Rex Clark

Rex Clark  (14 September 1935 — 19 October 1978) was an officer of the Australian Army and a military historian. He was the most decorated Australian serviceman to serve in Vietnam, by the number of decorations and awards received. He gained some notoriety due to his serving as a mercenary in foreign wars while on leave from the Australian Army, and consequently being awarded a number of awards for bravery. He ended his own life while being investigated in relation to the disappearance of militaria from museums and private collections.

Military service
Major Rex Clark served as a member of the Australian Army Training Team in the South Vietnam in 1963–1964. He was assigned to the Army staff in London for two years in 1968 and returned to Vietnam as project officer in the Australian Army Assistance Group Vietnam in 1972.

While on leave from the Australian Army in 1975, he joined the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces to fight as a mercenary against Marxist insurgents from South Yemen during the Dhofar Rebellion. He was wounded during a successful bid to save Iranian soldiers caught in a battle during the rebellion.

While on long service leave from the Army he fought unofficially with Rhodesian troops against guerrilla forces.

Decorations and awards
Major Rex Clark was the most decorated Australian serviceman to serve in South Vietnam, by the number of decorations and awards received. He was also controversial for being awarded a number of foreign awards for bravery — while serving as a mercenary in foreign wars and while being on leave from the Australian Army. Due to Australian Government policy and military regulations at that time, he was not allowed to wear these foreign decorations.

Vietnamese War service
He was awarded the US Soldiers Medal for saving two wounded South Vietnamese soldiers by crawling through a minefield, and the South Vietnamese Life Saving Medal for rescuing a young girl who was drowning in Da Nang harbour.

Major Clark received the following Foreign Decorations and Awards during his Vietnam War service:


 * Soldiers Medal (US)
 * Bronze Star Medal for Valour (Four Awards) (US)
 * Bronze Star Medal for Service (US)
 * Air Medal for Valour (Three Awards) (US)
 * Air Medal for Service. (US)
 * Joint Services Commendation Medal (US)
 * Cross of Gallantry with Gold Star (Republic of Vietnam)
 * Life Saving Medal (Republic of Vietnam)
 * Armed Forces Honor Medal 1st Class (Republic of Vietnam)
 * Staff Service Medal (Republic of Vietnam)
 * Technical Service Medal (Republic of Vietnam)
 * Meritorious Unit Commendation (US).
 * Cross of Gallantry with Palm Unit Citation (Republic of Vietnam)

This feat was completed during Clark's 469 days of active service while in the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

Oman
Major Rex Clark was awarded the Sultan's Gallantry Medal (Oman) — Oman's highest military award, and the Iranian Gold Medal for Valor — Iran's highest award and the only foreigner to win the award, for saving Iranian soldiers caught in a battle, while serving as a mercenary during the Dhofar Rebellion.

Other awards
In 1972 Major Clark received an Imperial award from The Most Venerable Order of Saint John (OStJ) for services to St. John Ambulance brigade.

Military history publications
Major Rex Clark was respected as a military historian. He contributed to a number of military history publications including Sabretache, The Journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia, and articles in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Militaria collections scandal
Major Rex Clark was an established authority on militaria and possessed an extensive collection. In 1967 his expertise was cited in a case of counterfeit medals being sold in militaria shops in Sydney. It was claimed that he possessed the world's largest collection of military medals awarded to Australians.

In April 1974 Clark was arrested by Australian Commonwealth Police in Canberra on a warrant for extradition to Britain. The extradition warrant said that Clark was accused of "conspiracy to steal, stealing, receiving stolen goods and bribery in the United Kingdom". The charges involved more than A$12,000 in goods.

Following an investigation in the disappearance of rare military relics and medals from collections and museums around the world, in 1978 Australian Commonwealth Police discovered duplicated military medals in Sydney and also recovered the original tunics of Sir John Monash and Sir Thomas Blamey, stolen from the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Clark was implicated in their theft and was believed to have duplicated medals after borrowing them from collectors. He was suspected of keeping the originals and returning realistic-looking copies to the unsuspecting collectors.

Clark was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head at his home in the Canberra suburb of Page, while still being under investigation.