Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

"Lance Corporal Marks was a member of the Sydney-based 4th Battalion (Commando), of the Royal Australian Regiment.

He was born in the far western NSW town of Broken Hill and was raised in the central Queensland town of Yeppoon near Rockhampton.

"He was very assured, highly respected ... highly enthusiastic and also very, very fit. He was a great inspiration to his mates," Air Marshal Houston said."... READ MORE LINK (www.smh.com.au)

On 27 April 2008, Lance Corporal Jason Paul Marks, service number 8240607, was killed in action during a deliberate assault on a Taliban position roughly twenty-five kilometres southeast of the Australian base at Tarin Kowt, in Uruzgan Province. Jason was part of a lead platoon of the Special Operations Task Group. The platoon was engaged with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. Four other Australian soldiers were wounded in the same contact. Despite aero-medical evacuation to a coalition military hospital, Jason could not be saved. He was twenty-seven years old.

That is how he died. This is who he was.

Jason was born in Broken Hill in far-western New South Wales in 1981 and raised in Yeppoon, a coastal town north of Rockhampton in central Queensland. His wife Cassandra said later that he had known what he wanted from the age of twelve. All he ever wanted to do was join the Army. He never changed his mind. He enlisted in the Australian Regular Army on 2 March 1999.

His first posting was to the 4th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, in Townsville. He served as a Gunner and deployed to East Timor twice during that posting, on Operation Warden in 2000 and Operation Citadel in 2003. He was promoted to Lance Bombardier.

In April 2003 he transferred to the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps and retrained as a Medical Assistant. In 2005 he volunteered for Special Forces Entry and Commando Selection, one of the most demanding courses in the Australian Defence Force. He passed. He earned the Sherwood Green Beret and was posted to the 4th Battalion (Commando), Royal Australian Regiment, in Sydney. 4RAR (Cdo).

The career path tells you something about the man. Gunner to medic to peacekeeper to commando is not a sideways shuffle. Each move was a different kind of soldiering, and he chose every one of them.

As a commando, Jason deployed to Afghanistan in 2006 with the Special Operations Task Group. His unit's actions on that deployment were recognised with the Unit Citation for Gallantry. He returned to Timor-Leste in 2007 as a peacekeeper for the third time. He went back to Afghanistan in 2008 for what would be his final tour.

Outside the Army, Jason played rugby union and rugby league, climbed rock faces, and became a combat fitness leader. Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston described him after his death as "very assured, highly respected, highly enthusiastic and also very, very fit." Houston called him a great inspiration to his mates. Cassandra put it plainly. "Jason always strived to be the best he could be. He loved the Army, he loved his mates and he loved his family."

Jason was honoured at a memorial service at 4RAR (Cdo) barracks in Sydney. Friends, family, and fellow commandos spoke of his steadfastness, his determination, and his humour. He was buried with full military honours at a private service in Yeppoon, the town where he grew up. He rests at Yeppoon Cemetery, Section Lawn, Row D, Grave 72.

Jason is survived by his wife Cassandra and their two children, Connor and Ella. His name is carried on the 4RAR (Cdo) memorial rock, Panel 1 of the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, the Yeppoon War Memorial, and the Afghanistan Avenue of Honour at Yungaburra in Queensland. He is also commemorated at the Australian Commando Memorial, the Cawarral Cockscomb Veterans Memorial, and memorial sites at Capella, Geraldton, Pinnaroo, Sale, and Two Wells.

He was a kid from Broken Hill who grew up on the Queensland coast, who decided at twelve what he wanted to be, who earned a Sherwood Green Beret and kept the peace three times before he fought a war, and who became four kinds of soldier before he was killed doing the hardest of the four.

Rod Hutchings

Director, Virtual War Memorial Australia