Echoes of a reluctant hero’s story
King George V awarded the Victoria Cross to Tasmanian Percy Statton in 1919, part of a remarkable life story traced by great-granddaughter Kerri Morley
IT has been a humbling experience for my family to commemorate the centenary of Percy Statton’s action that resulted in him being awarded the Victoria Cross.
The Victoria Cross is the highest Commonwealth award for acts of bravery in war-like actions. Of the 100 Victoria Crosses awarded to Australians, 14 have gone to Tasmanians.
The Stattons were a mining family who moved from Ballarat to Beaconsfield in the Tasmanian gold mining boom.
This is where Percy Clyde Statton was born on October 21, 1890. The family moved to Zeehan where Percy was educated at the local state school.
After his schooling, Percy moved to Tyenna, near Maydena, where he worked as a farmer and married in 1907 aged 17.
Despite his wife’s disapproval, Percy enlisted for service in World War I in February 1916 and was allotted to the newly formed all Tasmanian 40th Battalion.
The battalion embarked from Hobart aboard the troop ship Berrima on July 1, 1916, and disembarked in England seven weeks later.
In November 1916 Percy embarked for France and the Western Front. The battalion was transferred to Flanders in Belgium and Percy was promoted to sergeant in April 1917.
In June the battalion took part in the Battle of Messines. Percy was in charge of getting ammunition to the front line and was subject to heavy artillery and machinegun fire.
Despite heavy losses, they managed to reach the front line on every occasion and for his actions, Percy was awarded the Military Medal.
In October 1917, Percy was involved in operations during the First Battle of Passchendaele when he suffered a serious gunshot wound to his shoulder.
Returning to duty, he was wounded in a gas attack at Villers-Bretonneux in June 1918.
On August 12, 1918, the 40th Battalion was tasked with seizing and holding a valley to the south of Proyart. An announcement from Buckingham Palace would later explain: “For most conspicuous bravery and initiative in action when in command of a platoon which reached its objective, the remainder of the battalion being held up by heavy machine-gun fire. He skilfully engaged two machine-gun posts with Lewis gun fire, enabling the remainder of his battalion to advance.
“The advance of the battalion on his left had been brought to a standstill by heavy enemy machine-gun fire, and the first of our assaulting detachments to reach the machine-gun posts were put out of action in taking the first gun. Armed only with a revolver, in broad daylight, Sergeant Statton at once rushed four enemy machine-gun posts in succession, disposing of two of them, and killing five of the enemy. The remaining two posts retired and were wiped out by Lewis-gun fire.
“Later in the evening, under heavy machine-gun fire, he went out again and brought in two badly wounded men. Sergeant Statton set a magnificent example of quick decision, and the success of the attacking troops was largely due to his determined gallantry.”
On September 27, the 40th Battalion was ordered onto parade by its commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel John Lord. Addressing the assembled crowd, Lord announced that same day, the name of Sergeant Percy Statton would appear in the London Gazette announcing that he had been awarded the Victoria Cross.
Described by the battalion’s historian as a “reluctant hero”, Percy was granted three cheers before he was carried shoulder-high through the ranks while the battalion band played.
Percy received his Victoria Cross from King George V at Buckingham Palace in June 1919.
Percy arrived home in Hobart on November 26, 1919 and was discharged from the Australian Imperial Force in January 1920. He lived an eventful life — including rejoining the army as a lieutenant in World War II — until dying from cancer in 1959.
He continued working in the Maydena area with Australian Newsprint Mills (now Norske Skog), married twice more, lost his home and business in a fire that claimed the life of his stepdaughter, and later lived at Ouse where he served on the local council.
My great-grandfather Percy passed away before I was born. It has become a journey of mine to retrace his life and to get to know this great man that I hadn’t met.
I have had the pleasure to have met so many wonderful people, who had known, lived or worked with him.
One remarkable gentleman was the late Frank MacDonald. We met on his 100th birthday and kept in contact until he passed away at the age of 107.
Frank was an eyewitness to Percy’s action. He was also the surviving member of their battalion and the last Tasmanian World War I veteran.
He described Percy’s actions as the most courageous he had witnessed during the entire war and said he should have been awarded two VCs.
Also remarkable was the privilege to meet Margaret Johnson, the daughter of Private Nathaniel Beard who was one of the three soldiers who went out with Percy and neutralised the German machineguns on that day in 1918.
He was mentioned in despatches for his bravery. He survived the war and married late in life.
Margaret recently accompanied us to the annual lunch to commemorate the Battle of Amiens, for it was during this battle on August 12, 1918, that Percy was recommended for the Victoria Cross.
More recently, our family has attended the dedicating of the Statton VC Memorial Garden at Zeehan Primary School, and a commemorative service at the Maydena RSL Club on the centenary of the day Percy earned his VC.
Four other Tasmanians were awarded the Victoria Cross during World War I and two of them had a working relationship with Percy after the war.
One of them, Stanley McDougall VC, worked in forestry at Maydena. And Percy bumped into John Dwyer VC, quite literally, in a car accident at an intersection at New Norfolk. Both got out of their cars quite annoyed at each other until they recognised who they were, and a great reunion followed.
Percy believed that every soldier deserved a Victoria Cross and there was nothing he had done that anyone else wouldn’t have done.