Full name: Stephen Geoffrey BLOOMFIELD
Service number: 16767
Category of service: Australian Regular Army
Date of enlistment: 05 April 1962
Date of discharge: 04 April 1968
Employment: Rifleman
Rank on discharge: Corporal

Postings:
Northern Command Personnel Depot 05 April 1962
1 Recruit Training Battalion 12 April 1962
Infantry Centre 18 July 1962
3 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment 22 November 1962
2 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment 01 May 1963
1 Special Air Service Company Royal Australian Regiment 21 September 1963
1 Special Air Service Squadron 10 February 1965
Special Air Service Regiment 24 August 1965
1 Special Air Service Squadron/Special Air Service Regiment 02 March 1967

Operational Service/Deployment:
The Philippines 24 May 1964 to 16 June 1964
Brunei/Sabah 17 February 1965 to 07 August 1965
Lae 19 October 1966 to 04 December 1966
Vietnam 02 March 1967 to 06 February 1968

Honours and Awards:
Commendation for Gallantry https://www.gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-07/31_aug_gallantry_and_conspicuous_awards.pdf
Australian Active Service Medal 1945-75 with Clasps ‘MALAYSIA’ and ‘VIETNAM’
General Service Medal 1962 with Clasp ‘BORNEO’
Vietnam Medal
Australian Defence Medal
Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Pingat Jasa Malaysia
Returned from Active Service Badge

Commendation for Gallantry
Mr (then Corporal) Stephen Geoffrey BLOOMFIELD, QLD
For acts of gallantry in action as a Special Air
Service Regiment medical assistant left alone for
three days in enemy territory to tend to a
severely wounded fellow soldier who had been
gored by an elephant in Kalimantan during the
Indonesian-Malaysian Confrontation in June
1965.

https://defence-honours-tribunal.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Delgado.pdf

COMMENDATION FOR GALLANTRY
16767 LANCE CORPORAL S. BLOOMFIELD
1ST SPECIAL AIR SERVICE SQUADRON

For acts of gallantry in action as a Special Air Service Regiment medical assistant
left alone for three days in enemy territory to tend to a severely wounded fellow
soldier who had been gored in the abdomen by an elephant in Kalimantan during
the Indonesian-Malaysian Confrontation in June 1965.
Lance Corporal Stephen Bloomfield was deployed with 1st Special Air Service
Squadron in Borneo as part of the Commonwealth Military Forces during
Confrontation between Indonesia and Malaysia in 1965. He was the medical assistant
in a four-man Special Air Service patrol conducting reconnaissance operations along
the border between Borneo and Indonesia. The patrol followed the border for a week
before crossing into the Indonesian territory of Northern Kalimantan where they
followed a river for a further two days.

On the afternoon of 2 June 1965 as they were crossing a ridgeline, the patrol was
attacked by a wild elephant. Lance Corporal Paul Denehey, who was the patrol
signaller, was gored in the abdomen by the charging elephant and thrown into the air
despite the elephant being fired at by the patrol. Lance Corporal Bloomfield, who had
received only rudimentary medical training for five days on arrival in Borneo,
immediately began applying basic medical aid with the limited resources available to
him. The patrol attempted to communicate with their headquarters to seek assistance
but the radio which was being carried by Lance Corporal Denehey during the attack
had been damaged and they were unsure if their transmissions were being heard.
The patrol remained where they were for the rest of the night and at first light
attempted to move towards the border. They had not moved very far when they
realised the severity of Lance Corporal Denehey’s injuries and the difficulties of the
terrain meant that their progress transporting him via a rudimentary stretcher would be
limited. The Patrol Commander decided that he and his Second-in-Command would
return across the border to get help. They left Lance Corporal Bloomfield to care for
the severely injured Lance Corporal Denehey and briefed him that if rescue parties
had not arrived within three days he was to take matters into ‘his own hands’.

With the two other members of the patrol striking out through dense jungle over
precipitous terrain to seek help which would in all likelihood take days to return,
Lance Corporal Bloomfield was left alone with his grievously wounded comrade.
They were in hostile territory with the possibility that the enemy may know of their
presence as a result of the earlier gunfire. There was also the threat that other wild
elephants and potentially the one which had been fired upon would return.
With no signal training, a damaged radio and a lack of understanding of Morse Code,
Lance Corporal Bloomfield tried to make communication but with no success.
Unbeknown to him, at least one transmission had been received and a rescue attempt
was being commenced.

By the next day, Lance Corporal Denehey’s condition had deteriorated rapidly and he
was crying out in agony, potentially attracting the enemy. Lance Corporal Bloomfield
did his best to keep Lance Corporal Denehey calm and to care for him although the
seriousness of his injuries was well beyond Lance Corporal Bloomfield’s basic
competence as a medical assistant. By the third day they had run out of rations and
Lance Corporal Bloomfield had expended all of his medical supplies including drugs
and bandages. It was clear to him that Lance Corporal Denehey’s condition had
worsened and he believed that unless help arrived he would die. Having had no
indication that the rescue party would return and thinking that the other two patrol
members had either been apprehended or become lost, Lance Corporal Bloomfield
made the heart wrenching decision to leave the casualty and attempt to get assistance
on his own. He made Lance Corporal Denehey as comfortable as possible and
bravely struck out alone through enemy territory to seek help.
Lance Corporal Bloomfield succeeded in crossing the border and was guiding a patrol
of Gurkhas back to the casualty two days later when word was received that another
rescue patrol had located Denehey who was deceased. Several weeks later Lance
Corporal Bloomfield led a patrol back to the incident site to recover equipment he had
cached including the damaged radio and code books.

Lance Corporal Bloomfield’s actions in tending to and protecting a seriously wounded
fellow soldier, alone in the jungle, in enemy territory for almost three days at the end
of a protracted and debilitating patrol were gallant and worthy of recognition. He
demonstrated fearlessness, tenacity, courage and extreme devotion to duty in the face
of high risk and extreme threat. His courage and gallantry set the standard for future
Special Air Service troopers and were in the finest traditions of the Australian Army
and the Australian Defence Force.

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R2706120
https://nominal-rolls.dva.gov.au/veteran?id=1225537&c=VIETNAM

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R2699803