THE family of World War II hero Ted Kenna will drink a beer in his honour after his medals, including a Victoria Cross, were sold at auction to a mystery buyer for more than $1 million.
A bidder, taking her instructions from a mystery caller, paid $1.002m for the collection -- a record for Australian medals.
Kenna's VC medal, earned for single-handedly taking out a Japanese machinegun post, is the first WWII VC to be sold publicly and is one of only 20 awarded during the war.
Kenna's son, Rob Kenna, said the record result was humbling. "I don't know what Dad would say about this . . . because he wasn't driven by money at all and he would never sell it," an emotional Mr Kenna said about his father, who died in 2009, aged 90. "His wish was to share the value of that medal in dollar terms among the four children.
"The first thing I'm going to do is buy a pot for him and drink it."
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