Martin O'Meara
| Martin O'Meara | |
|---|---|
Private Martin O'Meara c.1915–16
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| Born |
6 November 1885 Terryglass, Lorrha, Ireland |
| Died | 20 December 1935 (aged 50) Perth, Australia |
| Buried at | Karrakatta Cemetery, Perth |
| Allegiance | Australia |
| Service/branch | Australian Imperial Force |
| Years of service | 1915–19 |
| Rank | Sergeant |
| Unit | 16th Battalion |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | Victoria Cross |
Martin O'Meara, VC (6 November 1885 – 20 December 1935) was an Irish-born 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.
O'Meara was born at Terryglass, Lorrha, County Tipperary. He spent his early years in County Tipperary and by 1911 had moved to County Kilkenny where he was working as a wood cutter.
He arrived in South Australia in 1912, where he initially worked as a labourer at Wild Horse Plains. He then travelled to Port Augusta where he worked as a labourer on railway construction projects, and then to the McLaren Vale area south of Adelaide where he was, again, a railway construction worker.
He travelled to Western Australia in 1914 and worked as a labourer in the Pinjarra area before making his way to the Collie area.
He was working as a sleeper cutter near Collie before enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force on 19 August 1915.
Assigned to 16th Battalion as a private, O'Meara sailed from Fremantle on the troopship Ajana on 22 December 1915. He arrived at Port Suez in Egypt on 13 January 1915. He initially served with the 16th Battalion in Egypt as an infantryman and as a machine gunner with the 4th Machine Gun Company before arriving in France on 7 June 1916.
In late June 1916 he joined the 16th Battalion's newly formed Scouting Section in northern France and served as a scout, observer and sniper during his time on the Western Front in Belgium and France.
Between 9 and 12 August 1916 at Mouquet Farm, Pozières, during four days of very heavy fighting, Private O'Meara repeatedly went out and brought in wounded officers and men from "no man's land" under intense artillery and machine-gun fire. He also volunteered and carried up ammunition and bombs through a heavy barrage to a portion of the trenches which was being heavily shelled at the time.
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