John O'Neill

Lieutenant John O'Neill VC MM (also spelt O'Niell) (10 February 1897 − 16 October 1942) was a British Army officer and a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

O'Neill was 21 years old, and a sergeant in the 2nd Battalion, Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment, British Army during the First World War when in October 1918 near Moorsele, Belgium, he won the Victoria Cross.

The citation reads:

O'Neill later served in the RAF as an armourer sergeant where he served alongside T. E. Lawrence

On 1 June 1940 O'Neill was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps. In that year he was an officer on HMT Dunera, taking to Australia "enemy aliens", most of whom were German Jews. Possessions of the internees were rifled through and stolen. He appeared as a witness at a subsequent court martial. The internees used the Russian song "Stenka Rassin" with new ironic German text:

1. Strophe: 1. verse: Deponiert auf der Dunera We're being deported on the Dunera und Australien ist das Ziel. Australia is our destination; Uns're Koffer sind erbrochen, Our suitcases have been forced open uns're Hemden trägt O'Neill. Lt. O'Neill now wears our shirts.

John O'Neill died of a heart attack on 16 October 1942. He is buried at Holy Trinity Church, Hoylake, in The Wirral.