VALIANT GUARDSMAN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 August 1943, Page 3

VALIANT GUARDSMAN

AWARDED VICTORIA CROSS SINGLE-HANDED CHARGES. AGAINST ENEMY IN AFRICA. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. August 17. Two amazing single-handed charges on an entire German company during the Tunisian campaign have brought the award of the Victoria Cross to an Irish Guardsman, LanceCorporal John Patrick Kenneally. During the fighting in April he charged single-handed down a bare forward slope straight at a full enemy company which was preparing to attack the guardsmen’s positions. He fired his Bren-gun from the hip as he charged, and his outstanding act of gallantry and the dash with which it was executed, completely unbalanced the enemy company, which broke up in disorder. Kenneally then returned to the crest further/to harass their retreat.

He repeated this remarkable exploit a few days later, again so harassing the enemy and inflicting so many casualties that a projected enemy attack was frustrated. He continued fighting all that day, in spite of a wound.

The citation says: “His unfailing vigilance and remarkable accuracy saved many valuable lives during the days and nights in the forward posiHis actions also played a considerable part in holding these ros - lions, and this influenced the whole course of the battle. His rapid appreciation of a situation, initiative, and extraordinary gallantry in attacking single-handed a massed body of the enemy and breaking up an attack on two occasions were achievements that can seldom have been equalled.”