Sergeant Samuel George Pearse

image: H06653 image: H06653
Photograph H06653
Service number 2870, 133002
Ranks Held Private, Sergeant
Birth Date 1897-07-16
Birth Place United Kingdom: Wales
Death Date 1919-08-29
Death Place Russia: North Russia, Emtsa
Final Rank Sergeant
Service British Army
Units
  • 45th Battalion Royal Fusiliers
  • 45th Bn RF (1st MG Bn)
  • 1st Australian Machine Gun Battalion
  • 2nd Australian Machine Gun Company
  • Royal Fusiliers
Places
Conflicts/Operations
  • First World War, 1914-1918
  • North Russia, 1919
Gazettes Biographical information They dared mightily. in 1963
Published in London Gazette in 1919-10-23
Published in London Gazette in 1917-12-12
Published in Commonwealth Gazette in 1918-05-02
Published in Commonwealth Gazette in 1920-02-12
Description

Sam Pearse (1897-1919) came to Victoria from Wales when only young. He enlisted in the AIF before he had turned 18. After brief service on Gallipoli with the 7th Battalion, he went to the Western Front, where he saw a lot of action and was awarded the Military Medal.

Once the war ended, Pearse married in Britain, but soon afterwards went to North Russia with the British relief force. In his heroic exploit there, he went through barbed-wire defences while under heavy machine-gun fire to attack a blockhouse. He single-handedly killed the occupants with bombs, but while fighting on he was killed. His widow and daughter later came to Australia

Collection items

    Media


    The grave of Samuel George Pearse VC MM, of the AIF and Australian Detachment, Royal Fusiliers, ...

    Members of No 2 Gun Crew of the Australian Section of the 201st Battalion, Machine Gun Corps, ...

    2870, PRIVATE SAMUEL GEORGE PEARSE, MM, 2ND MACHINE GUN COMPANY. LATER PROMOTED TO CORPORAL HE ...

    PORTRAIT OF 2870 PRIVATE SAMUEL GEORGE PEARSE, MM, 2ND MACHINE GUN COMPANY. LATER PROMOTED TO ...

    OBOZERSKIY, USSR. GRAVE OF SERGEANT S.G PEARSE, VC MM OF THE AIF AND NORTH RUSSIA RELIEF FORCE. ...

    Document


    Wallet 1 of 1 - Diary and postcard of Wilfred Charles Yeaman, 1919-1920

    Wallet 1 of 1 - Postcards and letter of Wilfred John Robinson, c.1919, 1979

    Wallet 1 of 1 - Letters from William Bosville Baverstock to his mother, Mrs AB Baverstock, and other papers, 1919

Rolls

Timeline

Date of birth 16 July 1897
Date and unit at enlistment (ORs) 05 July 1915 1 Machine Gun Battalion.
Date of enlistment 05 July 1915
Date of embarkation 10 September 1915
Date of honour or award 28 September 1917 Awarded Military Medal for courage and resource on outpost duty, and services as a runner during fighting east of Ypres.
Date of recommendation honour or award 30 September 1917
Date and unit at enlistment (ORs) 1919 Enlisted in British Army, 45th Battalion, the Royal Fusiliers.
Date of discharge 18 July 1919
Date of death 29 August 1919
Date of honour or award 29 August 1919 Awarded Victoria Cross for action at North of Emtsa, North Russia whilst serving with 45 Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, Sadlier Jackson's Brigade as a Sergeant.

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