John Dwyer (soldier)

John Dwyer VC
Sergeant John Dwyer VC, c. 1918
1st Deputy Premier of Tasmania
In office 26 August 1958 – 12 May 1959
Premier	Eric Reece
Succeeded by	Roy Fagan
Minister for Agriculture
In office 29 June 1948 – 19 September 1961
Premier	Robert Cosgrove Eric Reece
Preceded by	John Madden
Succeeded by	Alexander Atkins
Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly
In office 10 February 1942 – 29 June 1948
Premier	Robert Cosgrove Edward Brooker
Preceded by	David O'Keefe
Succeeded by	Peter Pike
Member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly for Franklin
In office 9 May 1931 – 17 January 1962
Personal details
Born	John James Dwyer (1890-03-09)9 March 1890 Port Cygnet, Tasmania
Died	17 January 1962(1962-01-17) (aged 71) Bruny Island, Tasmania
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Labor Party
Military service
Allegiance	Australia
Service/branch	Australian Imperial Force
Years of service	1915–18
Rank	Lieutenant
Battles/wars	First World War Gallipoli Campaign Western Front Battle of Messines Battle of Passchendaele
Awards	Victoria Cross

John James Dwyer, VC (9 March 1890 – 17 January 1962) was a politician and an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly in 1931 representing the Labor Party, Dwyer served as Deputy Premier of Tasmania from August 1958 to May 1959 and remained in office until his death.

When Dwyer was 27 years old he was a sergeant in the 4th Company, Australian Machine Gun Corps, Australian Imperial Force during the First World War. At that time, the following deed took place for which he was later awarded the VC.

On 26 September 1917 at Zonnebeke, Belgium, during the Battle of Polygon Wood, Sergeant Dwyer, in charge of a Vickers machine-gun during an advance, rushed his gun forward to within 30 yards of an enemy machine-gun, fired point blank at it and killed the crew. He then seized the gun and carried it back across shell-swept ground to the Australian front line. On the following day, when the position was being heavily shelled, and his Vickers gun was blown up, he took his team through the enemy barrage and fetched a reserve gun which he put into use in the shortest possible time.^[1][2]

Dwyer later achieved the rank of lieutenant. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Australian War Memorial.

Tasmanian parliamentary library photo, c 1931

References

External links

• Chris Batt, 'Dwyer, John James (Jack) (1890–1962)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 14, Melbourne University Press, 1996, pp 64–65.
• "John James Dwyer – Discovering Anzacs". National Archives of Australia. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
• Parliamentary library profile