John Beeley

Rifleman John Beeley VC (8 February 1918 – 21 November 1941) was a British Army soldier and an English recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

John Beeley
Born	(1918-02-08)8 February 1918 Manchester, England
Died	21 November 1941(1941-11-21) (aged 23) Sidi Rezegh, Italian Libya
Buried	Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Acroma
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service / branch	British Army
Years of service	1938−1941
Rank	Rifleman
Service number	6846197
Unit	King's Royal Rifle Corps
Battles / wars	Second World War North African campaign Western Desert campaign Operation Crusader Battle of Sidi Rezegh  †
Awards	Victoria Cross

Beeley was 23 years old, and a rifleman in the 1st Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps, British Army during Operation Crusader in the Second World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 21 November 1941 at Sidi Rezegh, Libya, at an airfield being attacked by Rifleman Beeley's company, progress was held up by short range fire. All the officers of the company were wounded so, on his own initiative the rifleman ran forward over open ground, firing his Bren gun and at 20 yards range put an anti-tank gun and two machine-guns out of action. He was killed but his bravery inspired his comrades to further efforts to reach their objective, which was eventually captured, together with 700 prisoners.^[1]

He is buried in the Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Acroma, Libya.^[2] His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum in Winchester, England. A street in Openshaw, Manchester, has been named John Beeley Avenue in his honour.^[3]

References

Citations

1. "No. 35530". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 April 1942. p. 1741.
2. "Casualty Details: BEELEY, JOHN". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
3. • "Honour for city's first WWII hero". BBC News. 2 August 2005. Retrieved 10 August 2008.

Bibliography

• British VCs of World War 2 (John Laffin, 1997)
• Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
• The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)

External links

• Biography at the Wayback Machine (archived 11 October 2012)
• KRRC journal