Albert Edward McKenzie

Albert Edward McKenzie VC (23 October 1898 – 3 November 1918) was an English 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.

Albert McKenzie VC
Albert McKenzie returns home with his VC
Born23 October 1898
Bermondsey, London
Died3 November 1918 (aged 20)
Chatham Naval Hospital, Kent
Buried
Camberwell Old Cemetery
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
Years of service1913–1918
RankAble Seaman
UnitHMS Vindictive
Battles/warsWorld War I †
AwardsVictoria Cross

Details

McKenzie was a 19-year-old able seaman in the Royal Navy during the First World War who was taking part in the Zeebrugge Raid when he performed the deed for which he was awarded the VC.

On 22/23 April 1918 at Zeebrugge, Belgium, Able Seaman McKenzie was a member of a storming party on the night of the operation.[1] He landed with his machine-gun in the face of great difficulties, advancing down the Mole with his commanding officer (Arthur Leyland Harrison) who with most of his party was killed. The seaman accounted for several of the enemy running for shelter to a destroyer alongside the Mole, and was severely wounded whilst working his gun in an exposed position.[2]

He was presented with his VC by King George V at Buckingham Palace. However, having almost recovered from his wounds, he died of influenza during the world flu pandemic at the beginning of November 1918.[3] He is buried in Camberwell Old Cemetery, South London.[4]

The medal

Mckenzie's Victoria Cross is still owned by the McKenzie family and is on loan to the Imperial War Museum in London.

Commemoration
Memorial to Albert McKenzie in Bermondsey

A memorial in honour of Albert McKenzie VC was unveiled on 23 October 2015 (the 117th anniversary of his birth) at the junction of Tower Bridge Road, Decima Street and Bermondsey Street, Bermondsey, in the London Borough of Southwark.

References
  1. Albert Edward McKenzie on Lives of the First World War
  2. "No. 30807". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 July 1918. p. 8586.
  3. CWGC entry
  4. Albert Edward McKenzie, Grave locations for holders of the Victoria Cross, South East London Archived 2004-10-28 at the Wayback Machine

Further reading
  • David Harvey, Monuments to Courage (1999)
  • The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
  • Stephen Snelling, VCs of the First World War: The Naval VCs (2002)
  • Deborah Lake, The Zeebrugge and Ostend Raids 1918 (Barnsley, 2002)
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