Australian Victoria Cross Winners WW1

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Captain Percy Herbert Cherry

Unit: 26th Battalion, 7th Brigade, 2nd Division
Action: 26 March 1917, Lagnicourt, France
Cherry, 21, was ordered to take his company and capture the village of Lagnicourt, held by about 250 Germans.
The citation says: "After all the officers of his company had become casualties, he carried on with care and determination in the face of fierce opposition and cleared the village of the enemy. He sent frequent reports of progress made and when held up by an enemy strong point, he organised machine-gun and bomb parties and captured the position.

"His leadership, coolness, and bravery set a wonderful example to his men. Having cleared the village, he took charge of the situation and beat off the most resolute and heavy counter-attacks made by the enemy. Wounded about 6.30am, he refused to leave his post and there remained, encouraging all to hold out at all costs, until, about 4.30pm, this very gallant officer was killed by an enemy shell.''

Biography: Although born in Drysdale, Victoria on 4 June 1895, Cherry moved to Tasmania aged seven and fitted in like a local.
His family ran an apple orchard at Cradoc, and young Cherry soon became an expert apple packer, winning the apple case-making championship at the Launceston fruit show.
But there was more than the red fruit of the Apple Isle in his life -- Cherry also sang in the church choir, played cornet in a local band and served in the cadet corps.

He enlisted in the AIF in March 1915, having been commissioned early in the 93rd Infantry Regiment, and served with the 26th Battalion in Gallipoli, where he was wounded shortly before the Diggers were evacuated.

Transferred to the 7th Machine-gun Company, Cherry narrowly missed being killed by a German officer who was mortally wounded in an exchange between the two men, taking a packet of letters from the dying enemy soldier which he promised to post.

He is buried in the Queant Road Cemetery, Buissy, France, having never married.

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Private Thomas Cooke

Unit: 8th Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Division
Action: 24-25 July 1916, Pozieres, France
The 1st Australian Division, with the support of the 8th, took and held Pozieres despite counter-attacks and fierce bombing. It was during this action, that Cooke, 35, was ordered to take his Lewis gun and defend a dangerous part of the line.

The citation says: "Here he did fine work, but came under very heavy fire, with the result that he was the only man left. He still stuck to his post and continued to fire his gun. When assistance was sent he was found dead beside his gun. He set a splendid example of determination and devotion to duty.''

Biography: There are some who claim Cooke's VC as one belonging to New Zealand although he was serving with the Australian army at the time.
He was born on 5 July 1881 in Kaikoura, New Zealand and became a carpenter after leaving school.
He migrated with his wife and three children to Australia and moved to Richmond, Victoria, where he worked as a builder until he enlisted in February 1915.

He joined the 8th Battalion at the Suez Canal Zone on 24 February and was shipped to France a month later. His name is commemorated on the memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.
He was survived by his wife and three children.

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Private William Matthew Currey

Unit: 53rd Battalion, 14th Brigade, 5th Division
Action: 1 September 1918, near Peronne, France

The 22-year-old Currey was in a battalion that was suffering heavy losses, pinned down by fire from a 77mm field gun. The citation says: ``Private Currey, without hesitation, rushed forward under intense machine-gun fire and succeeded in capturing the gun single handed after killing the entire crew. Later, when the advance of the left flank was checked by an enemy strong point, Private Currey crept around the flank and engaged the post with a Lewis gun.'' At 3am the next day, he volunteered to stand up in no-man's landing and call out to a company that had become isolated, and was gassed in doing so.

Biography: Currey almost never made it to war. He twice attempted to enlist without his parent's permission, giving a false age, and was rejected. When he did get his parent's permission, the army rejected him on medical grounds and he had to undergo surgery for varicoceles -- swollen veins in the testicles -- before he was admitted to the service on 9 October, 1916. His unit sailed out of Sydney in November 1916. After the war, he worked as a NSW railways storeman and became active in the Labor Party, successfully standing for the seat of Kogarah in 1941. He was twice re-elected, and lobbied in parliament on behalf of ex-servicemen.

He served with the militia in the early 1930s and served at a German internment camp in World War II. He collapsed in Parliament House on 27 April 1948 and died three days later aged 52 of coronary vascular disease. He was survived by his wife and two daughters. His ashes are interred at Woronora Cemetery and he is commemorated with a plaque at the Garden of Remembrance, Rookwood Cemetery.

