Australian Victoria Cross Recipient
Captain Frederick Harold Tubb
Unit
7th Battalion
Born
10 July 1889 at Longwood, Victoria
Date of action
9 August 1915
Place
Lone Pine trenches, Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey
Details
During a Turkish counter-attack on 9 August Tubb was in command of a section of trench which was the scene of some intense fighting. When the enemy blew in a sandbag barricade Tubb led his men back, repulsed the enemy and had the barricade rebuilt. The enemy attacked and again twice blew in the barricades, but Tubb, bleeding from bomb wounds in the arm and scalp, continued to fight. Supported by Corporals Dunstan (also a VC winner) and Burton (also a VC winner), he succeeded in rebuilding the barricade. A bomb blast killed Burton and wounded Dunstan. Tubb obtained further men from the next post, Tubb’s Corner. The enemy attack had weakened, however, and although heavy bombing continued the position was held. He later wrote: ‘It is miraculous that I am alive. Three different times I was thrown yards away from bombs. Our trenches were filled with the dead, mostly ours. Burton . . . deserved the highest reward for his action for three times filling a breach in the parapet till they killed him. Dunstan (and others) also did magnificent work. I cannot write of details but many of our brave boys were blown to pieces.’ (Richard Reid, For Valour, Australia Post Philatelic Group, 2000 page 14.)
Died
21 September 1917
Buried or Commemorated
Lijessenthoek Military Cemetery, Poperinghe, Belgium
Current location of the VC
Australian War Memorial