Henry Dalziel

He charged the gun and carried ammunition despite his wounds

Henry Dalziel was born near Irvinebank in north Queensland on 18 February 1893. His parents were prospectors who later settled near Atherton. A railway fireman before the war, he enlisted in January 1915 and served with the 15th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force. He fought at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, surviving serious wounds before returning to the battalion in June 1918.

At Hamel on 4 July, Dalziel was serving with a Lewis gun team during the attack on Pear Trench. A German position opened fire from another direction and threatened the advance. He rushed it with his revolver, capturing the weapon and its surviving crew. Although wounded in the hand and ordered to seek treatment, he remained with the attack.

After the objective fell, he repeatedly crossed exposed ground to bring forward ammunition. He continued until a bullet struck his head, shattering his skull. Initially thought unlikely to survive, he received prolonged treatment in France and England. George V presented his Victoria Cross in December 1918 before he returned to Australia.

In 1920 he married Ida Ramsay, an army nurse, and attempted soldier settlement near Atherton. Persistent pain and disability made farming and employment difficult. After their separation he moved to Brisbane, where he later formed a family with Elsie Kanowski. He wrote songs and poetry about the country he had left behind and served again in the Citizen Military Forces. During the Second World War his work included recruiting, training and fundraising until medical discharge in 1943.

Dalziel supported veterans and also intervened to help a German Australian family affected by wartime internment. In 1956 he attended the Victoria Cross centenary in London and revisited Hamel. He died in Brisbane on 24 July 1965 after a stroke. His family remembered a father whose battlefield injuries never fully healed but whose public and private life continued for nearly half a century.

Official Victoria Cross citation

For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty when in action with a Lewis gun section. His company met with determined resistance from a strong point which was strongly garrisoned, manned by numerous machine guns, and undamaged by our artillery fire, was also protected by strong wire entanglements. A heavy concentration of machine-gun fire caused many casualties, and held up our advance. His Lewis gun having come into action and silenced enemy guns in one direction, an enemy gun opened fire from another direction. Private Dalziel dashed at it, and with his revolver killed or captured the entire crew and gun, and allowed our advance to continue. He was severely wounded in the hand, but carried on and took part in the capture of the final objective. He twice went over open ground under heavy enemy artillery and machine-gun fire to secure ammunition, and though suffering from considerable loss of blood, he filled magazines and served his gun until severely wounded through the head. His magnificent bravery and devotion to duty was an inspiring example to all his comrades, and his dash and unselfish courage at a most critical time undoubtedly saved many lives and turned what would have been a severe check into a splendid success.

Third Supplement to The London Gazette of 16 August 1918. 17 August 1918, Numb. 30849, p. 9660