Leonard Murray Opie was an Australian Army soldier whose military career spanned 30 years.
He enlisted as a Private at Woodside in South Australia for WW2 service  on the 6 January 1942. His serial number being SX27984.

He was allotted to 2nd/14th Australian Infantry Battalion, seeing service in  New Guinea - Huon Peninsula, Markham and Ramu Valley, Finisterre Ranges Campaigns. Later in the war landing at Balikpapan, Borneo.

After WW2, as a Warrant Officer Class 2 he saw service in the Korean War with 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR).

He was the first Australian Soldier during the Korean War to be awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for the gallantry in the field - he near single-handedly captured an enemy position.

At the early stages of the Australian Vietnam War he saw service as a Captain, with the elite Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV). 

He was acknowledged as an excellent hand-to-hand combatant.
Later in the Vietnam War he transferred to the CIA's black ops program, code name Phoenix, where he was appointed in charge of training.

In 1968, he undertook United Nation duties with UNMOGIP - United Nations Military Observer Group during the India / Pakistan conflict.

This is a detailed biography of this fine soldier's life.

Len Opie died of natural causes, in Adelaide South Australia on the 22 September 2008, aged 84 years.