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Private Henry "Harry'' Dalziel

Unit: 15th Battalion, 4th Brigade, 4th Division
Action: 4 July 1918, Hamel Wood, France
Dalziel, a 25-year-old Queenslander, was presented with the second of two VCs awarded at the battle of Hamel. The citation says: ``His company met with determined resistance from a strong point which was strongly garrisoned, manned by numerous machine-guns, and undamaged by our artillery fire, was also protected by strong wire entanglements. A heavy concentration of machine-gun fire caused many casualties, and held up our advance.

"His Lewis gun having come into action and silenced enemy guns in one direction, an enemy gun opened fire from another direction. Private Dalziel dashed at it, and with his revolver killed and captured the entire crew and gun, and allowed our advance to continue.

"He was severely wounded in the hand, but carried on and took part in the capture of the final objective. He twice went over open ground under heavy enemy artillery and machine-gun fire to secure ammunition, though suffering from considerable loss of blood. He filled magazines and served his gun until severely wounded through the head.''
Biography: Before the war, Dalziel was a fireman with Queensland Railways on the Cairns-Atherton route.

After the war, he travelled the Queensland coast by train, receiving a hero's welcome at every station from Townsville to Atherton. Born in Irvinebank on 18 February 1893, Dalziel joined the AIF in January 1915 and shipped out from Brisbane about a week before the Anzacs landed at Gallipoli.

He joined the 15th Battalion at Gallipoli in July, and served in France and Belgium, being wounded at Polygon Wood in October 1917. He resumed duty just a month before his VC action, in which his skull was smashed by a sniper's bullet and his brain exposed in an injury so severe doctors expected him not to last an hour.

After treatment in Britain, he was shipped home to Australia in January 1919, having received 32 bullet wounds during the war.

He married in 1920 and took up a soldier settlement block, but left his wife to run the farm while he worked in a Sydney factory and then mined for gold at Bathurst.

He became a published songwriter and artist. He died on July 24, 1965 at Repatriation General Hospital, Greenslopes, and was cremated with military honours.

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Temporary Lieutenant William Thomas Dartnell

Unit: 25th (Service) Battalion (Frontiersmen), the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)
Action: 3 September 1915, near Maktau, British East Africa (now Kenya)
Dartnell, 30, was part of the British, Indian and African forces stationed in East Africa and was wounded in the leg when his mounted infantry patrol was ambushed.
The citation says: ``It was found impossible to get the more severely wounded away. Lieutenant Dartnell, who was himself being carried away wounded in the leg, seeing the situation, and knowing that the enemy's black troops murdered the wounded, insisted on being left behind in the hope of being able to save the lives of the other wounded men. He gave his own life in the gallant attempt to save others.''

Biography: Dartnell was only 15 when he first experienced the perils of war.
He was born in Collingwood, Melbourne, on 6 April 1885 and enlisted in the Victorian Mounted Rifles where he served in the Boer War for a year.
He returned to Melbourne and married, and worked as an actor. He returned to South Africa about 1912 and was in East London, working for the Standard Printing Company, in 1914 when the war began.

He convened a meeting of Australians living in East London when the war broke out, and as chair of the meeting cabled the British War Office a list of names, with his at the top, of Australians offering their services.

He went to England and joined the Royal Fusiliers using his professional name Wilbur Taylor Dartnell and was soon sent back to Africa.

On June 22, Dartnell led a group of men who raided the German fort at Bukoba and was mentioned in dispatches. He is buried in Kenya, and was survived by his wife and daughter.

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Corporal Phillip Davey

Unit: 10th Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Division
Action: 28 June 1918, Merris, France
In a daylight attack on Merris, Davey's platoon commander was killed and the men were forced to take cover in a ditch directly in front of a German machine-gun.
The citation says: ``Alone Corporal Davey (aged 23) moved forward in the face of a fierce point blank fire, and attacked the gun with hand grenades, putting half the crew out of action. Having used all available grenades, he returned to the original jumping off trench, secured a further supply and again attacked the gun, the crew of which had in the meantime been reinforced.

"He killed the crew, eight in all, and captured the gun. This very gallant non-commissioned officer then mounted the gun in the new post and used it in repelling a determined counter attack, during which he was severely wounded. By his determination, Corporal Davey saved the platoon from annihilation, and made it possible to consolidate and hold a position of vital importance to the success of the whole operation.''

