Service Record:
Born: 25 October 1940 in Devon, England Service:Army
Corps: Royal Australian Infantry Corps
Operational Service/Deployments
New Guinea 9 September 1969 to 06 November 1969 New Guinea 7 April 1970 to 18 April 1970
New Guinea 3 September 1960 to not recorded Vietnam 11 February 1971 to 10 October 1971
New Guinea 24 October 1972 to 09 November 1974 New Zealand 21 September 1987 to 25 September 1987
Honours and Awards:
Australia:
Member of the Order of Australia
Australian Active Service Medal 1945-75 with Clasp Vietnam Vietnam Medal
Australian Service Medal 1945-75 with Clasp PNG Defence Force Service Medal with First Clasp
Australian Defence Medal
Vietnamese Campaign Medal
Infantry Combat Badge
Returned from Active Service Badge
United Kingdom:
Military Cross – Awarded for action in April 1965 as a Troop Commander in Sarawak with 22 SAS during the Malaya Emergency
Mentioned In Despatches for action in Aden in 1962(?)
Notes of Interest
Extract from an email from Rick Moor to Rick Simpson, et al.
Hi Jan-Dirk, Rachel Letts passed me your contact details and advised me that you planned to write Robin’s obituary for the Green Jackets Association. Could I suggest we work together and prepare such not only for your association but also for the Royal Australian Regiment, 22 SAS and SASR associations. I first met Robin in early 1979 when we both completed a three-month Parachute Jump Instructor Course. We stayed close over the years, and I last worked with him in 1989 in setting up the Australian Army Adventurous Training Centre.
In later years we played golf together every Thursday. As you may know Robin was very modest and rarely talked about his achievements. He was always courteous, polite, charming, and curious and was the quintessential quiet achiever. He was also very adventurous, sought out new experiences and challenges whenever the opportunity presented and maintained a lifelong interest in military operations and international affairs.
I have enclosed a copy of his Australian Army Record of Service, citation for his MC (Ed Note: quality of image not suitable for publication in the RV. A reference to then Captain Letts’ recommendation can be found at https://discovery. nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D7623534
Also a photograph taken when he was the Commanding Officer of the Parachute Training School, a link to a home movie Robin took while serving with 2 SAS Sqn in South Vietnam (https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/F04920 ) and a link to his involvement in the UK Joint Services Free Fall Trials Team in 1966 (https://www.paradata.org.uk/article/ joint-services-freefall-trials-team-jsftt ).

My understanding of Robin’s life and career is as follows:
Names – Robin David.
Born / Died – 25 Oct 1940, Devon, England / 14 Sep 2023, Peth, Western Australia.
Home – Kenya (his parents had a coffee plantation in the Kenyan highlands – check).
High School – Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berkshire, England.
UK Military Service –
Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst – 1957 / 58
1st Bn Green Jackets
22 SAS
Active service in Aden and Borneo, awarded MID Aden (62?), MC Borneo (Apr 65)
Leader of 22 SAS element in the Joint Services Freefall Trials Team 1966.
Leader of UK Army Freefall display team to Australia 1968. I also know that during this period, that in addition to being one of the early sports parachutists in the British Army, he was an enthusiastic alpine skier and visited the Alps on many occasions.
Australian Military Service (from Record of Service}
• 2IC of 2 SAS Squadron Vietnam 11 February 1971 to 10 October 1971,
• Company Commander in the 1st Bn Pacific Islands Regiment (1 PIR),
• Adviser to the Royal Papuan New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC),
• 2IC 1st Bn of the Royal Australian Regiment,
• CO of the Parachute Training School,
• Staff officer in Army Headquarters,
• Instrumental in the raising of the Northwest Mobile Force
(NORFORCE) the first of the predominately indigenous Regional Surveillance Units in the Australian Army, and the Army Adventurous Training Centre.
• Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the Queen’s Birthday honours in 1988 for his service to the Australian Army as the Director of Operation Raleigh Australia.