Queen Honors Australian Who Led East Timor Force

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II today bestowed the highest military award in Australia’s honors system on Maj. Gen. Peter Cosgrove, who commanded the Australian-led multinational force in East Timor.

At a ceremony at Government House in Canberra, the capital, Cosgrove was made a Companion in the military division of the Order of Australia.

“His leadership contributed significantly to the success of the multinational mission and provided the people of East Timor with hope and a new beginning,” Australian Prime Minister John Howard said in a statement.

“I feel personally very proud and indeed honored over receiving the award,” Cosgrove said after the ceremony. “But any leadership award is equally shared by everybody in the force.”

Cosgrove left East Timor just more than a month ago, after the International Force for East Timor formally handed control over to United Nations peacekeepers five months after going in to end bloodshed.

The Australian-led force, which grew to 11,000 troops, was sent to East Timor after pro-Indonesian militias reduced the territory--annexed by Indonesia in 1976--to ruins and killed hundreds of East Timorese in the wake of their August vote for independence.

A total of 78 Australian Defense Force members are being honored for their service in East Timor. Four service personnel and the commander of the civilian police contingent in East Timor, Alan Mills, were decorated along with Cosgrove by the queen, who is on a 16-day visit to Australia. The rest will receive their decorations at a later date.