Linden Cameron

Who was Linden Cameron?

Linden Arthur Cameron MC & Bar was an Australian army officer and farmer.

Cameron was born at Warracknabeal to farmer Arthur Cameron and Victoria May Cameron, née Marshman. He attended Brim East State and Warracknabeal High schools before entering the public service as a taxation clerk on 7 March 1938. He studied from 1938 to 1939 at the University of Melbourne.

Cameron joined the militia forces in December 1937. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 3 November 1939, being posted to the 2/5th Battalion. He was sent to the Middle East in April 1940 and trained in Cairo until his commission as a lieutenant on 30 March 1941. He was put in command of anti-aircraft defences on the transport ship City of London, which evacuated his battalion from Greece, in April, and then served as a platoon commander in Syria in June and July. Cameron's battalion left the Middle East in March 1942, returning to Australia in August before being sent to Papua in October.

In January 1943 the 2/5th was transported to Wau, New Guinea, and Cameron's platoon captured a ridge from the Japanese during the advance to Crystal Creek, earning Cameron the Military Cross. He was promoted captain in March.