Private Jackson, John William Alexander VC

liverpool annie · Oct 19, 2009

Citation - London Gazette, 9 September 1916

For most conspicuous bravery. On the return from a successful raid, several members of the raiding party were seriously wounded in No Man's Land by shell fire.
Private Jackson got back safely and, after handing over a prisoner whom he had brought in, immediately went out again under a very heavy shell fire and assisted in bringing in a wounded man. He then went out again, and with a sergeant was bringing in another wounded man, when his arm was blown off by a shell and the sergeant was rendered unconscious.
He then returned to our trenches, obtained assistance, and went out again to look for his two wounded comrades. He set a splendid example of pluck and determination. His work has always been marked by the greatest coolness and bravery
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On the night of the 25-26 June 1916, Jackson was one of a raiding party which entered German trenches and caused considerable havoc before withdrawing. His citation records subsequent events. Eventually he was evacuated and hospitalised for a very long period but was taken to Buckingham Palace on 18 November 1916 and presented with the VC by King George V.

Private Jackson at 18 years became the youngest Australian to win the Victoria Cross. Also it was the first won by an Australian on the Western Front as well as the first by a soldier of the 2nd Division and the only VC awarded to a soldier of the 17th Battalion.

http://www.warmemorialsnsw.asn.au/Details.cfm?MemNo=373

http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/jacksonvc.htm

http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090447b.htm

liverpool annie · Oct 19, 2009

A brave man in more ways than one !

JACKSON, JOHN WILLIAM ALEXANDER (1897-1959), soldier, hotelkeeper, farmer and clerk, was born on 13 September 1897 at Gunbar near Hay, New South Wales, son of John Jackson, labourer, and his wife Adelaide Ann, née McFarlane. He worked as a drover in the Merriwa district before enlisting as a private in the 17th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, on 20 February 1915 and embarking in May. After training in Egypt the battalion landed at Gallipoli on 20 August and immediately fought in the battle for Hill 60. On 3 October Jackson was evacuated with dysentery and rejoined his unit on 8 March 1916 in Egypt. Shortly afterwards the battalion left for the Western Front and relieved the Northumberland Fusiliers at Bois Grenier, near Armentières, France, on 10 April.

An intensive training programme was arranged for a raid on enemy trenches; 18-year-old Jackson volunteered for the operation. On the night of 25-26 June the raiding party of 9 officers and 73 other ranks, under cover of artillery fire, assaulted the forward trenches of the 231st Prussian Reserve Infantry Regiment. Jackson was a member of the scout group which reconnoitred the approaches to the enemy positions. The raiding party moved out in the face of withering machine-gun fire. After the scout group had neutralized the enemy listening posts the raiders, supported by a box barrage, entered the enemy trenches, encountering only token resistance. Five minutes later the Australians withdrew under heavy shelling.

Jackson brought a prisoner back and returned to bring in a wounded man. Again he went out and with a sergeant was carrying in another man when his right arm was shattered by a bursting shell and the sergeant was rendered unconscious. He returned for help, disregarding his own condition, and went out again to help bring back the sergeant and the wounded man; one was recovered. For this act of courage he was immediately awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. This was cancelled, however, and he was awarded the Victoria Cross for his 'splendid example of pluck and determination'. The citation stated: 'his work has always been marked by the greatest coolness and bravery'.

Jackson was evacuated and his arm was amputated. He embarked for Australia on 4 May 1917 and was discharged on 15 September. He became a hotelkeeper at Wollongong, then returned to Merriwa but after almost seven years of drought he left the land and moved to Sydney for employment. He had several jobs, including clerical work with the Metropolitan Water, Sewerage and Drainage Board. On 12 January 1932 he married a dressmaker, Ivy Muriel Alma Morris, at St Paul's Anglican Church, Kogarah; there was one daughter of the marriage which was dissolved in 1955. During World War II he served as an acting sergeant in Eastern Command Provost Company, 1941-42. In 1953 he moved to Melbourne and became commissionaire and inquiry attendant at the Melbourne Town Hall.

In 1956 Jackson visited England to attend Victoria Cross centenary celebrations. Survived by his daughter, he died of arteriosclerotic heart disease on 4 August 1959 at the Austin Hospital, Heidelberg, Melbourne, and was cremated. Jackson was the youngest Australian to be awarded the Victoria Cross in World War I and his was the first V.C. to be awarded to a member of the A.I.F. in France
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http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090447b.htm

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