George Raymond Dallas Moor

Under fire he rallied the line and recaptured a lost trench.

Lieutenant George Raymond Dallas Moor (1896–1918) was an Australian-born officer in the British Army’s Hampshire Regiment whose Victoria Cross was earned at Gallipoli when he rallied a wavering line at a dangerous moment. Only 18 at the time, he led men back into a trench near Krithia after a neighbouring detachment, having lost its officers, began to fall back under a Turkish attack. The citation credited his quick recognition that the retreat threatened the wider position and his personal example in restoring the line.

Moor was born in St Kilda, Melbourne, and educated in England at Little Appleby School and Cheltenham College. He had planned to enter the Egyptian Civil Service, but enlisted in 1914, first joining the Devonshire Regiment before receiving a commission in the Hampshire Regiment. He landed at Gallipoli with the 2nd Battalion in April 1915. The battle at Fir Tree Spur, south of Krithia, on 5 June placed him in command of an exposed sector of the line.

As a Turkish counter-attack drove back a detachment whose officers had all become casualties, Moor saw that their withdrawal could expose the rest of the British position. He ran back roughly 200 yards, stopped the retreat and led the men forward again to retake the lost trench. The Victoria Cross citation notes that he had joined the Army only months earlier and praises his bravery and presence of mind in averting a dangerous situation. The episode was stark: accounts say Moor used his revolver to stop some of the retreating men before turning the group back toward the trench.

Moor was evacuated from Gallipoli with exhaustion and later returned to service in France. He fought on the Somme, was wounded in December 1917, and served on the staff in 1918. He earned the Military Cross for reconnaissance under machine-gun fire and a Bar for taking over a stalled advance near Pijpestraat on 20 October. Before the war ended, he died of influenza at Mouvaux, France, on 3 November 1918, aged 22. He is buried at Y Farm Military Cemetery, Bois-Grenier. His Victoria Cross is held by the Royal Hampshire Regiment Museum in Winchester.

Citation summary: For conspicuous bravery south of Krithia on 5 June 1915, Moor stopped a retreat by men whose officers had been lost, led them back and recaptured a trench, preventing a dangerous break in the line.

Sources: Supplement to The London Gazette, no. 29240, 23 July 1915, p. 7279, Victoria Cross citation for Second Lieutenant George Raymond Dallas Moor; Victoria Cross and George Cross Association, “George Raymond Dallas Moor VC”; Australian War Memorial, “Lieutenant George Raymond Dallas Moor”; Victoria Cross Online, “George Raymond Dallas Moor VC MC*.”

[Biographical and award record](https://vcgca.org/our-people/profile/343/George-Raymond-Dallas--MOOR)