VALIANT CORPORAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 January 1943, Page 4

VALIANT CORPORAL

AWARDED VICTORIA CROSS POSTHUMOUSLY THREE GUN POSTS SILENCED IN NEW GUINEA. AT COST OF HIS OWN LIFE. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.20 p.m.) CANBERRA, This Day. The first Victoria Cross won in the New Guinea campaign has been awarded posthumously to Corporal John Alexander French, late of Queensland. At Milne Bay, in September, French, single-handed, wiped out the crews of three enemy machine-gun posts. He was killed in completing the exploit. The award has been announced by the Governor-General, Lord Gowrie. The citation states that when Australian infantry were attacking, the section led by Corporal French encountered terrific fire from three enemy machine-gun posts. Corporal French advanced and silenced one of the posts with grenades. He returned for more grenades and then went forward and silenced a second post. Armed with a tommy-gun, he finally attacked the third post, firing from the hip as he went forward. Although badly wounded, he continued to advance. The enemy gun ceased firing, and when French’s section went forward it found that all the' members of the three enemy gun crews had been killed and that ‘Corporal French had died in front of the third gunpit. “By his cool courage and disregard of personal safety, this non-commis-sioned officer saved the members of his own section from heavy casualties and was resnonsible for the attack being successfully concluded,” the citation adds.

Corporal French left Australia on May 19, 1940, and served in England and the Middle East. He was for five months in Tobruk. He returned to Australia in May last and went to New Guinea in August. His is the second Victoria Cross won in the war against Japan. The first was won by Lieuten-ant-Colonel Anderson, in Malaya.