Samuel George Pearse, VC, MM (16 July 1897 – 29 August 1919) 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. Serving in the Australian Imperial Force during the First World War, he saw action during the final weeks of the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915 and later on the Western Front from 1916 to 1918. Following the Armistice he fought as part of the North Russia Relief Force with the British Army during the North Russia Campaign in 1919. He was killed after charging a machine gun post during an action at Emtsa, in North Russia, for which he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
Early life
Samuel George Pearse was born on 16 July 1897 at Penarth, Glamorganshire, Wales, to George Stapleton Pearse and his wife Sarah Ann, née Sellick. Initially educated at Penarth Boarding School, he moved to Australia with his family in 1911, with his father acquiring a property near at Koorlong, near Mildura, Victoria. Pearse later worked as a fruit-picker, labourer, trapper, and as a deck-hand on a paddle-steamer. assigned to the 9th Reinforcement for the 7th Battalion reaching Gallipoli shortly before the evacuation and spending two weeks in the line there in December 1915.
After transferring to the 2nd Machine Gun Company, assigned to support the 2nd Brigade, Pearse subsequently saw action on the Western Front where he was wounded on 24 August 1916 but soon returned to his unit.
Challinger records that Pearse was awarded his Military Medal in the field by General Sir William Birdwood but that at the time Birdwood had run out of medals and decorated Pearse with a strip of medal ribbon. Challinger also references Pearse's army record which quite apart from his awards for valour includes entries for neglect of duty, absence from guard and disobedience to orders. He was promoted to lance corporal on 21 November 1917, and to corporal on 10 April 1918. He was wounded in action for a second time on 19 May 1918.
Burial and medals
Samuel Pearse was buried in a military graveyard near the Obozerskaya railway station, between Emtsa and Archangel, North Russia. A photo taken in September 1919 shows his grave to be intact, but all visible traces of the graveyard eventually disappeared and the location forgotten. The Allied War Cemetery in Archangel has plaques on its walls listing the names of all those buried elsewhere. His Victoria Cross, Military Medal and 1914–15 Star are on display under his photo in the Hall of Valour at the Australian War Memorial (AWM) in Canberra. Two other service medals were issued but their whereabouts is unknown.
In 2018, a small team of Russian volunteers found a grave believed to be that of Sgt. Pearse after part-time searching for more than ten years. Guided by a 1925 map and 1919 aerial photograph, the remains were exhumed and are currently being stored at the Archangel Morgue. As of 2019, formal DNA identification of the remains has not yet been undertaken but the skeleton is the same height as Sgt. Pearse (5'6"); the remains of a slouch hat were found in the grave; the grave was precisely as shown on the 1925 map; a toe was missing from the right foot, as mentioned in Pearse's Australian army records; and the whitewashed stones found during the exhumation appeared to be those shown in the 1919 photograph.
On 29 August 2019, a brief ceremony with nine people in attendance took place at the remains of the bunker where Pearse died, unofficially commemorating the 100th anniversary. Those in attendance included seven Russians – three members of the search team, a priest, a female interpreter, a female reporter and her cameraman – and two Australians, Damien Wright, historian and author (Churchill's Secret War With Lenin, 2017), and Richard Christen, grandson of Pearse.