John Gildroy Grant - Military Career

Military Career

At the time Grant enlisted, the NZEF was engaged in the Gallipoli Campaign and after initial training, he embarked for the Middle East in October 1915. He joined the 1st Battalion, Wellington Infantry Regiment of the New Zealand Division, then being formed in the aftermath of the evacuation from the Gallipoli Peninsula. It duly embarked for the Western Front.

Grant served with the battalion throughout 1916 and 1917, and the following year had reached the rank of sergeant. He was 29 years old when he performed the deed for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. On 1 September 1918 near Bancourt, the leading waves of the battalion on reaching a crest of high ground, found that a line of enemy machine-gun posts offered a serious obstacle to further advance. The company, however, advanced against these posts under point-blank fire, and when about 20 yards (18 m) away Grant, closely followed by a comrade, rushed ahead of his platoon, entering the centre post and demoralising the garrison so that the platoon were able to mop up the positions. In the same manner he rushed the post on the left and the remaining posts were quickly occupied and cleared by his company.

Shortly afterwards, Grant was promoted to second lieutenant and traveled to Cambridge in England for officer training in October 1918. He was wounded in November, within days of his return to the front. His service with the NZEF ended with his repatriation to New Zealand in 1919.