The legacy of Corporal Cameron Baird will live on at Laurimar Primary School, with the Doreen school unveiling a memorial plaque commemorating his service to Australia.
The Gladstone Park resident was leading a special operations task group in Afghanistan in June, 2013, when he was killed at the age of 32.
He became the first Australian commando to be awarded a Victoria Cross – Australia’s highest military honour – and the first posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross for Australia.
Earlier this month, Corporal Baird’s parents, Doug and Kaye, travelled from Queensland to visit the school and the memorial.
Principal Jason McBean said the school was passionate about honouring Corporal Baird’s legacy, having named one of the school’s six houses in his honour.
Mr Baird said the family was honoured to know their son’s legacy was living on through the pupils at Laurimar Primary School.
He spoke to the students about Corporal Baird’s childhood and time in the defence force, urging them to always give 100 per cent and be respectful of others.
“Cameron was a good soldier,” Mr Baird said. “[The memorial] is a great thing for a school like this to do.
“We don’t have to wait for history to tell us what Cameron was like. It is there in black and white.”
