Lest We Forget

Feeling as though Tasmania's 15 Victoria Cross recipients were being increasingly forgotten, Kerri Statton embarked on what she was told was an impossible task — getting all the families together in one place.

Her constant phone calls and messages will pay off on Tuesday when two descendants from each family sit down for lunch at the Tasmanian Club in Hobart.

"Ringing these descendants, finding them … to be told I couldn't find 15 and to have found them all, I was so excited," she said.

"This event is a once-in-a-lifetime event — it's never happened in Australia and it hasn't happened anywhere."

"The recipients have had reunions, the descendants have never had a reunion, and from what I've been told that is Australia-wide … I'm even hearing it as far as Canada."

Mrs Statton is the great-granddaughter of Sergeant Percy Statton, who was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) for rescuing two badly wounded men while under heavy fire near Proyart in France, in August 1918. 

She said she found it "sad" that Tasmania's VC recipients were rarely talked about and wanted to spark conversations about them. 

"One of the descendants cried when I rang on the phone because she thought her father had been forgotten," Mrs Statton said.

"I'm hoping out of tomorrow's luncheon that we all stay connected.

"We're all getting older, but [I hope] the 13 that are 100-odd years old start to get remembered again, bring them back into history again."

Family members attending the luncheon range from children of recipients to cousins, great-grandchildren and even a father, with six families travelling from interstate for the event. 

Thirteen of the 15 Tasmanian Victoria Cross recipients were awarded the honour for deeds during World War I, one for service in Afghanistan and another for his heroism in World War II.

Ordinary Seaman Edward , 78 years after his death in World War II, while Burnie-born Corporal Cameron Baird was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2013.

'He'd be proud we came' 

Caroline Gee, daughter of Lance Corporal Bernard Sidney Gordon, has flown from Queensland to Tasmania with her daughter Judith to attend the luncheon.

Lance Corporal Gordon was born in Launceston and worked as a cooper's machinist in Beaconsfield, before moving to Queensland, where he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1915. 

He was awarded the VC for attacking a German machine-gun post, where he captured 29 prisoners single-handedly. 

Lance Corporal Gordon captured 63 enemy troops and six machine guns in total during World War I.

He died in 1963, at the age of 72.

Caroline Gee said the luncheon was a "wonderful idea" and said she was thrilled to be able to attend after COVID-19 cancelled three previous attempts to hold the event.

"It's really, really important to honour my father and all the VC winners from Tasmania and Australia," Mrs Gee said.

"They [were] very brave, wonderful men and this is why we live under this beautiful sky.

"I think it's going to be a great occasion and we'll be able to talk to one another about our ancestors and the people that have done these wonderful acts."

Mrs Gee said her father "had the most influence on my life of anybody".

"He did believe that every man that stepped off the shore to fight for this country deserved a VC. In his mind he wasn't famous for what he did," she said. 

"He'd be proud that we came."

Judith Gee said it was important to remember the stories of the people who risked their lives for their country.

"I think it's really important, because how easy would it be [for] all of that to be forgotten and not acknowledge why we have the great country that we do right now," she said.

Elaine Jarvis, the great-niece of Captain Percy Cherry, has been friends with Ms Statton for almost 20 years. She said she was delighted to have the opportunity to meet the families of other Tasmanian VC recipients.

"I've got all these questions and notes to bring out and show them," she said.

"One thing that I wanted to do is catch up with the ones who lived at Cygnet, because there are three Cygnet boys who received the VC."

Captain Cherry was born in Victoria but moved to Cradoc in the Huon Valley as a child, joining the Cygnet cadets and the army band there. 

He died in Lagnicourt-Marcel, France in 1917, after his company was overwhelmed by enemy troops.

Captain Cherry organised machine-gun and bombing parties, sent back reports of progress and refused to leave his post after being wounded during battle. 

Ms Jarvis agreed more should be done to recognise the VC recipients.