Medal Entitlement: Victoria Cross, India Medal (1895-1902) (Clasps: Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Samana 1897, Queen's South Africa Medal (1899-1902) (Clasps: Cape Colony, Wittebergen, Belfast) |
VC Action: John Barry VC (February 1, 1873 - January 8, 1901) was born in Ireland, and was 27 years old, and a private in the 1st Battalion, The Royal Irish Regiment, British Army during the South African War (Boer War, 1899-1902) when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the first posthumous VC.
On January 7, 1901, during a night attack on Monument Hill, Private Barry was near a Maxim gun when his party was surrounded and threatened by the Boers. To save it from falling into the enemy's hands and being used against our own men, he heroically smashed the breach of it, rendering it quite useless. He was shot 18 times and died the next morning of his wounds.
The Victoria Cross, as stated in the Gazette, would have been awarded to him had he survived, but it was handed to his relatives by the authorities in accordance with the new regulation introduced by the Secretary of State for War in 1902 |