Biography: Three days before Australian troops landed at Gallipoli, young private Davey was sentenced to 14 days detention for failing to follow an order.
Born in Unley, South Australia, on 10 October 1896, he was a horse driver who enlisted in the AIF in December 1914. He contracted enteric fever on Gallipoli and was sent home but rejoined the 10th Battalion in France in September 1916.
He was accidentally wounded when a bomb went off in his hand in March 1917, but was later cleared by a military inquiry, and was gassed on 3 October. Six months before the VC action, he was awarded a Military Medal for rescuing a badly wounded mate from no-man's land.
His two brothers were also awarded Military Medals in the war.

The wounds he received at Merris were severe enough for him to be invalided to England and sent home where he was discharged. He worked for the telegraph branch of the South Australian Railways and married in 1928, having one daughter.
Probably linked to his 1917 gassing, he suffered emphysema and bronchitis for several years and died in hospital on 21 December 1953. He was buried with full military honours at the West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide.
'Without hesitation, he at once sprang out, threw a bomb which landed beside the post, and rushed the position, bayoneting one of the crew and capturing the gun'

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Corporal William Dunstan

Unit: 7th Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Division
Action: 9 August 1915, Lone Pine trenches, Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey
When Lieutenant Symons left Goldenstedt's Post to recapture Jacob's Trench, Captain Frederick Harold Tubb, 33, was put in charge of the post, and ordered to defend it with a group of men including two corporals from the 7th Battalion, Alexander Burton, 22, and William Dunstan, 20.
This is the only occasion when three Australians, fighting side-by-side, all were awarded the Victoria Cross. Burton, who died in the action, was the first Australian soldier to receive the award posthumously.
Australia's official war historian C.E.W. Bean describes the action: ``Tubb had at that position 10 men, eight of whom were on the parapet, while two corporals, Webb and Wright, were told to remain on the floor of the trench in order to catch and throw back the enemy's bombs, or else to smother their explosion by throwing over them Turkish overcoats which were lying about the trenches.
``A few of the enemy, shouting `Allah!', had in the first rush scrambled into the Australian trench, but had been shot or bayoneted.''
``Tubb and his men now fired at them over the parapet, shooting all who came up Goldenstendt's Trench or who attempted to creep over the open ...
``But one by one the men who were catching bombs were mutilated. Wright clutched at one which burst in his face and killed him. Webb, an orphan from Essendon, continued to catch them, but presently both his hands were blown away and, after walking out of the Pine, he died at Brown's Dip.
``At one moment several bombs burst simultaneously in Tubb's recess. Four men in it were killed or wounded; a fifth was blown down and his rifle shattered. Tubb, bleeding from bomb wounds in arm and scalp, continued to fight, supported in the end only by a Ballarat recruit, Corporal Dunstan, and a personal friend of his own, Corporal Burton of Euroa.
``At this stage there occurred at the barricade a violent explosion, which threw back the defenders and tumbled down the sandbags ... Dunstan and Burton were helping to rebuild the barrier when a bomb went off between them, killing Burton and temporarily blinding his comrade. Tubb obtained further men from the next post, Tubb's Corner; but the enemy's attack weakened ...''
Biography: The man who was awarded the highest honour for his valour and created something of a media dynasty, worked as a clerk in a drapery store before the war.
Dunstan was born at Ballarat, Victoria on 8 March, 1895, joined the cadets and then transferred to the part-time Citizen Military Forces.
He enlisted in the AIF in June 1915 and was promoted to corporal three days before the attack. He recovered the sight he lost temporarily in the VC action but was shipped home medically unfit and was demobilised in 1916, although he continued to serve in the militia.
He married in 1918 and fathered two sons. He joined the Herald and Weekly Times as an accountant and by his retirement in 1953, he was general manager.
He was joint manager of the Australian Newsprint Pool during World War II and the chairman of the Australian Newspapers Proprietors' Association. His two sons, William and Keith both served in World War II, while Keith became a well-known newspaper journalist.

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Sergeant John James Dwyer

Unit: 4th Machine-gun Company, 4th Brigade, 4th Division
Action: 26 September 1917, Zonnebeke, Belgium

Dwyer, 27, who was in charge of a Vickers machine-gun, went forward with the first wave of the 4th Division in the battle of Polygon Wood.
The citation says: ``(He) rushed his gun forward in advance of the captured position in order to obtain a commanding spot. Whilst advancing, he noticed an enemy machine-gun firing on the troops on our right flank, and causing casualties.

``Unhesitatingly, he rushed his gun forward to within (27m) of the enemy gun, and fired point blank at it, putting it out of action, and killing the gun crew. He then seized the gun and, totally ignoring the snipers from the rear of the enemy position carried it back across the shell swept ground to our front line, and established both it and his Vickers gun on the right flank of our brigade.
``Sergeant Dwyer commanded these guns with great coolness, and, when the enemy counter- attacked our positions, he rendered great assistance in repulsing them. On the following day, when the position was heavily shelled, this non-commissioned officer took up successive positions.

