PORTRAIT OF CORPORAL (CPL) JOHN BERNARD MACKEY VC. IN THE AUSTRALIAN ATTACK ON A FEATURE KNOWN AS ...

Place Asia: Borneo, Tarakan
Accession Number 134468
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white
Physical description Black & white
Maker Thain, Ernest Robertson
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

PORTRAIT OF CORPORAL (CPL) JOHN BERNARD MACKEY VC. IN THE AUSTRALIAN ATTACK ON A FEATURE KNOWN AS HELEN, EAST OF TARAKAN, NORTH BORNEO, A SECTION OF THE 2/3RD AUSTRALIAN PIONEER BATTALION WAS LED BY CPL MACKEY ON 1945-05-12. MOVING ALONG A NARROW SPUR THE SECTION CAME UNDER FIRE FROM THREE WELL-SITED JAPANESE POSITIONS. CPL MACKEY WENT STRAIGHT AHEAD, CHARGED THE FIRST POSITION, WRESTLING WITH AND BAYONETING ONE OF THE ENEMY, AND THEN RUSHED A HEAVY MACHINE GUN POST KILLING ITS CREW WITH GRENADES. COMPLETELY DISREGARDING HIS OWN LIFE, HE AGAIN ATTACKED A THIRD POSITION FARTHER ALONG THE SPUR AND IN DOING SO WAS KILLED.