Samuel George Pearse
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Samuel George Pearse VC, MM, (16 July 1897 – 29 August 1919) 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.
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[edit] Early life
Samuel George Pearse was born on 16 July 1897 at Penarth, Glamorganshire, Walesand educated at Penarth Grammar School. His family moved to Mildura, Victoria (Australia) in 1911 where he joined the local Legion of Frontiersmen's Unit .
[edit] Military service
Pearse served at the Battle of Gallipoli briefly and then in France. He was 22 years old, and a sergeant in the 45th Battalion, The Royal Fusiliers, British Army during the North Russia Campaign under the command of Lionel Sadleir-Jackson when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
On 29 August 1919, north of Emtsa, North Russia, Sergeant Pearse cut his way through enemy barbed wire under very heavy machine-gun and rifle fire and cleared a way for the troops to enter an enemy battery position. He then charged a blockhouse which was harassing the advance and causing casualties, and killed the occupants with bombs. A minute later he was killed, but it was due to him that the position was carried with so few casualties.
He was buried in Souset Cemetery, Archangel, North Russia. His Victoria Cross, Military Medal and service medals are privately held.
[edit] References
- "Elegant Extracts" - The Royal Fusiliers Recipients of the VC (J.P. Kelleher, 2001)
- Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
- Peter Burness, 'Pearse, Samuel George (1897 - 1919)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, MUP, 1988, pp 185-186.