``On one occasion, his Vickers gun was blown up by shell fire, but he conducted his gun team back to headquarters through the enemy barrage, secured one of the reserve guns, and rushed it back to our position in the shortest possible time.''

Biography: Dwyer is among the handful of Australian VC recipients who went on to represent his state at the highest political level.
Born in Port Cygnet, Tasmania, on 9 March 1890, he was a labourer in Queenstown before he enlisted on 4 February 1915. He joined the 5th Battalion at Gallipoli but transferred to the 4th Machine-gun Company when he went to France. He was promoted several times, wounded at the battle of Messines and had reached the rank of lieutenant by May 1918.
After the war he married, had six children and got involved in local politics in Bruny before moving to New Norfolk where he set up his own sawmill.

He was elected to the Tasmanian Parliament as a member of the ALP for the seat of Franklin in 1931, and retained the seat until he died in 1962, holding at times the position of speaker, agriculture portfolio and deputy premier. He died on 17 January 1962.

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Lieutenant Alfred Edward Gaby

Unit: 28th Battalion, 7th Brigade, 2nd Division
Action: 8th August 1918, East of Villers-Bretonneux, France

Gaby, 26, was taking part in an assault to the east of Villers-Bretonneux when the Australians encountered strong resistance protecting a gap in the wire.
The citation says: ``Lieutenant Gaby found another gap in the wire, and, single handed, approached the strong point while machine-guns and rifles were still being fired from it.

"Running along the parapet, still alone, and at point blank range, he emptied his revolver into the garrison, drove the crews from their guns, and compelled the surrender of 50 of the enemy with four machine-guns. He then quickly reorganised his men, and led them on to his final objective, which he captured and consolidated.'' He was killed by sniper fire three days later as he walked along the Australian line encouraging his troops in an attack against heavy German forces.

Biography: Gaby was born into a family of Tasmanian farmers with a strong belief in serving their country in battle.
Born on 25 January 1892 at Springfield, Tasmania, he served for three years in the militia while working on his father's farm, following the lead of at least three of his six brothers who served in the Boer War.

He was rejected twice before finally being accepted into the AIF in January 1916. Because of his military service, he was rapidly promoted and had reached the rank of Lieutenant by September 1917.
He was gassed a month later and rejoined his battalion the following May. He is buried in Heath Cemetery, Harbonnieres.

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Lance-Corporal Bernard Sidney Gordon

Unit: 41st Battalion, 11th Brigade, 3rd Division
Action: 27 August 1918, Fargny Wood, east of Bray, France

The men of the 41st Battalion, including the 27-year-old Gordon, launched a dawn attack and then spent the day wedged between the River Somme and the German forces. The citation says: ``Single handed, he attacked an enemy machine-gun which was enfilading the company on his right, killed the man on the gun, and capturing the post, which contained one officer and 10 men. He then cleared up a trench, capturing 29 prisoners and two machine-guns. In clearing up further trenches he captured 22 prisoners, including one officer, and three machine-guns.

Practically unaided, he captured, in the course of these operations, two officers and 61 other ranks, together with six machine-guns, and displayed throughout a wonderful example of fearless initiative.''

Biography: Gordon's military record shows he was a great soldier although never far from trouble. He was born on 16 August 1891 in Launceston, Tasmania and worked as a cooper's machinist before enlisting in the AIF in September 1915. He was wounded in Belgium in October 1917. A few weeks before his VC action he single-handedly attacked a machine-gun crew and stalked and killed a sniper. His actions on that day earned him a Military Medal. Four days after the VC action, he was wounded at Mont St Quentin.

But his military record reveals another side to his character. In 1916, he managed to be absent without leave for two days while still on the ship from Australia to England. Before he was sent to France, he spent 47 days in hospital as a result of his actions while on leave. During three months of 1917, he was four times found guilty of being absent without leave and fined about two months pay. He was also found guilty of urinating on the parade ground, a feat which cost him a further three days pay. After the war, he worked as a grocer at Clayfield in Brisbane before moving to a dairy farm near Beaudesert. He had married in Launceston in 1915 while on leave and remarried in Brisbane in 1938 after his first wife died. He served with the Queensland 31st Battalion in World War II. He died in Torquay, Queensland, on 19 October 1963.