Tom Starcevich Leslie Thomas " Tom " Starcevich VC ( 5 September 1918 – 17 November 1989 ) , was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest decoration for gallantry " in the face of the enemy " that can be awarded to members of Commonwealth armed forces . He received the award as member of the Australian Army ' s 9th Division , during the Borneo campaign of World War II . Early life . Tom Starcevich was the son of immigrants to Western Australia : Gertrude May Starcevich née Waters ( born c . 1897 , in Dunkirk , Kent , England ) and Joseph Starcevich ( born c . 1892 , in Lič , Croatia - Slavonia , Austro - Hungarian Empire ) . The couple were married in 1915 at Mt Magnet . Tom was born on 5 September 1918 at Subiaco . Starcevich and his older brother , Joseph Frederick ( Joe ) Starcevich ( 1915 – 2007 ) grew up on a farm at Grass Patch , north of Esperance , Western Australia . Tom was one of ten children . Military service . Following the outbreak of war , both Starcevich brothers enlisted in the Second AIF : Joe on 23 October 1940 , after which he was assigned to the 2 / 4th Machine Gun Battalion , and ; Tom on 9 April 1941 ( service number WX11519 ) , becoming a member of the 2 / 43rd Infantry Battalion . Joe Starcevich became a prisoner of war following the surrender of Singapore on 15 February 1942 . He endured harsh conditions in captivity including forced labour at Japanese prisoner of war ( POW ) camps at Changi Prison , the Burma - Thailand Railway and Nagasaki Japan but survived the war . Tom Starcevich served with the 2 / 43rd Battalion in the North African campaign and was wounded in the thigh on 17 July 1942 at Ruin Ridge , Egypt during the First Battle of El Alamein . He also saw action the following year in the Huon Peninsula during the New Guinea campaign . The 9th Division landed in Brunei Bay on 10 June 1945 with the 2 / 43rd Battalion landing at Labuan Island . Nine days later the battalion moved to the mainland and on 28 June , during the capture of Beaufort , North Borneo , the lead section of Starcevich ' s company came under fire from two Japanese machine - gun positions and suffered casualties . Starcevich , a Bren gun ner , moved forward and assaulted each position in turn , killing five Japanese soldiers and causing the remainder of the machine guns ' crews to retreat . Later that day , when the company was again held up by two machine gun positions , Starcevich adopted similar tactics and single - handedly captured both positions , killing seven members of their crews . Starcevich was presented with the ribbon of the Victoria Cross by Brigadier Victor Windeyer , during a unit parade at Papar in North Borneo on 12 November 1945 . He was presented with the actual medal at Government House , Perth on 27 May 1947 by Sir James Mitchell , Lt Governor of Western Australia . He held the rank of Private throughout his Army service and was discharged on 12 February 1946 , as part of the prolonged demobilisation process that followed the end of hostilities . Starcevich reportedly wanted to re - enlist in the Australian Army during the Korean War , but his wife talked him out of it . Post - war life . Tom Starcevich spent the first four years after the war as a motor vehicle sales representative in Perth . He married Kathleen Betty Warr , née Hardy , at the Perth registry office on 19 December 1947 . The couple , who had three children , were divorced in 1969 . From 1951 , Tom and Joe Starcevich obtained and jointly worked a 4 , 300 soldier settlement wheat and sheep farm at Carnamah . In 1981 , Tom Starcevich moved back to Grass Patch , where he had bought a small farm . He died at Esperance , on 17 November 1989 . Memorials . The track in Borneo on which Starcevich ' s celebrated action occurred was later renamed Victoria Cross Road . He is also commemorated by streets named " Starcevich Starcevich ' s VC is on display at the Army Museum of Western Australia , in Fremantle , Western Australia . A bronze statue of Starcevich was unveiled at Grass Patch in 1995 . The Leslie Starcevich Ward at the former Repatriation General Hospital , Hollywood is named in his honour .