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SURREAL:
LEUT Arno Tielens receives the Queen’s Gold Medal for Trainee
Officer of the Year 2004 from Queen Elizabeth II.
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Photo:
Royal Photographer
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By
LEUT Rachel Irving
A Western Australian naval officer was presented a medal for excellence
from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in a ceremony held onboard
HMS Invincible recently.
LEUT Arno Tielens, 28, a junior Warfare Officer from HMAS Anzac,
was presented the Queen’s Gold Medal for outstanding Royal Australian
Navy trainee officer of the year for 2004.
LEUT Tielens received the award for his performance during the
Junior Warfare Application Course, which saw him serve in HMA
Ships Townsville and Bendigo before joining HMAS Anzac in August
2004.
Selected from hundreds of officers undergoing training during
the year, LEUT Tielens, dux of his course, was announced as the
medal recipient earlier this year by then Chief of Navy, Vice
Admiral Chris Ritchie.
The medal was presented to LEUT Tielens in a ceremony held onboard
the British warship following the Queen’s Royal Fleet Review in
Portsmouth last week. LEUT Tielens and the Commanding Officer
of Anzac, Captain Richard Menhinick boarded Invincible soon after
the Review ended.
“We were shown out onto their Quarterdeck and introduced to the
Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip,” LEUT Tielens said. After enjoying
drinks with the Duke, LEUT Tielens, CAPT Menhinick and VADM Ritchie
were presented to the Queen in a private suite onboard the aircraft
carrier. “It was an honour and a privilege to meet the Queen.
She presented the medal and congratulated me in what I can only
describe as a very surreal experience,” LEUT Tielens said. “The
medal itself is a good reward for a year of hard work, time and
effort and it is great to see it has paid off.
“The experience of meeting the Queen and receiving the medal has
certainly topped off a great deployment.”
CAPT Menhinick added, “The medal was inaugurated in 1916 and this
is the first occasion that it has been presented by the reigning
monarch.
“A truly momentous occasion.” After the presentation, the Duke
of York and the Royal Navy’s First Sealord, Admiral West, hosted
dinner onboard Invincible before LEUT Tielens and CAPT Menhinick
transferred back to Anzac.
The WA-based frigate left home in March and has travelled more
than 15,000 nautical miles so far, taking in visits to India,
Egypt, Malta, Turkey, Europe and the UK, as well as participating
in Anzac Day 90th Anniversary Commemorations at Gallipoli this
year.
The ship will return to her homeport of HMAS Stirling in August.
