John Robert Osborn


Company Sergeant Major John Robert Osborn, VC was a Canadian soldier. Osborn was a 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. He was born in Norfolk, England, and served in the Royal Navy during the First World War.

Details

Osborn was born in England and came to Canada in 1920, after serving in the First World War with the Royal Naval Division. Many myths surround Osborn's World War I service though records point to Osborn having a short military service with him getting wounded by gas near Flesquières in March 1918. Osborn continued to suffer from the effects of the gas for the rest of his life causing Osborn, under a doctor's advice, to move to Canada to help alleviate the effects. Osborn first lived in Toronto, then Manitoba, working at various railway yards before finding farm work in Saskatchewan. On 19 May 1926, Osborn married Margaret Elizabeth Nelson; they had five children. Osborn was injured in an accident resulting in him having to quit farming and find other work. He went from job to job, never staying long, before finally settling in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1933, where he enlisted in the militia.
The start of the Second World War saw Osborn in The Winnipeg Grenadiers, that by 15 March 1941, would be redesignated the 1st Battalion, The Winnipeg Grenadiers. Osborn served with The Winnipeg Grenadiers throughout the battalion's war service from their garrison duties in Jamaica to their deployment to Hong Kong. On the day before the Winnipeg Grenadiers were to board the train to Vancouver, Osborn's youngest child Patricia suffered burns when her dress caught fire from a stove. Osborn stayed the night at the hospital delivering blood transfusion before boarding the train the following day. By the time of the Japanese attack on Hong Kong, on 8 December 1941, Osborn had not received word that Patricia survived her injuries. Osborn was 42 years old, and a Warrant Officer Second Class, holding an appointment as Company Sergeant-Major for A Company in the 1st Battalion, The Winnipeg Grenadiers, during the Second World War when the following deed took place on Mount Butler, Hong Kong, for which he was awarded the VC.
His citation in the London Gazette reads:
Osborn was the first Canadian awarded a Victoria Cross in the Second World War. His was the only Victoria Cross awarded for Battle of Hong Kong.

Legacy

Tributes in Hong Kong
  • Osborn Barracks in Kowloon Tong was named after him.
  • Osborn is memorialised by a statue of an anonymous World War I soldier located in Hong Kong Park. The statue was originally part of the Eu Tong Sen statuary collection at Eucliff villa. When Eucliff villa was demolished, the statue was donated to Osborn Barracks in Kowloon in the 1980s and where it stayed for ten years before being relocated to Hong Kong Park.
  • In 2005, a plaque remembering Osborn's sacrifice was unveiled on the Hong Kong Trail parallel to where he fell. The supposed spot where he died is marked by a pile of rocks nearby the sign, but is relatively inaccessible due to heavy foliage.
  • His name is engraved on the memorial hall of Sai Wan War Cemetery in Hong Kong.
Tributes in Canada: