23/11/2021
On this day in 1943 Sergeant T.C. Derrick DCM, 2/48th Battalion, performs the actions for which he would be awarded the Victoria Cross.
Thomas Currie 'Diver' Derrick was born in Adelaide on 20 March 1914. Leaving school at 14, he tried various jobs and was a farm labourer when he enlisted in July 1940 as private SX7964 with 2/48 Battalion. He served in Tobruk before being awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions at Tel el Eisa in July 1942. During fighting at El Alamein in October he was evacuated wounded but later rejoined his unit. Shifting to New Guinea in 1943, he saw more fighting and in one outstanding action firmly established himself as a national hero.
Late in the afternoon of 24 November, while leading a platoon at Sattelberg, Derrick, despite being ordered to retire, attacked up an almost vertical slope of thick jungle hiding Japanese machine-guns. Scrambling on hands and feet, hurling grenades, and using his r***e, Derrick cleared ten machine-gun posts in one of the most astonishing feats of the war. It was these actions that Derrick was awarded the Victoria Cross.
Derrick later attended an officer cadet training unit, graduating in late 1944. Insisting on returning to his famous 2/48th Battalion, he was fatally wounded during fighting on Tarakan Island, Borneo, on 22 May 1945.
Learn more: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C339869
Image: Sergeant (later Lieutenant) Thomas Currie Derrick, c1943, 067887
