Talk:Tom Starcevich

Date of Victoria Cross action
The article for Starcevich originally listed the date of the VC action as 25 May 1945. This incorrect information seems to have come from The Register of the Victoria Cross. The date has now been amended to 28 June 1945. --Anthony Staunton 00:54, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

Last VC of WW2?
I've read that his was the last VC awarded during World War II. Is this true? Jasper33 (talk) 07:01, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Starcevich was the second last Australian awarded the Victoria Cross in World War 2. Frank Partridge, 8th Australian Battalion, on Bougainville on 24 July, was the last Australian and the last army recipient of the war. There were three later awards, all naval, two to the Royal Navy with the last awarded being a posthumous award to Robert Gray, Royal Canadian Navy, a naval aviator, on 9 August 1945. Anthony Staunton (talk) 23:21, 13 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks - good to know. Jasper33 (talk) 11:05, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: page not moved: no concensus after 20 days. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 12:29, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Leslie Starcevich → Tom Starcevich — per WP:COMMONNAME. The name used by Starcevich was "Tom", see here, here and here.--Mattinbgn (talk) 09:51, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Support move SatuSuro 10:41, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Agree Five Years 13:49, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Support Orderinchaos 14:35, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Sorry, folks, I can't yet agree. The cited policy requires "the name which is most frequently used to refer to the subject in English-language reliable sources. This includes usage in the sources used as references for the article". What about here, here, here, here--(one of your own refs) which spells the name out as "Leslie Thomas (Tom) Starcevich"; here, here (VC official), here and here? And what's wrong with "Leslie Thomas ('Tom') Starcevich" as the name which satisfies all viewpoints, including official?  Cheers, Bjenks (talk) 14:53, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Comment The lead sentence in the article would be written Leslie Thomas "Tom" Starcevich whatever the title of the article. But what does "Leslie Thomas ('Tom') Starcevich" mean if it does not mean that the fellow was called Tom? Using the full name for the article title would be like having Edward Gough Whitlam and John Malcolm Fraser as article titles. -- Mattinbgn (talk) 21:20, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Oppose. I agree with many of the points raised by Bjenks. I am a bit of a Victoria Cross nut, particularly in regards to Australia and Australian recipients, and in all of the books I have that mention him, Starcevich is mentioned as either "Leslie Starcevich" or "Leslie Thomas Starcevich". There may be mentions that he was refered to as "Tom", but the fact of the matter is that he is more widely known in print media today and thus the public as "Leslie" rather than "Tom". Furthermore, in all official documents and memorials he is refered to as "Leslie", and I do not think the common name can adequately be claimed to be "Tom" in this case. Cheers, Abraham, B.S. (talk) 01:34, 23 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Comment His portrait at the AWM is titled Private Tom Starcevich, VC. The road named after him in his home town is Tom Starcevich VC Road. -- Mattinbgn (talk) 03:05, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Yeah, but you can't argue minor Australian local authorities against official and almost unvaried worldwide usage. The V.C. is, of course, a British decoration. I'm not arguing just that it's on his birth certificate (like Fraser and Whitlam, etc)--just that almost every authority gives the name as Leslie. And let's not extend the 'nickname' argument to the latest WA recipient, (Ben Roberts-Smith) who is reportedly known to his comrades as "RS". :) Bjenks (talk) 05:28, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Tom was not a nickname but his used name, like Malcolm for John Malcolm Fraser and Gough for Edward Gough Whitlam. It was not uncommon at the time to use your middle name as your used name. My grandfather was born "Joseph Francis" but was universally known as Frank. There is no evidence that anyone actually ever call Starcevich "Leslie" when he was alive and plenty that points to him being called "Tom". The AWM is a pretty authoritative (certainly not minor!) source on these matters and as linked above, they call him "Tom" As I said earlier "Tom" is not a nickname but nicknames are not out of the question in any case&mdash;see H. Jones. -- Mattinbgn (talk) 09:27, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Ben Roberts-Smith is called "Benjamin Roberts-Smith" on his citation and no doubt on official lists etc. that is how his name will be written but it seems clear he is known as "Ben" by everyone. The same applies here. -- Mattinbgn (talk) 09:37, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Umm, no offence, but only one of the 13 online records of Starcevich held by the Australian War Memorial refer to him as "Tom", and that single source of the Australian War Memorial's that you point out was credted by an artist in 1945, not the Memorial itself, so is not at all indicative of the Memorial's position. Cheers, Abraham, B.S. (talk) 10:38, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Oppose He may have been called Tom by his friends and family, but he is referred to as Leslie Thomas Starcevich and Leslie Starcevich in reliable written sources. Noel S McFerran (talk) 05:45, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
 * The AWM is as definitive an authority as you will find for an Australian VC and its official portrait bears the name Tom Starcevich as linked above. -- Mattinbgn (talk) 09:27, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
 * As stated above, the portrait of Starcevich was created by an artist in 1945, not the Memorial, and is the only record held on Starcevich that refers to him as "Tom" ... Cheers, Abraham, B.S. (talk) 10:38, 23 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Support (weak). The references saying "Leslie Thomas Starcevich" are referring to his full name as per his birth certificate and are red herrings in this debate.  A Google test between Tom and and Leslie yields 511 vs 327 and so I'm inclined towards Tom. His Common name is Tom Starcevich and that is how the article should be named.  –Moondyne 07:43, 25 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Comment. Er, I made my own test on Google (actually counting the results) and got "Tom Starcevich VC"--13 results; "Leslie Thomas Starcevich VC"--21 results. Some of the 'Tom' results give the name as Leslie Thomas. If the search is done without "VC", many results could be expected to be irrelevant, though Toms are surely more numerous than Leslies in the world at large. Cheers, Bjenks (talk) 14:58, 26 January 2011 (UTC)
 * On 30 January 2011, the Perth Sunday Times published an illustrated coverage of "WA's 18 VC heroes". The entry for Pte Leslie Thomas Starcevich does not mention the familiar name 'Tom'. The ST's information is sourced to "the Australian War Memorial and several sources, but the primary source is Anthony Staunton's Victoria Cross: Australia's Finest and the Battles they Fought, which has extensive profiles on each Australian who was awarded a VC and the entry in the gazette for each award." Cheers, Bjenks (talk) 02:54, 30 January 2011 (UTC)
 * The same article was in the Herald Sun and used the term "Leslie Thomas Stacevich". This is a formal, full name as is usual for lists of this kind and Moondyne's response to that above still applies. The same article used the name "Rayene Stewart Simpson" instead of the simple "Ray Simpson" we use here. Further, the one name that I haven't seen used widely is "Leslie Stacevich". The sources that you cite as support for retaining this article at its current name nearly all use the formal "Leslie Thomas Starcevich". If a move to his used name of Tom does not happen, then a move to Leslie Thomas Starcevich would be more appropriate than the current name. -- Mattinbgn (talk) 03:27, 30 January 2011 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

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