Courage Under Fire

On 24 August 2010, in battle in Afghanistan, Corporal Daniel Keighran risked his life in a hail of gunfire to save his teammates. His decisive action and courage that day saw him awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia, making him the 99th Australian to receive our highest award for bravery.

Yet Daniel was far from a likely candidate for the VC.

His father turned up in his life for the first time when he was eleven, with a gunshot wound. He moved Daniel, his sister and mother 400 kilometres away from their home and grandparents to outback Queensland. From then on, Daniel struggled to keep some order in his life in the midst of domestic chaos that included family violence and criminals dropping by to tend to his father’s dope crops.

In Courage Under Fire, Daniel tells the true story of his life: a journey from the rough and tumble of a difficult childhood to finding purpose and a sense of family by joining the army, inspired by the example of his much-loved grandfather, a WWII veteran, his various tours of duty and the events that led to the Victoria Cross; and the personal cost of his military service.

Courage Under Fire is a story of hope - if Daniel could make it from a hut with dirt floors in the middle of outback Queensland to be the recipient of our highest military award, then anything is possible.