Australian Victoria Cross Recipient
Lance Corporal Walter Peeler
Unit
3rd Pioneer Battalion
Born
9 August 1887 at Castlemaine, Victoria
Date of action
4 October 1917
Place
Broodseinde near Ieper, Belgium
Details
When he encountered an enemy party sniping from a shell-hole at the advancing troops, Peeler rushed the position and accounted for nine of the enemy and cleared the way for the advance. He performed similar acts on two subsequent occasions and each time accounted for a number of the enemy. He was, at one stage, directed to a position from which an enemy machine gun fired on the Australians. He located and killed the gunner. The rest of the enemy party ran to a close dug-out but were dislodged by a bomb and when they ran out they were shot by Peeler. In all he accounted for over thirty of the enemy.
Died
23 May 1968
Buried or Commemorated
Brighton Cemetery, Melbourne
Current location of the VC
Australian War Memorial