Victoria Cross : Sergeant Maurice Vincent Buckley, 13 Battalion, AIF

Victoria Cross. Engraved reverse suspender with recipient's details; reverse cross with date of action.

Maurice Vincent Buckley was born in Hawthorn Melbourne on 13 April 1891, part of a large family of five boys and two girls to Timothy and Honora Mary Agnes (née Sexton) Buckley. He attended the Christian Brothers’ School in Abbotsford, Melbourne and was a coach trimmer at Warrnambool before enlisting as private 633, reinforcement to 13 Light Horse Regiment on 18 December 1914.

Buckley embarked in Sydney on HMAT Ceramic to Egypt on 25 June 1915, where he contracted a venereal disease and, as a consequence, was returned to Australia and sent to Langwarrin Camp, arriving in late 1915. Some months later he walked out of the camp and was declared a deserter. He was struck off the army roll in March 1916.

On 8 May 1916 Buckley re-enlisted in the AIF as private 6594, reinforcement to 13 Battalion under the alias 'Gerald Sexton'. He embarked again on HMAT Ceramic in Sydney in October, eventually joining the 13th Battalion on the Somme in January 1917. He went on to fight at Bullecourt in April and the third battle of Ypres in Flanders which lasted from July through to November.

At the end of January 1918 Buckley was promoted to lance corporal and in June was made lance sergeant. He was wounded at Le Hamel on 6 July, suffering shell wounds and concussion and spent two weeks out of his unit. During the allied advance on 8 August, Buckley was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his bravery in charge of a Lewis gun section. On four separate occasions Buckley silenced enemy machine gun posts, including on one occasion where he fired his Lewis gun from the hip in full view of the enemy. Buckley displayed coolness and initiative under fire, enabling his company to move forward and continue the attack.

On 18 September Buckley, now confirmed as sergeant, was involved in the action for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. The recommendation for the award reads:

'In the attack near LE VERGUIER (NW of ST Quentin) on the 18th September, 1918, Sgt. SEXTON displayed the most conspicuous bravery, and performed deeds which, apart from their gallant nature, were in a great measure responsible for the battalion’s success.

On the Southern edge of the Village of LE VERGUIER the enemy fought very hard and serious opposition had to be crushed. During the whole period of the advance, Sgt. SEXTON was to the fore dealing with enemy machine guns firing from the hip as he advance, rushing enemy posts and performing feats of bravery and endurance which are better appreciated when one realises that all the time he fired his Lewis Gun from the hip without faltering or for a moment taking cover.

Immediately the attack commenced, Sgt. SEXTON’S Lewis Gun Section was confronted by an enemy M.G. He called out to his section to follow, rushed the M.G. and killed the crew. He then called out to the rest of the Company to follow, but they had not gone far before they encountered some bombers and riflemen about 70 yards in front of the Company. SEXTON rushed the trench, firing his gun from the hip, and killed or took prisoner all the members of the post. Continuing, he entered a copse and killed or took prisoner another party of the enemy.

The advance continued over the ridge at LE VERGUIER to where SEXTON was met by Lieut. PRICE who pointed out a party of the enemy manning a bank, and a field gun in action which was causing casualties and holding up a company. There was also a trench mortar in action. Sgt. SEXTON did not wait but firing a few short burst as he advanced, and calling out to his section to follow, rushed down the bank and killed the gunners on the field gun. Dashing out to a flat out under fire from two hostile machine guns directed on him, he killed 12 more of the enemy. Paying no head to the machine gun fire he returned to the bank and after firing down some dugouts induced about 30 of the enemy to surrender. Owing to his action the Company on the left of the Battalion was able to continue the advance where they had been definitely held up and were suffering from the effect of the field gun. When the advance was continued from the first to the second objective, the Company was once again held up by two machine guns on the right and one the left, firing all the while from the upright position, a fearless figure which, according to eye witnesses inspired everyone. (To have taken cover would have been more prudent, but Sexton realised that prompt action was essential and did not await to assume the prone position.) Silencing this gun he turned his attention to the two machine guns on the right and silenced them. He then moved forward into a trench, killing quite a number of the enemy and advancing along a sap took a few prisoners. Further on he was responsible for a few more small posts, and, on the final objective, being given a responsible post on the left of his Company, he engaged a machine gun which was firing across the Company front, and thus enabled his Company to dig in. This completed he went forward down a sunken road and captured several more prisoners.’

The Victoria Cross was gazetted on 14 December and with the focus of attention on him, Buckley was forced to disclose his true identity which he did by statuary declaration in March 1919. This required a correction in the London Gazette on 8 August, which had previously announced his award under Sexton. Buckley returned to Australia at the end of October and was discharged from the AIF on 11 December 1919.

In 1920 he was one of the 14 Victoria Cross winners who marched on St Patrick’s Day in Melbourne in support of Archbishop Daniel Mannix, a vocal opponent of the war. On 15 January 1921, Buckley was injured when he tried to jump his horse over the railway gates at Boolarra, Victoria. He was taken to Melbourne and after an operation he appeared to be recovering but relapsed and died in Fitzroy Hospital on 27 January. He was buried at Brighton cemetery with full military honours. Ten Victoria Cross recipients acted as pallbearers and past pupils from his old school formed a guard of honour.

Buckley's Victoria Cross is accompanied by the Distinguished Conduct Medal. His First World War service medals are not held by the Memorial.