Alan Stretton Major General Alan Bishop Stretton , ( 30 September 192226 October 2012 ) was a senior Australian Army officer . Stretton was born in 1922 in Melbourne . He came to public prominence through his work in charge of cleanup efforts at Darwin in the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Day 1974 . As head of the National Disasters Organisation he managed the evacuation of 35 , 000 people in six days , including loading a jumbo jet with 769 passengers , then a record for the most people aloft in the one aircraft . Early years . Stretton was educated at Caulfield Grammar School and Scotch College , Melbourne . After graduating from the Royal Military College , Duntroon , he began his military career serving with the 2 / 9th Battalion during the Second World War . Military career . Stretton served in the army from 1940 to 1978 . In World War II he served as a platoon commander in the 2 / 9 Battalion . In 1946 and 1947 he played 16 games of Australian rules football in the Victorian Football League with St Kilda , after arriving at the club from Duntroon . In the Korean War he served in the 1st Battalion from 1954 to 1955 . He was awarded the MBE ( Military ) on 13 December 1955 . In Malaya he served as the commanding officer of the Australian battalion ( 1961 – 63 ) . On 12 June 1965 he was awarded the OBE ( Military ) . He served three tours during the Vietnam War , in 1962 , 1966 and 1967 . He was Director of administrative planning at headquarters ( 1966 – 69 ) , and from 1969 to 1970 he was chief of staff of the Australian forces . On 8 January 1971 was awarded the CBE ( Military ) for his Vietnam service . In 1970 the South Vietnamese government awarded him its DSO and in 1973 the US awarded him the Bronze Star . During his time in Malaya and Vietnam , without attending a lecture , he studied by correspondence from the jungle and graduated LLB from Queensland University in 1966 . He was admitted as a barrister in the New South Wales and High Courts in 1969 . He became a brigadier in 1971 and from 1972 to 1974 was deputy director ( military ) of the Joint Intelligence Organisation and member of the National Intelligence Committee . Cyclone Tracey and post - military . He was jointly named the 1975 Australian of the Year , with Sir John Cornforth . He wrote " The Furious Days : The Relief of Darwin " ( 1976 ) and " Soldier in the Storm " ( 1978 ) , retiring from public life in 1978 . He practised law in Canberra until aged in his 70s . In 1999 , in only his second visit to the city of Darwin since Cyclone Tracy , he presented his insignia as an Officer in the Order of Australia , and his award as Australian of the Year , to the people of Darwin . In 2003 he publicly criticised the Australian Government ' s policy of involvement with the 2003 Invasion of Iraq , in an open letter in which he stated : " The alleged connection between Saddam Hussein and al - Qa ' ida is ludicrous . " He died on 26 October 2012 at Batemans Bay Hospital in New South Wales , aged 90 . List of honours . Although in 1970 the South Vietnamese government awarded him its DSO , and in 1973 the US awarded him the Bronze Star , for some reason these do not appear in the 1987 portrait . References .