Australian general
Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Joseph Daly, KBE, CB, DSO (19 March 1913 – 5 January 2004) was a senior Australian Army officer, whose career culminated with his appointment as Chief of the General Staff (1966–1971).[1]
Early life
Born in Ballarat, Victoria, on 19 March 1913, Daly originally planned to become a doctor; however, having failed to gain entry into the university course of his choice, he entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1930.[2]
Service history
Daly graduated as top cadet and in 1934 and was commissioned into the 4th Light Horse Regiment.[2] He went on to serve with the British Army on India's North-West Frontier in 1938.[2]
Second World War
Daly was appointed adjutant of the 2/10th Battalion on being seconded to the Second Australian Imperial Force in 1939.[2] He served in North Africa as Brigade Major of the 18th Brigade, fighting at Tobruk and in the Western Desert.[2]
Daly attended staff school in Haifa.[2] He was then appointed senior staff officer to the Militia's 5th Division which saw service in New Guinea.[2] By 1945, Daly was in command of the 2/10th Battalion, leading it in the invasion of Balikpapan in Borneo; he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order,[3] and appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.[4]
Senior command
After the war, Daly's military service continued with staff appointments and a period as an instructor at the Staff College, Camberley. He married Heather Fitzgerald in 1946 and in 1948 went to England to attend the Joint Services Staff College (UK). A posting to Duntroon followed and in June 1952 Daly took command of the 28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade – a formation comprising two British and two Australian battalions – then fighting in Korea. Daly was the first Australian to hold this command, and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire,[5] and awarded the Legion of Merit from the United States of America for his command of the unit during the Korean War.[6]
Daly was promoted to major general in 1959, and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1965.[7] Promoted to lieutenant general in 1966, he was appointed Chief of the General Staff and knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire the following year.[8]
