John Kenneally
John Patrick Kenneally | |
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Palestine Emergency | |
Awards | Victoria Cross |
Sergeant John Patrick Kenneally (né Leslie Jackson) VC (15 March 1921 – 27 September 2000) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Early life
John Patrick Kenneally was born as Leslie Jackson at 104 Alexandra Road,
Maintenance from Blond enabled Jackson to be initially educated at the privately run Calthorpe College. He later attended Tindal Street Junior Council School and then
Military career
Jackson joined the Honourable Artillery Company on his 18th birthday. He was assigned to an anti-aircraft battery and overstayed a period of leave. He was sentenced to a period of detention at Wellington Barracks, run by the Irish Guards. He was impressed by their high standards and applied for a transfer but was rejected. Jackson deserted and joined a group of itinerant Irish labourers, eventually making his way to Glasgow. When one of them, named John Patrick Kenneally, returned to Ireland, Jackson obtained his identity card and, adopting the man's name, used it to enlist in the Irish Guards.[2]
VC Details
Kenneally was a 22-year-old
On 28 April 1943 at Djebel Bou Azoukaz, Tunisia, Lance-Corporal Kenneally charged alone down the bare forward slope straight into the main body of the enemy about to make an attack, firing his Bren gun from the hip; the enemy were so surprised that they broke up in disorder. The lance-corporal repeated his exploit on 30 April when, accompanied by a sergeant, he charged the enemy forming up for assault, inflicting many casualties. Even when wounded he refused to give up, but hopped from one fire position to another, carrying his gun in one hand and supporting himself on a comrade with the other.[3]
He was remembered in
In 1943, Kenneally had married Elsie Francis; they had two sons and a daughter.[5] He finished his military career in the newly formed 1st Guards Parachute Battalion and later bought himself out of the army in July 1948 to be with his wife and children.
Later life
Kenneally went into the motor trade after the army and remained in it for the rest of his working life. Reflecting on his heroic actions in Tunisia during an interview some years after the war's end, Kenneally said that he charged the Germans only because of "a strange don't-give-a-damn feeling" which had suddenly possessed him.
The medal
His Victoria Cross is displayed at The Guards Regimental Headquarters (Irish Guards RHQ) in Wellington Barracks, London, England.
Bibliography
- Allport, Alan (2015). Browned off and bloody-minded: the British soldier goes to war, 1939-1945. Yale University Press. pp. 243–274. S2CID 246152618.
- Harvey, David (1999). "Monuments to courage". RUSI Journal. 144 (6): 91–92. OCLC 937293042.
- Kenneally, John Patrick (1991). Kenneally VC. Huddersfield: Kenwood. OCLC 26722596.
- Sutton, Chris (June 2008). "The Forgotten Hero of Balsall Heath". The Balsall Heathan (276). St. Paul's Community Trust.
- The Register of the Victoria Cross. This England. 1997. OCLC 609105945.
References
- ^ a b "John Kenneally VC". The Daily Telegraph. London. 28 September 2000.
- ^ a b Condell, Diana (7 November 2000). "John Kenneally VC". The Guardian. London.
- ^ "No. 36136". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 August 1943. p. 3689.
- ^ "Forward, Till the Whole Task is Done". The Churchill Society. 13 May 1945. Archived from the original on 21 May 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
- ^ "John Kenneally VC". 28 September 2000.
- ^ Allport 2015, p. 244.