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Temporary Corporal Alexander Henry Buckley

Unit: 54th Battalion, 14th Brigade, 5th Division
Action: 1-2 September 1918, Peronne France
In order to capture Peronne, the 54th Battalion had to cross fields that contained two German trenches. They breached the first but were held up at the second until the actions of two men, Corporal Arthur Charles Hall, 22, on the left and Buckley, 27, on the right, who rushed two different machine-gun posts.

Buckley's citation says: ``With one man he rushed the post, shooting four of the occupants and taking twenty two prisoners. Later on, reaching a moat, it was found that another machine-gun nest commanded the only available footbridge. While this was being engaged from a flank Corporal Buckley endeavoured to cross the bridge and rush the post, but was killed in the attempt.''

Biography: Buckley was born on 22 July 1891 at Warren, NSW, and schooled at home before farming on his father's property near Coonamble. He enlisted in the AIF in February 1916 and joined the 54th Battalion at Flers, France, on 17 November. He fought at Bullecourt, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde and Villers-Bretonneux. He is buried at the Peronne Communal Cemetery Extension, Ste Radegonde.

Sergeant Maurice Vincent Buckley (served as Gerald Sexton)
Unit: 13th Battalion, 4th Brigade, 4th Division
Action: 18 September 1918, near Le Verguier, northwest of Mont St Quentin, France
The 13th Battalion, ordered to attack the village of Le Veguier from the south, faced heavy opposition. Buckley rushed a field gun that held up part of the attack, killing the crew and then ran across open ground and under heavy machine-gun fire to attack a mortar. He then captured 30 Germans in a dug out. He continued to lead the attack, rushing at machine-guns that day and taking nearly 100 prisoners.

Biography: Before he was awarded the highest honour, Maurice Buckley had been declared a deserter. He was born on 13 April 1891 at Hawthorn Victoria and enlisted on 18 December 1914. He was shipped to Egypt with the Light Horse but soon sent back to Australia suffering venereal disease. He was admitted to Langwarrin Camp in September 1915 and deserted from there four months later. He re-enlisted under the alias of Gerald Sexton (Gerald was his brother who was killed six months earlier serving with the AIF and Sexton was his mother's maiden name). After the announcement of the VC but before receiving the medal from King George V at Buckingham Palace, he confessed about his past. He served at the Somme, Bullecourt, Polygon Wood, Ypres, Passchendaele and Villers-Bretonneux. He was awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions at Amiens on 8 August 1918. After the war, he worked building roads around Gippsland.

He, along with 13 other VC recipients, took part in a controversial St Patrick's Day march in Melbourne. He was injured when he tried to jump his horse over railway gates at Boolarra, Victoria and died shortly afterwards on 27 January 1921. He received full military honours and had 10 VC recipients as his pallbearers. He was unmarried when he died and is buried at Brighton Cemetery, Melbourne.