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Private Thomas James Bede Kenny

Unit: 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Division
Action: 9 April 1917, Hermies, France

Kenny, 20, was with a platoon ordered to skirt around the village of Hermies, dig in, and engage the enemy. By the time the platoon reached its designated point, it had suffered heavy casualties and immediately found itself in fierce fighting with Germans fleeing other Australian units which had entered the village.

The platoon was then pinned down by a machine-gunner.

The citation says: ``Private Kenny, under very heavy fire at close range, dashed alone towards the enemy's position and killed one man in advance of the strong point who endeavoured to bar his way. He then bombed the position, captured the gun crew, all of whom he had wounded, killed an officer who showed fight, and seized the gun.''

Biography: Kenny's reputation as an extraordinarily good bomber could be linked to his other reputation, that of a talented rugby player.

Born on 29 September, 1896, at Paddington, New South Wales, he was training to be a chemist when he enlisted in the AIF on 23 August 1915. Soon after the VC action, he was sent to Britain suffering trench foot and did not rejoin his unit until April 1918.

He was wounded two months later and in August sent home, with nine other VC recipients, to help recruit new troops.

After the war he worked as a travelling salesman, first in northern New South Wales and later in Sydney for Penfold Wines. He married in 1927, on the day he turned 31, and the couple had three children, although two died of rheumatic fever.
Kenny died on 15 April 1953 and is buried at Botany Cemetery, Matraville.