Arthur Stanley Gurney

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Arthur Stanley Gurney VC (15 December 1908 - 22 July 1942) 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 33 years old, and a private in the 2/48th Battalion (South Australia), Australian Military Forces during the Second World War when he was awarded the VC (posthumously) for the following deed.

On 22 July 1942 at Tel-el-Eisa, Egypt, intense machine-gun fire held up the company to which Private Gurney belonged and inflicted heavy casualties on it, including killing or wounding all the officers. Private Gurney, realizing the seriousness of the situation, charged the nearest machine-gun post, silencing the guns and bayoneting three of the crew. He bayoneted two more at a second post before a grenade knocked him down. Picking himself up, he charged a third post and disappeared from view. Later, his comrades, whose advance he had made possible, found his body.

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Australian War Memorial.

Pvt. Gurney's grave at El Alamein