The Australian Defence Force (ADF) and New South Wales Police have honoured the life of the late soldier and police sergeant Tom Charles Morris in a memorial on the NSW-Victoria border.
He died in 1955, but his story was recently rediscovered by an ADF member who was sent to work on the border closure operation in the town of Corowa.
Mr Morris fought in the Boer War as part of the NSW Lancers regiment before becoming a police sergeant in Holbrook as well as Corowa.
First NSW-Vic border closure
The regiment's current commander Lieutenant Colonel Andrew White said there was an "amazing parallel" between the current border closure and the operation undertaken during the Spanish Flu pandemic.
"He would have likely been involved in the Spanish Flu and dealing with a border control point nearly 100 years ago," Lieutenant Colonel White said.
"He represents the very best of both the ADF and the police having service in both.
"One of our historians of the Lancers made mention when he heard we'd been on a checkpoint at Corowa, that there was a former Lancer down here and whether I could find out a little bit about it.
"So, I did start to discover a bit about him, and the rest of the story has unfolded from there."
The ADF has just been withdrawn after nearly three months working with NSW Police on checkpoints along the state's southern border.
The Southern Region Commander for the NSW Police, Assistant Commissioner Joe Cassar, said his team had matched up the dates of the border closure with Morris's service.
"In all likelihood, he was working in that operational deployment along the borders up around this area, trying to keep our community safe from the Spanish Flu," he said.
Victoria Cross nomination
Lieutenant Colonel White said Morris was also probably the first Australian nominated for a Victoria Cross — the highest military honour in the Commonwealth prior to Australia instituting its own system in the 1990s.
"As far as our historians believe, he is the first [Australian] to be nominated for the Victoria Cross," Lieutenant Colonel White said.
"Unfortunately, he wasn't awarded it."
Morris was nominated in January 1900 after riding into heavy fire to save a fellow soldier whose horse had been shot in a confrontation during the Boer War.
He was sent back to Australia just months later after catching typhoid.
Lieutenant Colonel White said the memorial was an opportunity to remember Morris's sacrifice and the continuing interaction and collaboration between the ADF and NSW Police.
"To be here side by side with our colleagues from the police I think is really important," he said.
"We have so many amazing servicemen and servicewomen that lay their lives on the line all the time.
"To take the opportunity to reflect and remember one member who has a strong connection to both our organisations is very powerful for us."
