While everyone knows the Victoria Cross, people tend to overlook the Military Cross.
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The MC is the second-highest military decoration, created at the beginning of WWI for officers and Warrant Officers.
Like the VC and other military medals, the MC can be awarded more than once.
The second and subsequent awards are shown by bars on the ribbon, rather than issuing a separate medal.
In total, 101 Victoria Crosses have been awarded to Australians, the latest being to our own Teddy Sheehan.
Of these, Tasmanians gained a remarkable 15.
However, only four MCs with two bars have been awarded to Australians, and of these, only one came to a Tasmanian.
This heroic officer was Leslie Dadson, the son of farmer John Dadson and his wife Emily, nee Flood.
Leslie (Les) was born in 1884 at Sidmouth.
The family moved to Bangor shortly after, where Les attended Bangor State School before becoming a farmer in the district like his father.
In 1905 he joined a local militia unit, serving for nine years and attaining the rank of sergeant.
When war broke out in 1914 he promptly enlisted in the 12th Battalion. His experience and leadership ability brought quick promotion to corporal while they were still training in Egypt.
When his battalion landed at Gallipoli he was promoted to sergeant, and could have been an officer except that "he didn't want to leave his cobbers".
He ended up leading his platoon at Lone Pine anyway and was appointed lieutenant while in hospital in Alexandria afterwards.
His first Military Cross came on the Western Front, when he led a successful charge on multiple machine gun posts in 1917.
Only a week later his extraordinary skill and heroism in the face of a counterattack gained him a bar.
Just before the end of the war, after recovering from wounds, he led a company to capture 15 machine guns and three artillery pieces, gaining a second bar to his Military Cross.
Lt Dadson's MC was presented to him by King George V at Buckingham Palace before he returned to Tasmania.
His second bar was presented at Lilydale by General Sir William Birdwood in 1920.
It was an eventful year for him, becoming a Lilydale Councillor and inaugural president of the newly-formed Lilydale RSL.
He returned to his farm at Bangor and married Margaret Vaughan in 1923.
Tragically, he and Margaret's first child was stillborn, and their second died at just six days.
Their third, a son named Sinclair, survived, but then came another stillbirth.
From 1929 the family lived in Launceston, where Les became a JP and died in 1961.
Sinclair Dadson inherited his father's medals and was lucky to keep them after a break-in and robbery.
Apparently the thieves didn't appreciate their value.
The incident scared him though, and so he sold them.
They fetched $36,000 and fortunately stayed in Tasmania.