Australian Victoria Cross Recipient
Sergeant John James Dwyer
Unit
4th Machine Gun Company
Born
9 March 1890 at Lovett, Tasmania
Date of action
26 September 1917
Place
Zonnebeke, Belgium
Details
Dwyer, in charge of a Vickers machine gun, had gone forward with the first wave of his brigade. When the final objective was reached Dwyer rushed his gun forward to obtain a commanding fire position. While he was advancing he noticed an enemy machine gun causing casualties on the right flank. He rushed forward and fired his Vickers at the enemy, putting the gun out of action and killing the crew. He then seized the gun and established both it and his Vickers on the right flank of the brigade and inflicted further casualties during the subsequent counter-attack. The next day, when the position was heavily shelled, he carefully moved the gun to different positions and when the Vickers was put out of action by shell fire he secured a reserve gun and very quickly had it operational.
Died
17 January 1962
Buried or Commemorated
Allonah Cemetery, Hobart
Current location of the VC
Australian War Memorial