Kingsbury was the first Australian soldier to be awarded the Victoria Cross for actions in the South Pacific and also the first on Australian territory. Kingsbury's section remains the most highly decorated section in the British Empire, its members having received a Victoria Cross, one Distinguished Conduct Medal and four Military Medals by war's end; the platoon also suffered the highest proportional losses in the Kokoda Campaign. Kingsbury's platoon sergeant, Sergeant Robert Thompson, later commented that when he was recommending Kingsbury for the Victoria Cross, he was asked several times would he "please write it up a bit more with a bit more action and such" and