One of the best: VC recipient Trooper Mark Donaldson (L) paid tribute to Corporal Roberts-Smith (R) (AAP Image/Australian Department of Defence)
The 98th recipient of the Victoria Cross has asked Australians to remember those soldiers who have lost their lives in Afghanistan.
Corporal Benjamin Roberts-Smith was today awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia for extreme devotion to duty and conspicuous gallantry in the face of the enemy.
In June last year, the soldier single-handedly took out two Afghan insurgent machine gun positions.
The Prime Minister Julia Gillard attended the ceremony and paid tribute to the corporal.
"You went to Afghanistan a soldier, you came back a hero," she said.
But Corporal Roberts-Smith says the real heroes are those who gave their lives for their country.
"Heroes are Matt Locke, Jason Brown, Sean MacCarthy, Andy Russell these are the guys that put their hands up willingly and you know they didn't come back," he said.
And he says every member of his team contributed to the success of the operation.
"It was certainly an amazing squadron effort. You know we won, we hurt the insurgency," he said.
Corporal Roberts-Smith was awarded the Medal for Gallantry in 2006 and with today's medal, he becomes the most highly decorated member of the Australian defence force.
The last Australian to be awarded the Victoria Cross, Trooper Mark Donaldson, has also paid tribute to Corporal Roberts-Smith.
"He's one of the best and he's a great soldier and just like anyone here at this regiment they pour their heart and soul into it and they live that ethos," he said.
"Not only here at work but they try and live it day by day and it's not such a bad thing to run your life on."
He also praised all the other soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
"He did something fantastic and he's been singled out for it, on a day when probably a lot of guys did fantastic things," he said.
"It's probably very similar to my situation where there was a lot of brave guys doing a lot of extraordinary things, but you're the one that gets singled out for it and you're the one that gets to pass on that message about how good the work is that is getting done."
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