Dick Pirrie

Richard Michael Pirrie (6 June 1920 – 6 June 1944) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

For the Melbourne player, see Richard Pirrie.

Dick Pirrie
Personal information
Full name Richard Michael Pirrie
Date of birth (1920-06-06)6 June 1920
Place of birth Hawthorn, Victoria
Date of death 6 June 1944(1944-06-06) (aged 24)
Place of death English Channel, off Juno Beach, Normandy, German-occupied France
Original team(s) Hawthorn CYMS
Height 175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 74 kg (163 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1940–41 Hawthorn 3 (0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1941.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Family

The son of Richard Francis Pirrie (1879–1962),[1] and Isobel Agatha Pirrie (1897–1982), née McGuire,[2] Richard Michael Pirrie was born in Hawthorn on 6 June 1920.[3]

Education

He attended St Patrick's College, East Melbourne.

Football

His father, also known as "Dick" Pirrie, and his brother, Kevin Pirrie also played for Hawthorn.

His nephew, Kevin's son Stephen Pirrie, played with Richmond, St Kilda and Essendon in the Victorian Football League (VFL), and with Port Melbourne in the VFA.

War service

Following the outbreak of World War II, Pirrie enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), on 8 September 1941 and was given the service number PM/V77.[4]

Acting Sub-Lieutenant Perrie was posted to Britain, for training in amphibious landings. He was assigned initially to Royal Navy shore establishment, HMS Quebec,[5] which was a part of the British Combined Operations Training Centre, on the banks of Loch Fyne, Scotland.

By mid-1944, Pirrie had been posted to a shore establishment on the River Hamble, Hampshire, HMS Cricket,[4] where a component of the expeditionary force for the Allied invasion of North West Europe was being assembled.

On D-Day (6 June), he was attached to the crew of a British LSI HMS Invicta,[6] which landed part of the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade at "Juno Beach", near Courseulles-sur-Mer.[7] Pirrie was killed when Invicta received a direct hit from a German shore battery.[6] He was the first member of the RAN to be killed in action on D-Day.[8][9][6][10] He was mentioned in dispatches (MiD):[11] "For gallantry, skill and determination and undaunted devotion to duty during the initial landing of Allied Forces on the coast of Normandy".[12]

See also

Footnotes
  1. Deaths: Pirrie, The Age, (Monday, 17 September 1962), p.13.
  2. Pirrie-McGuire, The Advocate, (Saturday, 9 August 1919), p.26.
  3. Births: Pirrie, The Argus, (Saturday, 19 June 1920), p.13.
  4. Pirrie, Richard (2020).
  5. Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Sub-Lieutenant Richard Pirrie (2020).
  6. Bernard, Dorothy, "He Led the Invasion", The (Melbourne) Advocate, (Wednesday, 26 July 1944), p.13.
  7. "Juno Beach". Combined Ops. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
  8. Roll of Honor, The Age, (Saturday, 24 June 1944), p.4.
  9. Deaths: On Active Service: Pirrie, The Argus, (Friday 7 July 1944), p.2.
  10. News of the Day: Death on Birthday, The Age, (Thursday, 14 June 1945), p.2.
  11. Hawthorn Naval Man Honored, The (Melbourne) Herald, (Wednesday, 39 August 1944), p.5.
  12. Royal Australian Navy: Mention in Despatches (Posthumous), Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, No.206, (Thursday, 19 October 1944), p.2338.

References
  • Holmesby, Russell & Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.
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