John James Dwyer, VC (9 March 1890 – 17 January 1962) Commonly known as Jack or JJ, he was a politician and 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 and Commonwealth forces. Elected to the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. The Assembly has 25 m ...

in 1931 representing the Labor Party, Dwyer served as Deputy Premier of Tasmania from August 1958 to May 1959 and remained in office until his death. When Dwyer was 27 years old he was a sergeant in the 4th Company,

Australian Machine Gun Corps The Australian Machine Gun Corps was a corps of the Australian Army which was formed for service during World War I. It was established in early 1916 as part of a reorganisation of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in Egypt as preparations were ...

, Australian Imperial Force during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. At that time, the following deed took place for which he was later awarded the VC. On 26 September 1917 at

Zonnebeke Zonnebeke (; vls, Zunnebeke) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the villages of , , Passendale, Zandvoorde and Zonnebeke proper. On January 1, 2006, Zonnebeke had a total population of ...

, Belgium, during the

Battle of Polygon Wood The Battle of Polygon Wood took place from 26 September to 3 October 1917, during the second phase of the Third Battle of Ypres in the First World War. The battle was fought near Ypres in Belgium, in the area from the Menin road to Polygon Woo ...

, Sergeant Dwyer, in charge of a Vickers machine-gun during an advance, rushed his gun forward to within 30 yards of an enemy machine-gun, fired point blank at it and killed the crew. He then seized the gun and carried it back across shell-swept ground to the Australian front line. On the following day, when the position was being heavily shelled, and his

Vickers gun The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more men to move and o ...

was blown up, he took his team through the enemy barrage and fetched a reserve gun which he put into use in the shortest possible time. Dwyer later achieved the rank of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Australian War Memorial. John James Dwyer

References

External links

* * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dwyer, John James 1890 births 1962 deaths Military personnel from Tasmania Australian Army officers Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Tasmania Australian World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross Deputy Premiers of Tasmania Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Speakers of the Tasmanian House of Assembly