Arthur Blackburn Brigadier Arthur Seaforth Blackburn VC , CMG , CBE , ED ( 25 November 1892 – 24 November 1960 ) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces . Early life . Blackburn was born on 25 November 1892 at Woodville , South Australia . He was educated at Pulteney Grammar School , the Collegiate School of St Peter and the University of Adelaide ( LL . B . , 1913 ) . First World War . Gallipoli . In 1914 , Private Blackburn , a 21 - year - old lawyer from Adelaide , was among the first to enlist in the " Fighting 10th " Battalion , and as a battalion scout he was among the first to land at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915 . Australia ' s official World War I historian Charles Bean noted that Blackburn , with Lance Corporal Robin , probably made it further inland than any other Australian soldiers " whose movements are known " . Blackburn was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant at Gallipoli in August 1915 , and served there for almost the entire campaign . Western Front . On 23 July 1916 , at Pozières , France , the 23 year - old second lieutenant led an attack for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross . Blackburn was directed with 50 men to drive the enemy from a strong point . By great determination he captured 250 yards of trench , after personally leading four separate parties of bombers against it , many of whom became casualties . Then after crawling forward with a sergeant to reconnoitre , he returned , attacked again , and seized another 120 yards of trench to establish communication with the battalion on his left . Blackburn returned to Australia on 22 March 1917 , marrying Rose Ada Kelly , and being discharged on medical grounds soon after . Between the wars . Blackburn returned to legal practice and took an active part in the pro - conscription campaigns . During 1918 – 21 he was Nationalist member for Sturt in the South Australian House of Assembly ; he did not seek re - election in 1921 . Blackburn was a founding member of the Returned Sailors ' , Soldiers ' and Airmen ' s Imperial League in South Australia , where he served as president of the State branch from 1917 – 21 . He joined the militia in 1924 . In 1933 – 47 Blackburn was city coroner , in which office he encountered and ignored criticism for refusing to offer public explanation for any decision not to hold an inquest . Second World War . In 1939 , Blackburn was promoted Lieutenant Colonel and took command of a motorized cavalry regiment , the 18th Light Horse ( Machine Gun ) Regiment . He ceased legal practice in 1940 . He was appointed to command the 2 / 3rd Australian Machine - Gun Battalion , which fought under his command in Syria against the Vichy French in 1941 . Blackburn , as the senior Allied officer present , accepted the surrender of Damascus on 21 June , and after the campaign was a member of the Allied Control Commission for Syria . In February 1942 , Blackburn landed with a small Australian force in Java . There he was promoted to brigadier and appointed to command ' Black Force ' , to assist the Dutch against the rapid Japanese advance . After three weeks ' vigorous but fruitless resistance , and in spite of Blackburn ' s reluctance , the Allied forces surrendered on 9 March 1942 . Blackburn was the senior officer of the Black Force prisoner group , which included 300 Australian seamen from HMAS " Perth " . He remained a prisoner of war until September 1945 when he was liberated in Mukden , Manchuria , weak but not broken in health . In 1946 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his distinguished service in Java . He received his discharge in 1946 . Later life . In 1947 – 55 Blackburn served as a conciliation commissioner in the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration , and again as State president of the RSL from 1946 – 1949 . For his services to the community , he was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1955 . Blackburn died on 24 November 1960 at Crafers , South Australia from a ruptured aneurism of the common iliac artery , and was buried in the Australian Imperial Force section of Adelaide ' s West Terrace Cemetery . His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Australian War Memorial , Canberra . Honours and awards . Blackburn was awarded :