John James Dwyer
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John James Dwyer (9 March 1890- 17 January 1962) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
He was 27 years old, and a sergeant in the 4th Company Machine Gun Corps, Australian Imperial Force during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
On 26 September 1917 at Zonnebeke, Belgium, Sergeant Dwyer, in charge of a Vickers machine-gun, during an advance, rushed his gun forward to within 30 yards of an enemy machine-gun, fired point blank at it and killed the crew. He then seized the gun and carried it back across shell-swept ground to our front line. On the following day, when the position was being heavily shelled, and his Vickers gun was blown up, he took his team through the enemy barrage and fetched a reserve gun which he put into use in the shortest possible time.
He later achieved the rank of Lieutenant.
His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Australian War Memorial.
[edit] References
- Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
- VCs of the First World War - Passchendaele 1917 (Stephen Snelling, 1998)
[edit] External links
- DWYER J.J.
- Sergeant J.T. Dwyer (photo, brief details)
This page has been migrated from the Victoria Cross Reference with permission.
