Retired officer Bill Cox, who has settled in the Lithgow region, was presented his medal by Chief Inspector Glenn Cogdell, at Bathurst Police Station.

The National Police Service Medal recognises the special status that Sworn Police Officers have because of their role protecting the community. It represents a police officer’s past and future commitment to give ethical and diligent service.

Recalling highs and lows of his career, Mr Cox said two events stand out; his work at Granville, and the riots on top of the Mount.

When the then  Const arrived just minutes after the train jumped the tracks crashing through the Bold Street Bridge over 40 years ago, he was greeted by a scene of carnage that fortunately few will ever encounter.

“We (Bill and his senior officer Dennis Preston) were the first uniformed police on the scene.”

When they arrived the saw the butcher and another man desperately trying to stop a car hanging over the side of the bridge, from falling down into the train.

“They were tying rope around the car, I yelled out to them, they said they were okay so we jumped down onto the tracks, and proceeded to do what we could.”

Bill remained at the crash site for hours, before eventually returning to the station later in the afternoon.

While it affected him very badly at the time, he said time has helped heal the wounds, but even four decades on still thinks about the day.

“I was just on the wrong shift, on the wrong day,” he said.

The same could be said for his shift at Mount Panorama on the night of the riot; Bill was stationed at Penrith when he was “lucky enough” to get the shift to be Sergeant in charge of the police compound on the mount.

”I thought this will be good, and it was” he laughed.

”That night I was helping Tactical Response Group police who had been injured on the front line, and getting prisoners into the van and taking them back to Bathurst Police Station to be charged,” he said.