Australian Victoria Cross Winners WW1

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Captain Robert Cuthbert Grieve

Unit: 37th Battalion, 10th Brigade, 3rd Division
Action: 7 June 1917, Messines, Belgium

Grieve, 27, commanded the men of A Company, who were hit by fire from a pillbox as they were going through a gap in the wire.
Half the men and all the officers except Grieve were injured. Grieve called for help from a mortar and machine-gun unit, but they had been wounded as well.

The citations says: ``He then, single handed, under continuous fire from these two machine-guns, succeeded in bombing and killing the two crews, re-organised the remnants of his company, and gained his original objective. Captain Grieve, by his utter disregard of danger, and his coolness in mastering a very difficult position, set a splendid example, and when he finally fell wounded the position had been secured and the few remaining enemy were in full flight.''

Biography: Because no superior officers survived the action described above, Grieve's recommendation for a VC was unusual in that it was issued by the men he led.
Grieve, born in Brighton, Melbourne, on 19 June 1889, was educated at Wesley College where he was a keen cricketer and footballer before becoming a travelling salesman.
He enlisted on 9 June 1915, and with nine months service in the Victorian Rangers he was commissioned second lieutenant in January 1916. The wound from a sniper he received in the VC action caused him to be hospitalised in Britain for six months.
He rejoined his unit but was soon back in Britain suffering double pneumonia and trench nephritis. He returned to Australia in May 1918 and within three months married the Australian Army nurse who had cared for him.

He set up his own business which he ran until he died, collapsed at work with a heart attack, on 4 October 1957.

He is buried at the Springvale Cemetery; his wife predeceased him and they had no children. He donated his VC to his old school Wesley College, where it was one of the artefacts to survive a fire which destroyed the school's war memorial library.

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Corporal Arthur Charles Hall

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, Hall, 22, on the left and Temporary Corporal Alexander Henry Buckley, 27, on the right, who rushed two different machine-gun posts.

Hall's citation says: ``Single handed he rushed the position, shot four of the occupants, and captured nine others, and two machine-guns. Then crossing the objective with a small party, he afforded excellent covering support to the remainder of the company. Continuously in advance of the main party, he located enemy posts of resistance and personally led parties to the assault.''

Biography: Hall was raised near Byrock, a small NSW town that Henry Lawson labelled ``a dismal place'' which nevertheless offered 23 volunteers to the AIF, four of whom were awarded some of the highest awards for bravery. Born on 11 August 1896, he was working on his father's property before enlisting in the AIF on 3 April 1916. He arrived in France in February 1917 and was wounded -- shrapnel in the right buttock -- the following month.

He was discharged in August 1919 and returned to the land until World War II, in which he served as a lieutenant in the 5th Garrison Battalion. He married in 1927 and when he died at Nyngan on 25 February 1978, he was survived by his widow and four children. He is buried at St Matthew's Anglican Church at West Bogan, near a small wooden church built from timber cut on his property.

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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'

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Lieutenant George Mawby Ingram

Unit: 24th Battalion, 6th Brigade, 2nd Division
Action: 5 October 1918, Montbrehain, east of Peronne, France

Ingram, 29, became the last member of the AIF to be awarded a VC. With his company commander wounded, Ingram led the attack against a quarry that held more than 100 Germans armed with 40 machine-guns. The citation says: ``Lieutenant Ingram, without hesitation, dashed out and rushed the post at the head of his men, capturing nine machine-guns and killing 42 enemy after stubborn resistance.

Later, when the company had suffered severe casualties from enemy posts, and many leaders had fallen, he at once took control of the situation, rallied his men under intense fire, and led them forward. He himself rushed the first post, shot six of the enemy, and captured a machine-gun, thus overcoming serious resistance. On two subsequent occasions he again displayed great dash and resource in the capture of enemy posts, inflicting many casualties and taking 62 prisoners. Throughout the whole day he showed the most inspiring example of courage and leadership, and freely exposed himself regardless of danger.''

Biography: Ingram was a carpenter who, on four occasions, joined the military. Born in Bendigo on 18 March 1889, he signed up with the militia aged 14. After his apprenticeship, he moved to Caulfield, set up a business and married in 1910, although that marriage was dissolved 16 years later without children. He enlisted on 10 December 1914 with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force and served in New Guinea. He was discharged from that on 19 January 1916 and signed up for the AIF on the same day.

He was awarded the Military Medal for his courage and initiative in the attack near Bapaume. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in June 1918 and promoted to lieutenant in October. After the war, he worked with a building contacting firm and became, in 1935, one of the permanent guards at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne. He re-enlisted in World War II and was promoted to captain in the Royal Australian Engineers. He remarried in 1927 but his wife died in 1951. He married a third time later that year. He died at his home at Hastings, Victoria, on 30 June 1961 and was survived by his widow, their son and a son from his second marriage. He is buried at the Methodist section of Frankston Cemetery, Victoria.

