VG result for VC

Docklands resident Rob Kenna was wearing a big grin last month when he sold his father’s Victoria Cross for more than $1 million.

Rob and his family made headlines following the auction on July 28 which saw Ted Kenna’s World War II medals go under the hammer for $1,002.000 plus a buyers premium of $167,328 – an Australian record.

Before his death two years ago, Rob says his dad instructed the family to realise the value of the medals.  Rob is one of four so the proceeds will be shared equally between the estates of the siblings.

Rob told Docklands News that the auction raised mixed emotions on the day.  During the highly-charged media event, he recalled how his father would have shunned the limelight.

Ted Kenna won his VC during an attack on a Japanese machine gun position near Wewak in New Guinea in 1945.

Standing in a hail of bullets, he fired his Bren gun until he emptied it of ammunition and then grabbed a rifle and killed the Japanese gunner with the first round.  He was seriously wounded attempting the same drill three weeks later.