{{short description|Recipient of the Victoria Cross}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}} {{Infobox military person |name=John Beeley |birth_date={{Birth date|1918|2|8|df=yes}} |death_date={{death date and age|1941|11|21|1918|2|8|df=y}} |birth_place= Manchester, England |death_place= Sidi Rezegh, Italian Libya |burial_place=Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Acroma |image= John Beeley.jpg |image_size= 125 |caption= |nickname= |allegiance={{flag|United Kingdom}} |service_years=1938−1941 |service_number=6846197 |rank=Rifleman |branch={{army|United Kingdom}} |commands= |unit=King's Royal Rifle Corps |battles= Second World War * North African campaign ** Western Desert campaign *** Operation Crusader **** Battle of Sidi Rezegh {{KIA}} |awards= 30px Victoria Cross |other_work= }} Rifleman '''John Beeley''' VC (8 February 1918 – 21 November 1941) was a British Army soldier and an English recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Beeley was 23 years old, and a rifleman in the 1st Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps, British Army during Operation Crusader in the Second World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
On 21 November 1941 at Sidi Rezegh, Libya, at an airfield being attacked by Rifleman Beeley's company, progress was held up by short range fire. All the officers of the company were wounded so, on his own initiative the rifleman ran forward over open ground, firing his Bren gun and at 20 yards range put an anti-tank gun and two machine-guns out of action. He was killed but his bravery inspired his comrades to further efforts to reach their objective, which was eventually captured, together with 700 prisoners.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=35530 |date=17 April 1942|page=1741|supp=y}}</ref>
He is buried in the Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Acroma, Libya.<ref name="cwgc">{{cite web | url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2096055/BEELEY,%20JOHN | title=Casualty Details: BEELEY, JOHN | publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission | accessdate=26 September 2012}}</ref> His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum in Winchester, England. A street in Openshaw, Manchester, has been named ''John Beeley Avenue'' in his honour.<ref>*{{cite news |title=Honour for city's first WWII hero |date=2 August 2005 |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4739305.stm |accessdate=10 August 2008 }}</ref>
==References== ;Citations {{Reflist}} ;Bibliography *British VCs of World War 2 (John Laffin, 1997) *Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999) *The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
==External links== *{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011232505/http://www.btinternet.com/~splyons/archives/rfn_john_beeley_vc_hero_honoured.pdf |date=11 October 2012 |title=Biography }} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20160204115245/http://www.krrcassociation.com/journ06/Victoria%20Crosses_John%20Beeley.pdf KRRC journal]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Beeley, John}} Category:1918 births Category:1941 deaths Category:People from Openshaw Category:British World War II recipients of the Victoria Cross Category:King's Royal Rifle Corps soldiers Category:British Army personnel killed in World War II Category:British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross Category:Burials at Knightsbridge War Cemetery Category:Military personnel from Manchester