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L/Corporal Walter
Peeler VC BEM |
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London, England. 21
August 1918. Portrait of 114
Sergeant Walter Peeler VC, 3rd Pioneer Battalion who was awarded his
Victoria Cross as a Lance Corporal, 4 October 1917, during the fight
for Broodseinde Ridge, east of Ypres, Belgium.
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| Africa
Star |
Pacific
Star |
Defence
Medal |
39/45
War Medal |
Australia
Service Medal |
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| George
VI Coronation Medal |
Elizabeth
II Coronation Medal |
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- CITATION
- For most conspicuous bravery
when, with a Lewis gun, accompanying the first
wave of the assault he encountered an enemy party sniping the
advancing troops from a shell hole.
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- Lance Corporal Peeler immediately
rushed the position, and accounted for nine
of the enemy, and cleared the way for advance. On two subsequent
occasions, he performed similar acts of valour, and each time
accounted for a number of the enemy.
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- During operations, he was
directed to a position from which an enemy machine-gun
was being fired on our troops. He located and killed the gunner,
and the remainder of the enemy party ran to a dug-out close by.
From this shelter they were dislodged by a bomb, and ten of the
enemy ran out. These he disposed of.
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- This non-commissioned officer
actually accounted for over thirty of the enemy.
He displayed an absolute fearlessness in making his way ahead of
the first wave of the assault, and the fine example which he set
ensured the success of the attack against the most determined
opposition.
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- Walter Peeler grew up on his
parents orchard at Barker's Creek, north of Castlemaine. His
family tree included a convict transported from Lancaster,
England, to Hobart in 1828. His occupation by 1908 was a
woodcutter.
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- Walter enlisted in the 1st AIF at
Leongatha on 17 February 1916. His trade was listed as 'labourer'.
He served (as No. 113) in the Lewis gun section of the 3rd Pioneer
Battalion. He was appointed Lance Corporal on 6 November 1916.
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- He won his Victoria Cross on 4
October 1917 when he and the other members of the Lewis Gun
section were attached to the 37th Infantry Battalion for
anti-aircraft during the attack on Broodseinde Ridge during the
third phase of the Third Battle of Ypres.
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- Rain that afternoon prevented
exploitation of the successful assault and Passchendaele did not
fall until November when it was taken by Canadian forces. Walter
Peeler received his VC from King George V at Buckingham Palace on 9
January 1918. He was one of a group of officers, men and nurses who
were decorated that day.
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- His service record shows he received
a gunshot wound to the right cheek on 7 June 1917, and a severe
wound to the right forearm on 12 October 1917 which put him in
Northampton War Hospital. He
returned to Australia in October 1918 to take part in a recruiting
drive with a number of other VCs, but the war ended a month later
and he was discharged in December.
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- He joined the Victorian Department
of Lands and worked in the Soldier Settlement branch for six years.
He then became an orchardist at Croydon before joining the staff of
H. V. McKay Harvester Works at Sunshine. The firm seemed to prefer
VC winners, as L. D. McCarthy VC also worked there.
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- When Melbourne's splendid Shrine of
Remembrance was completed in 1934, Walter was appointed Custodian, a
position he held -with the exception of further war service with the
2nd AIF- until he retired in May 1964. During the post-WW2 period he
joined the Corps of Commissionaires in 1947.
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- WORLD WAR TWO
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- Walter enlisted in the 2nd AIF on
27 May 1940 and was posted to the 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion. By 1941
he had risen from Sergeant to Staff Sergeant, and by 1942 was
appointed WO2.
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- He served in Syria in the
middle-east before going to Java in February 1942 where he became a
prisoner of war of the Japanese on 7 March. As part of 'A' Force he
was sent with other prisoners to work in Burma. Recovered from Siam
in August 1945, he was returned to Melbourne on 21 October, and was
discharged in December.
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- In 1956, Walter and a number of
other VC winners visited London for the VC Centenary celebrations.
He enjoyed playing cricket, tennis and had earlier been well-known
as a footballer. When he lived and worked at Sunshine, he was
Captain of the East Sunshine Cricket team which won premierships in
1931 and 1932.
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- He died on 23 May 1968 and was
buried in Brighton Cemetery.
- Based on research by Frank Noonan
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Partly
from
http://users.westconnect.com.au/~ianmac/peeler.html
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