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Private Reginald Roy Inwood

Unit: 10th Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Division
Action: 20-21 September 1917, Polygon Wood, east of Ypres, Belgium
Inwood, 27, single-handedly attacked an enemy strong post.

The citation says: ``(He) captured it, together with nine prisoners, killing several of the enemy. During the evening he volunteered for a special all night patrol, which went out (550m) in front of our line, and there -- by his coolness and sound judgment -- obtained and sent back very valuable information as to the enemy's movements.

"In the early morning of the 21st September, Private Inwood located a machine-gun which was causing several casualties. He went out alone and bombed the gun and team, killing all but one, whom he brought in as a prisoner with the gun.''

Biography: Inwood was one of three brothers from the Broken Hill family of miners who served with the AIF -- Robert was killed at Pozieres in 1916 while Harold was wounded and shipped home in 1917.
Inwood was born on 14 July 1890 and enlisted on 24 August 1914. He was appointed lance-corporal while serving at Gallipoli but was demoted to private the following year for being absent without leave.
After the VC action, he was promoted again and had reached the rank of sergeant by the time he left the battalion on 30 May 1918. He returned to a heroes welcome in Broken Hill, moved to Adelaide and was married within six months and divorced three years later.
In 1927 he married again, and then as a widower with no children, married a third time in 1942.
He worked as an attendant at the Adelaide City Council until he retired in 1955. He died on 23 October 1971 and is buried in the West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide.

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Lance-Corporal Albert Jacka

Unit: 14th Battalion, 4th Australian Brigade, New Zealand and Australian Division
Action: 19-20 May 1915, Courtney's Post, Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey
At 3am on 19 May, the Turkish forces attacked the Anzacs. The Australian forces repelled the Turks, except at Courtney's Post where the ground favoured the Turks.
About 4am, the Turkish soldiers entered part of Courtney's trenches, forcing the Anzacs to withdraw. The Turkish soldiers were blocked to the south by soldiers of the 14 Battalion, and to the north by Lance-Corporal Albert Jacka, 22.
Lieutenant Keith Crabbe asked Jacka if he could retake the trench. The attempt he made failed, and resulted in two of the three men who joined Jacka being injured in the counter-attack. A second attempt was made, with Crabbe creating a diversion while Jacka worked his way around the Turks' flank.

Jacka entered the trench, shot five men and bayoneted two others. Jacka's first words to Crabbe were ``I managed to get the beggars, Sir''.
Biography: Jacka, who was awarded the first Australian Victoria Cross of the war, is regarded as one of our greatest soldiers. The official historian C.E.W. Bean wrote: ``Everyone who knows the facts, knows that Jacka earned the Victoria Cross three times''.
Jacka was born at Winchelsea, Victoria on 10 January 1893. He worked on his father's farm after school before finding a job with the Victorian State Forests Department. He enlisted at the outbreak of the war and landed at Gallipoli on 26 April 1915.

After receiving the VC, his likeness was used on recruiting posters. After being commissioned at Pozieres, in August 1916, Jacka was awarded the Military Cross for what Bean called ``the most dramatic and effective act of individual audacity in the history of the AIF''.
Finding himself caught 250m behind enemy lines, he attacked a group of German soldiers escorting 40 Australian prisoners. He was wounded three times in the action in which most of the Australian soldiers were freed and the Germans captured.

He was awarded a bar to his Military Cross for his actions at Bullecourt on 8 April 1917 in which Jacka carried out a dangerous night reconnaissance of the enemy's position, breaking through the wire in two places before reporting back.
He went out again to lay tapes in preparation for the 4th Division's attack of the Hindenburg line, and captured two Germans.

A few months later, at Messines, he led his company in capturing a field gun. In Polygon Wood, Jacka was praised for his role in rallying the troops. In May 1918 he was badly gassed and evacuated to England. A member of his Battalion wrote: ``He deserved the Victoria Cross as thoroughly at Pozieres, Bullecourt and at Ypres as at Gallipoli . . . The whole AIF came to look on him as a rock of strength that never failed. We of the 14th Battalion never ceased to be thrilled when we heard of ourselves referred to . . . by passing units on the march as `some of Jacka's mob'.''

His actions came at a personal cost -- during his convalescence in London, he suffered months of debilitating nervous reactions in which slight noises would cause him to shake extremely. He also clashed with senior officers, with his fiery temperament seen as holding him back from further promotion.

He returned to Melbourne in October 1919 to a public reception at Melbourne Town Hall, went into business, importing electrical goods the following year with two former Diggers and then married and adopted a daughter. His business collapsed in the Great Depression but he was elected to the St Kilda Council and served as its mayor.
He died aged 39 on 17 January 1932 of chronic nephritis as a result of his war injuries, and is buried in St Kilda Cemetery. Eight recipients of the VC were pallbearers. A house was purchased for his wife from public donations.

