Remembering Katanning’s Victoria Cross recipients, awarded for their brave and heroic actions

Anzac Day approaches and with it the remembrance of those who bravely fought and those who were honoured for their heroic deeds. Among those who have fought for Australia are Katanning’s very own Victoria Cross recipients, Private Percy Gratwick who fought in El Alamein in the Second World War, and Lieutenant Alfred Edward Gaby, who fought and died on the Somme in the First World War. Private Percy Eric Gratwick was born in Katanning, 1902, the son of the local postmaster, he worked as a drover and blacksmith before enlisting in 1940. Private Gratwick joined the 2nd/48th Battalion and was stationed in Egypt by June 1942. About midnight on October 26, Private Gratwick’s platoon was reduced to seven men after being pinned by heavy artillery fire by German soldiers at Miteiriya Ridge, Egypt. Private Gratwick discarded any thought for his safety and wellbeing when armed only with a rifle bayonet and hand grenades, charged the firing enemy line and devastated enemy forces, even taking out a mortar crew, before facing down a manned submachine gun firing on him. Private Gratwick reached the submachine gunner and pitched grenades into the post, but took a mortal hit when charging the enemy, dying on the battlefield. His actions galvanised the remainder of his platoon who were able to complete their objective and clean up the area of enemy assailants. He was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously in January 1943. Lieutenant Gaby, originally from Tasmania, was employed as a labourer in Katanning when he enlisted to fight in the Great War in 1916, subsequently being posted to the 10th/28th Battalion as a private. Climbing through the ranks, Gaby was promoted to the role of Lieutenant in September 1917. His battalion was posted at Villers-Bretonneux, in the Somme, when his company ran into difficulties with barbed wire in August 1918. Finding a gap, Lieutenant Gaby charged head first into enemy machine gun fire, armed mainly with a revolver, capturing four machine guns and fifty men. A few days later, Lieutenant Gaby was caught by sniper fire and killed in action while engaging with an enemy machine gun. Lieutenant Gaby was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross in August 1918. Private Gratwick is buried in El Alamein and Lieutenant Gaby rests at Harbonnières, neither returning home after their acts of service.