[spidge]

Private John (Patrick) Hamilton

Unit: 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Division
Action: 9 August 1915, Lone Pine trenches, Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey

In the early hours, the Turks launched a fierce attack on the whole front. In the north, this was aimed at the junction between the 3rd and 4th Battalions.
The Turks bombed the Australians at Sasse's Sap and the Diggers counter attacked. The Turkish troops then hit back, and broke over the barricade towards 3rd Battalion headquarters.

Battalion adjutant Captain Owen Howell-Price told six men to get onto the trench parapet. Under heavy fire, Hamilton, 19, held his position in the open, with just a few sandbags for cover and instructed those in the trench where to throw their bombs while he kept up constant fire with his rifle.

The citation says: "His coolness and daring example had an immediate effect. The defence was encouraged and the enemy driven off with heavy loss."

Biography: Hamilton died in Sydney on 27 February 1961, the last survivor of the seven Lone Pine VC recipients.
He was born at Penshurst, Sydney, on 24 January 1896 and worked as a butcher before joining the AIF.
He took part in the initial Gallipoli landing but was evacuated with influenza in March before returning to duty in June. He served in France and England and returned to Australia after the war where he was discharged as Lieutenant in 1919.

He lived in Tempe, Sydney, and worked as a wharf labourer for 30 years, being an active union and Labor Party member.
He returned to active duty in World War II, serving in New Guinea and Bougainville. He was survived by his widow and a son.
'Capt Shout charged down trenches strongly occupied by the enemy, and personally threw four bombs among them, killing eight and routing the remainder'