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Private John William Alexander Jackson

Unit: 17th Battalion, 5th Brigade, 2nd Division
Action: 25-26 June 1916, near Armentieres, France
Jackson was part of a group of Australians who entered the German trenches on the Western Front on the night of June 25-26. The raiding party was hit by heavy fire returning to their trench. Jackson got back to his trench leading a German prisoner, but then returned into the heavy shell-fire to bring in a wounded man.

After bringing that man to safety, Jackson went back again, and was helping Sgt Hugh Camden bring in a badly wounded private when they were hit by shellfire that knocked Camden unconscious and blew off Jackson's right arm above the elbow. Jackson returned to his trench, and after an officer applied a tourniquet to the arm with a piece of stick and string, went out to search no-man's land for another half an hour until he was satisfied all wounded men were back safely. The citation says: ``He set a splendid example of pluck and determination. His work has always been marked by the greatest coolness and bravery.'' Jackson, at 18 years 10 months, remains the youngest Australian to receive a VC and this was the first of 53 Victoria Crosses to the AIF on the Western Front.

Biography: Jackson was awarded the army's highest honour but he quit the service at one point in dispute over the validity of his commendations. Born near Hay, NSW, on 13 September 1897, he was a drover when he joined the AIF on 15 February 1915. After training in Egypt he landed in Gallipoli on 20 August and was nearly shipped home after suffering dysentery but joined his unit in time to be shipped to France. He had been originally recommended for a Distinguished Conduct Medal, which was issued to him and then withdrawn because the higher award was issued, but he refused to hand it back and at one stage, during World War II, quit the army over the matter and told them to take him to court.

The army decided not to order him to return the medal, and Jackson rejoined the army three weeks later. After World War I, he tried farming before buying a pub in Wollongong and had a string of jobs during the Depression. He was married in 1932, and served between 1941-42 despite his disability. He was involved in a four-vehicle accident in 1946 and was charged with manslaughter but the case was dismissed.

In 1953 he moved to Melbourne and worked as the commissionaire with the Melbourne City Council. He died in 1959. Divorced in 1955, he was survived by his daughter.

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Captain Clarence Smith Jeffries

Unit: 34th Battalion, 9th Brigade, 3rd Division
Action: 12 October 1917, Passchendaele, Belgium
Jeffries, 12 days short of his 23rd birthday, was involved in the third attack by the Australians on Passchendaele.

The attack stalled at two pillboxes east of Augustus Wood.
The citation says: ``Organising a party, he rushed one emplacement, capturing four machine-guns and 35 prisoners. He then led his company forward under extremely heavy enemy artillery barrage and enfilade machine-gun fire to the objective.
``Later, he again organised a successful attack on a machine-gun emplacement, capturing two machine-guns and 30 more prisoners. This gallant officer was killed during the attack, but it was entirely due to his bravery and initiative that the centre of the attack was not held up for a lengthy period. His example had a most inspiring influence.''
The attack failed, but Passchendaele was eventually captured by Canadian troops.
Biography: Jeffries, born in Wallsend, New South Wales on 26 October 1894, worked as a surveyor at the Abermain Collieries run by his father before signing up for the AIF.
Jeffries had a background with the militia, and was appointed second lieutenant in the 34th Battalion before he was shipped out in May 1916.
He was wounded in the thigh at Messines in June 1917 and promoted to captain four months before the VC action. He is buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery, near Passchendaele.

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Private Joergen Christian Jensen

Unit: 50th Battalion, 13th Brigade, 4th Division
Action: 2 April 1917, Noreuil, France
The 50th and 51st Battalions were ordered to clear the outpost villages, a series of villages along the Hindenburg Line.
They met fierce resistance at one barricade. Jensen, 26, Private William Quinlan O'Connor and four men attacked the barricade, which held about 45 Germans and a machine-gun.

O'Connor shot the machine-gunner. The citation says: ``Jensen, single-handed, rushed the post and threw in a bomb. He had still a bomb in one hand, but taking another from his pocket with the other hand, he drew the pin with his teeth and by threatening with two bombs and by telling them that they were surrounded, he induced them to surrender.''

Jensen sent a prisoner to a nearby post of Germans, instructing them to surrender too. Ignorant of their surrender, Australian troops began firing on the second group of Germans until Jensen, at great risk, stood on the barricade waving his helmet until the firing stopped.
Jensen was awarded the VC while O'Connor received the Distinguished Conduct Medal.
Biography: Jensen, who was born in Denmark on 15 January 1891, became an Australian citizen a month after Australia, along with Britain, declared war on Germany.
Having migrated with his family in 1909 and worked as a labourer, he enlisted in March 1915 and was posted to Gallipoli.

He was sent to France with the 10th Battalion, wounded and then transferred to the 50th in January 1917. He was severely wounded at Villers-Bretonneux on 5 May 1918 and spent several months in hospital.

When he returned to Australia, he worked in an Adelaide bottle shop. He married Katy Herman on 13 July 1921 but died within a year. He is buried at West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide.

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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.