John Elisha Grimshaw Lieutenant - Colonel John Elisha Grimshaw VC ( 20 January 1893 – 20 July 1980 ) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces . Born in Abram , Lancashire , he worked as a coal miner before enlisting in the Lancashire Fusiliers , British Army in August 1912 . He served with his battalion in India before the outbreak of the First World War . He was 22 years old , and a Lance - Corporal signaller in C Company of the 1st Battalion , when he took part in the landing on W Beach on 25 April 1915 west of Cape Helles , Gallipoli , Turkey , at the opening of the Battle of Gallipoli . His job was to maintain communications between the units which had landed and the headquarters for the landing on HMS " Euryalus " . During the landing , the three companies and the Headquarters of the 1st Battalion , Lancashire Fusiliers , were met by a very heavy and effective fire from the company of Ottoman Empire troops defending the beach . This caused 533 casualties out of the 950 men who attempted to land . The survivors , however , rushed up and cut the wire entanglements notwithstanding the terrific fire from the enemy and after overcoming supreme difficulties , the cliffs were gained and the position maintained . Grimshaw ' s own account said that , " In boats we got within 200 or 300 yards from the shore when the Turks opened a terrible fire . Sailors were shot dead at their oars . With rifles held over our heads we struggled through the barbed wire in the water to the beach and fought a way to the foot of the cliffs leaving the biggest part of our men dead and wounded . " Grimshaw was awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions during the landing . Grimshaw , along with Cuthbert Bromley , William Keneally , Alfred Joseph Richards , Frank Edward Stubbs and Richard Raymond Willis had originally been nominated for a Victoria Cross by Major Bishop , the battalion ' s commanding officer , after consulting ' the officers who happened to be with him at the time and who did not include either of the officers awarded the Cross ' . The recommendation endorsed by Hunter - Weston and Hamilton but was not proceeded with by the War Office . In August , Hunter - Weston made a second recommendation for three of the men ; under the original 1856 warrant establishing the award up to 4 VCs could be awarded as a result of balloting the units involved ; and Keneally , Richards and Willis , were awarded the medal having been selected by the surviving privates , NCOs and officers respectively . However , Brigadier Owen Wolley - Dod , who was a member of Hunter - Weston ' s general staff and a Lancashire Fusilier himself , and who had landed on the beach shortly after noon continued pressing for more awards to be made . Eventually the other three men , including Grimshaw , were finally awarded the medal . The awards were published in the " London Gazette " on 13 March 1917 , with an identical citation to the original three men . Grimshaw had his DCM cancelled and replaced with a Victoria Cross . The courage of the 6 men awarded the medal as a result of the landing was hailed in the Press as ' 6 VCs before breakfast ' . Meanwhile Grimshaw had been evacuated from Gallipoli suffering from frostbite and , in 1916 , posted to Hull as a rifle instructor . Whilst at Hull , he married Margaret Stout , with whom he later had two children . He was subsequently sent with his battalion to France where , as a Sergeant , he was commissioned in 1917 . In 1918 he was posted to the First Battalion of the 75th Carnatic Infantry in India , and promoted to Lieutenant , before rejoining the Lancashire Fusiliers in 1920 and retiring in 1921 . In 1934 he was appointed the Army ' s Chief Recruiting Officer in the Northumbria n Area and promoted to Lieutenant - Colonel ; he later held the same appointment in East Anglia . He died 20 July 1980 at Isleworth , London and was cremated at the South West London Crematorium in Hamwell , Middlesex .