John Hurst Edmondson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations.
You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations.

John Hurst Edmondson (8 October 1914–14 April 1941) 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.

John Hurst Edmondson was born at Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. His parents moved to Liverpool, New South Wales where he attended Hurlstone Agricultural High School and later became a farm worker.

On 20 May 1940 he enlisted in the 2/17th Battalion after serving with the 4th Militia Battalion. He was promoted to corporal. After training at Ingleburn and Bathurst, his battalion embarked for the Middle East on 19 October 1940 as reinforcements for the 9th Division. After desert training, his division relieved the 6th Australian Division at Marsa Brega in Cyrenaica on 9 March 1941. On 31 March, the German forces under the command of General Erwin Rommel mounted an attack on the Australian and British positions, forcing them to retreat. The 9th Division took up new positions outside the port of Tobruk and on 11 April, the now famous siege began.

The passage in the London Gazette of 1 July, 1941, gave the following details of Edmondson's deeds: "On the night of 13th-14th April, 1941, a party of German infantry broke through the wire defences of Tobruk, and established themselves with numerous machine guns, mortars and field pieces. Led by an officer, Corporal Edmondson and five privates carried out a bayonet charge upon them under heavy fire. Although wounded in the neck and stomach Corporal Edmondson not only killed one of the enemy, but went to the assistance of his officer, who was attacked by a German from behind while bayoneting another who had seized him about the legs. Despite his wounds, from which he later died, Corporal Edmondson succeeded in killing these two Germans also, thus undoubtedly saving his officer's life."

An hour later, 200 German infantrymen attacked the post, forcing the Australians to withdraw, and established a bridgehead in the outer defensive line. However, the fierceness of the platoon's defence pressured Rommel into diverting troops from his main attack. The attack failed, with the German tanks being mauled and forced to retreat with heavy casualties.

Corporal John Edmondson died of his wounds and is buried in the Tobruk war cemetery. He was the first Australian to receive the Victoria Cross in the war. Edmondson's VC was presented to his mother by the Governor-General on 27 September 1941. In 1969, she presented her son's medals and some of his personal belongings to the Australian War Memorial, where they still are on display.

His name is still honoured by the John Edmondson VC Rest Area at Roses Lagoon on the Remembrance Driveway from Sydney to Canberra, John Edmondson VC Memorial RSL Club, Liverpool and, with a plaque in the Walk of Honour in Bayliss Street, in his birthplace of Wagga Wagga NSW and in his former school, Hurlstone Agricultural High School, where the school hall is named after him. There is also a high school named after him in the Horningsea Park district. Edmondson Street in North Ryde NSW is also named in his honour.