Jørgen Jensen (soldier)

Jørgen Christian Jensen, VC, was a Danish-born Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in March 1915, serving with the 10th Battalion during the Gallipoli campaign. After the Australian force withdrew to Egypt, Jensen was transferred to the newly formed 50th Battalion, and sailed for France with the unit in June 1916. He was wounded during the battalion’s first serious action, the Battle of Mouquet Farm in August, and only returned to his unit in late January 1917. On 2 April 1917, his battalion attacked the Hindenburg Outpost Line at Noreuil, where his actions led to the capture of over fifty German soldiers.

About Jørgen Jensen (soldier) in brief

Jørgen Christian Jensen, VC, was a Danish-born Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in March 1915, serving with the 10th Battalion during the Gallipoli campaign. After the Australian force withdrew to Egypt, Jensen was transferred to the newly formed 50th Battalion, and sailed for France with the unit in June 1916. He was wounded during the battalion’s first serious action, the Battle of Mouquet Farm in August, and only returned to his unit in late January 1917. On 2 April 1917, his battalion attacked the Hindenburg Outpost Line at Noreuil, where his actions leading to the capture of over fifty German soldiers resulted in the award of the VC. Jensen was discharged in Adelaide at the end of the war, where he worked as a marine store dealer and married in 1921. He died the following year, and was buried in Adelaide’s South Australian National Cemetery. He is buried with his wife, Christiane Sørensen, who was apparently also known as Jensen, and their son, Jørden Christian Jensen. He also had a daughter, Anne, and a son, Daniel, who were both killed in action in the Second World War.

The family moved to Australia in 1909, and Jensen was naturalised as a British subject in Adelaide on 7 September 1914. He served in World War I as a sailor and labourer, and served in the Suez Canal defence. He received the VC for gallantry in battle in April 1918, when his battalion was pursuing the Germans to Hindenburg Line and capturing over 50 German soldiers. He did not rejoin his unit until January 1917, when he was posted to a training unit in the United Kingdom. In 1921, he was admitted to Grayling War Hospital in Chichester, West Sussex, for treatment of a shrapnel wound to his shoulder. He later died in Adelaide, Australia, and is buried in Port Pirie, South Australia. He had been born on 15 January 1891 in Løgstør, Denmark, to a single mother who worked in agriculture. His early life was difficult, but he was a good student, and entered the fishing industry. In 1908, aged 17, he travelled to the United UK before emigrating to Australia, then moved to Morgan, South Australian, and later PortPirie, working respectively as a. sailor on river steamers.

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