, many of whom have since been posted to Vietnam. DART is an electronically operated "pop-up" system of targets, which helps soldiers to engage a rapidly appearing enemy with quick, sustained rifle fire. Many soldiers became expert rifle shots under Major Badcoe's tuition. Major Badcoe's widow, Denise, lives with her three daughters at Wattle Street O'Connor in the Australian Capital Territory. They were informed of the late Major Badcoe's award of the Victoria cross - only the second such decoration to be won by an Australian in Vietnam - in a letter from the Prime Minister, Mr Harold Holt. Mrs Badcoe and Kerry, 10, Kim, 8, and Susan 6 opened the letter in their living room...and found that Major Bacoe had become the 89th Australian to win the highest honour of the British Empire since the inception of the decoration in 1856.