A memorial dedicated to special forces commander Sergeant Blaine Diddams was unveiled at Altona RSL Club on Saturday.
Sergeant Diddams, ‘Didds’ to his mates, was awarded the first posthumous Medal for Gallantry in Australian history after being killed in action in 2012.
The 40-year old had been on his seventh combat tour in Afghanistan, although he had also served in Somalia, Solomon Islands and East Timor.
He was leading a group of Australian and Afghan special forces troops on a mission to capture a Taliban commander when an insurgent bullet struck above his body armour.
Many of his “brothers” from the Special Air Service Regiment turned out on Saturday, among them Ross Walker who has since retired.
“Didds was known best as the lovable larrikin in the SAS Regiment, with a big smile, always up for a beer and a laugh, and generally in some level of shit,” he said.
The father-of-two was also a devoted family man, linked to the local area by family and by his time at the Fort Gellibrand Army base in Williamstown.
His sister Sian Diddams said the anniversary of her brother’s death was commemorated by the family each year at the Altona club.
At the memorial painting unveiling on Saturday, Ms Diddams made a dedication to her late brother. “Known for his outwards personality and quirky sense of humour, he was held in the highest regards by his mates, comrades and commanding officers,” she said.
“On July 2, 2012, [he] displayed inspiration, leadership and selfless courage in extremely hazardous circumstances. To support his patrol and ensure mission success, he knowingly exposed himself to draw fire and led an assault on the insurgent positions.”
Sergeant Diddams’ best friend Tom Broadhurst said his death had come as a shock as he seemed to have a strange aura of somebody who was always going to dodge the tragic results of extreme risk-taking.
“When I questioned him about the risks associated with going to war he would always reply, ‘When your time’s up mate, your time is up, taking no risks isn’t much of a life’.”
The painting of Sergeant Diddams by Point Cook artist Henk Eykman is on a memorial wall dedicated to service personnel in current conflicts and hangs alongside a stained-glass window saved from the closed Williamstown RSL Club. Private Timothy Aplin, 38, who died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan in 2010 is also memorialised and soon to take his place on the wall will be Private Gregory Sher, killed by a rocket attack in Afghanistan in 2009.
