Description
Book SynopsisOur heroes can come from the most ordinary of places. As a shy lad growing up in country Victoria, no one in the district had any idea the man Albert Jacka would become.
Albert ''Bert'' Jacka was 21 when Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914. Bert soon enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force and the young private was assigned to 14th Battalion D Company. By the time they shipped out to Egypt he''d been made a Lance Corporal.
On 26 April 1915, 14th Battalion landed at Gallipoli under the command of Brigadier General Monash''s 4th Infantry Brigade. It was here, on 20 May, that Lance Corporal Albert Jacka proved he was ''the bravest of the brave''. The Turks were gaining ground with a full-scale frontal attack and as his comrades lay dead or dying in the trenches around him, Jacka single-handedly held off the enemy onslaught. The Turks retreated.
Jacka''s extraordinary efforts saw him awarded the Victoria Cross, the first for an Australian soldier in Wor
