John Bernard "Jack" Mackey, VC (16 May 1922 – 12 May 1945) was an Australian recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to

British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...

forces. Mackey was one of twenty Australians to receive the award for actions during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, receiving his award posthumously for leading an attack on against a strongly defended Japanese position during the Battle of Tarakan in May 1945. He was 22 and serving as a corporal in the 2/3rd Pioneer Battalion at the time of his death.

Early life

Born in Leichhardt, New South Wales, Mackey was the only son and the eldest of four children of Stanislaus Mackey, a baker, and his wife Bridget Catherine Smyth Mackey. After attending St. Columba's School in Leichhardt and the Christian Brothers' High School in

Lewisham, New South Wales Lewisham is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lewisham is located 7 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Inner West Council. The postcod ...

, the Mackey family moved to

Portland, New South Wales Portland is a town in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. At the , Portland had a population of 2,424 people. The town was named after Australia's first cement works. Location Portland is part of the gateway to the Central West ...

, in 1936, where his father operated a bakery. Mackey finished his schooling at the age of 14 and began working for his father as a baker. However, he did not enjoy the work and his relationship with his father deteriorated.

Second World War

On 5 June 1940, Mackey enlisted in the

Second Australian Imperial Force The Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF, or Second AIF) was the name given to the volunteer expeditionary force of the Australian Army in the Second World War. It was formed following the declaration of war on Nazi Germany, with an initia ...

, falsifying his age to do so. After training, he was posted to the 2/3rd Pioneer Battalion and left with the unit in November 1941 for service in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. He participated in the Syrian Campaign against the Vichy French and in the

Second Battle of El Alamein The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November 1942) was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein. The First Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Alam el Halfa had prevented th ...

. The Japanese threat to Australia grew as they advanced through the Pacific in 1942. In response, the Australian government requested the withdrawal of Australian units back to their home country, and Mackey's battalion returned in February 1943. It served in Papua New Guinea from August 1943 to March 1944, during which time Mackey was promoted to the rank of

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...

. While in Papua, he suffered several bouts of malaria. After a period of rest and reorganisation in Australia, the battalion returned to the Southwest Pacific theatre of operations in April 1945 when they were committed to the

Borneo Campaign The Borneo campaign or Second Battle of Borneo was the last major Allied campaign in the South West Pacific Area during World War II to liberate Japanese-held British Borneo and Dutch Borneo. Designated collectively as Operation Oboe, ...

. On 1 May 1945, Mackey's battalion, as part of 26th Brigade Group, landed at Lingkas Beach on

Tarakan Island Tarakan is an island and the largest city of the Indonesian province of North Kalimantan. The island city is located in northern Borneo, midway along the coast of the province. The city boundaries are co-extensive with the island (including a cou ...

, off North

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

. The island's airfield was to be captured to allow its use in operations against Borneo. Advancing inland along the Aman River, the battalion were held up by Japanese defending a stronghold known as Helen. On 12 May 1945, Mackey's company was to continue an attack that had begun three days previously and it was during this action that he earned the Victoria Cross (VC). The citation for his VC read: The Japanese continued to hold off the attacking pioneers for a further two days before Helen was bombed with napalm, forcing them to abandon the position. Originally buried where he was killed, after the war Mackey was interred at

Labuan War Cemetery Labuan War Cemetery ( ms, Tanah Perkuburan Perang Labuan) is a Commonwealth World War II graveyard in Labuan, Malaysia. The cemetery Many of the personnel buried in this cemetery, including Indian and Australian troops, were killed during th ...

. Mackey's VC was presented to his sister, Patricia, and was later donated to the Australian War Memorial, where it is now on display in the Hall of Valour.

Notes

References

External links

John Mackey at the Australian War Memorial
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mackey, John Bernard 1922 births 1945 deaths Military personnel from New South Wales Australian Army soldiers Australian military personnel killed in World War II Australian World War II recipients of the Victoria Cross Australian people of Irish descent People from Sydney Australian Army personnel of World War II Burials at Labuan War Cemetery Australian bakers