Cyril Tiger Doyle

[Kate Bushby]

Hi… I am a nephew  of Cyril Tiger Doyle and only really became aware of his membership of the second second and his acts of bravery in the last couple of years after reading some of the material on your website and also the book “ all the Bulls men” … We are very proud of Cyril who sadly lost his life in the new guinea campaign. I can’t help it feel that this young 5 ‘6” irishmans deeds were quite amazing and yet he does not appear to have ever been recognised beyond standards service awards; particularly noting that it is recorded that he volunteered to ride a pushbike across enemy lines to get iMessage to Callaghan that the airfield had been invaded, he then rode back with messages for the squad coming under fire and being captured for a short period by the Japanese and then subsequently escaping,I am wondering if anybody has any information on why more of the double reds weren’t recognised beyond standard military awards as we are thinking of posthumously applying for recognition.

regards Graham Doyle Perth WA 0409100449

 

[Peter Epps]

Hi Graham

It is a fact of life that many acts of bravery during all conflicts in our history have gone unrewarded.

The military have a quota system of so many awards per so many troops and when that quota is reached, bad luck. Sometimes soldiers can get recognition in an "End of War List" that usually come out after the conflict is finished, but then only if a person was recommended for an award during the conflict but not recognised at the time. I have not seen or heard of there being a list of recommendations for WW2 as there is for WW1.

I am afraid you will get nowhere with your claim if there is not a recommendation for an unrecognised award for Cyril, especially as all the members of the unit are no longer with us.

I am the historian for the 2/2nd and realise Cryil did something very special on that first day on Timor, as did a lot of other members and they all cannot be recognised for their bravery. A very select few of were given awards for Timor.

If you have any questions feel free to call me on 0415 441 325

 

Peter Epps