John Patrick Kenneally
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John Patrick Kenneally VC (15 March 1921–27 September 2000) was an English 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.
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[edit] Details
He was 22 years old, and a Lance-Corporal in the Irish Guards, British Army during the Second World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
On 28 April 1943 at Dj. Arada, Tunisia, Lance-Corporal Kenneally charged alone down the bare forward slope straight into the main body of the enemy about to make an attack, firing his Bren gun from the hip; the enemy were so surprised that they broke up in disorder. The lance-corporal repeated his exploit on 30 April when, accompanied by a sergeant, he charged the enemy forming up for assault, inflicting many casualties. Even when wounded he refused to give up, but hopped from one fire position to another, carrying his gun in one hand and supporting himself on a comrade with the other.
He was remembered in Winston Churchill's famous broadcast speech on 13 May 1945 "Five years of War", as having defended Ireland's honour:
"When I think of these days I think also of other episodes and personalities. I do not forget Lieutenant-Commander Esmonde, V.C., D.S.O., Lance-Corporal Kenneally, V.C., Captain Fegen, V.C., and other Irish heroes that I could easily recite, and all bitterness by Britain for the Irish race dies in my heart. I can only pray that in years which I shall not see, the shame will be forgotten and the glories will endure, and that the peoples of the British Isles and of the British Commonwealth of Nations will walk together in mutual comprehension and forgiveness."
[edit] Further information
John Patrick Kenneally was an assumed name. He was born, he claimed, Leslie Robinson[citation needed], the illegitimate son of the 18-year-old daughter of a Blackpool pharmacist. His father, he said, was Neville Blond, then in his twenties but later the chairman of the English Stage Company and husband of Elaine Marks, the Marks & Spencer heiress. He later achieved the rank of Company Quartermaster-Sergeant.
[edit] The medal
His Victoria Cross is displayed at The Guards Regimental Headquarters (Irish Guards RHQ) (London, England).
[edit] References
- Kenneally, VC (John Kenneally, 1991)
- Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
- Antoni Chmielowski, Edwin King
