Like many war heroes, the man who won this medal never talked about it

Griffith's Private Michael Paice and the war medal he never talked about Sun 28 Jun 2026 at 10:03am In February 1945, Private Michael Paice was in the jungle of Bougainville, in the Solomon Islands archipelago, with his fighting patrol on a mission to engage with the Japanese when they came under sudden fire. While being shot at, Private Paice attempted to retrieve the body of the patrol's first scout, then helped his wounded commander back to safety while also taking down a nearby post of Japanese soldiers. For his bravery, the Griffith soldier was awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal, one of the most distinguished medals bestowed upon British and Commonwealth forces at the time. Second only to the Victoria Cross, it was awarded for distinguished and gallant conduct in the field. But when Private Paice returned to Australia, he never spoke about his time in the war or his medal. His daughter, Moreen Corner, has since conducted hours of research on her father's time in the war. "When we found out that this is probably the only Distinguished Conduct Medal in this area — it was a big deal," she said. "We didn't think much about it because he never made an issue of it in front of us, and as kids back then, you didn't ask questions. "He was a quiet kind of person. If he spoke to Mum, we never heard about it, and she never told us anything after he passed away." Recently, an exhibition featuring his replica medals and his story was unveiled at the Griffith War Museum. Ms Corner said it was emotional to see her father's story being shared all these years later. "I was very proud; that day was very emotional," she said. Griffith War Museum president Michael Borg said when Ms Corner approached him about her father's medals, he was astounded to see the highly ranked military decoration among the collection. "Michael was the only one in Griffith to get one," he said. "A young bloke went to war at the age of 21 and came back a local hero, but no-one ever knew it." Distinguished Conduct Medals came under the British imperial system and were discontinued in 1993. In 1975, Australia started its own honours system. "In our system now, it actually sits sort of at the same level as the Medal for Gallantry — so it's pretty significant," Mr Borg said. "From that conflict that he was in, there was one Military Cross, one Distinguished Conduct Medal, four Military Medals, and 12 Mentioned in Dispatches. "To receive that many awards for those heroisms that were displayed during that conflict is just phenomenal." Not an uncommon tale Australian War Memorial curator Emily Hyles is well versed in interviewing veterans about their war experiences. She said there were some common reasons why many chose to stay quiet. "There's the feeling that families or civilians who haven't been in a war just can't understand what it's like with all the terrible sounds and sights and the trauma, and they find that very hard to explain," Ms Hyles said. "Some of them feel that they were just doing their job and they were selected for a medal, but perhaps their friend wasn't, and they felt that they weren't any more deserving," she said. "Some feel what we now call survivor's guilt; they made it home, but some of their mates didn't." A few months ago, the war memorial unveiled its new Anzac Hall featuring stories of those who served in more recent conflicts. In putting those exhibitions together, Ms Hyles noticed a difference when it came to modern veterans talking about their experiences. "They're really keen to share their experience because their stories haven't been told in the war memorial before," she said. "I think not having the space [previously] to do it justice somehow made those modern veterans feel that their service was less important, which of course isn't the case." Ms Corner said exhibitions helped families come to terms with the stories of their loved ones. "It gives us an understanding or a partial understanding of what he must have gone through to do what he did, because it was either shoot or be shot at."