Richard Michael Pirrie (6 June 1920 – 6 June 1944) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Family The son of Richard Francis Pirrie (1879–1962),Deaths: Pirrie, The Age, (Monday, 17 September 1962), p.13. and Isobel Agatha Pirrie (1897–1982), née McGuire,Pirrie-McGuire, The Advocate, (Saturday, 9 August 1919), p.26. Richard Michael Pirrie was born in Hawthorn on 6 June 1920.Births: Pirrie, The Argus, (Saturday, 19 June 1920), p.13.
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.Pirrie, Richard (2020).
Acting Sub-Lieutenant Perrie was posted to Britain, for training in amphibious landings. He was assigned initially to Royal Navy shore establishment, HMS Quebec,Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Sub-Lieutenant Richard Pirrie (2020). 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, 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,Bernard, Dorothy, "He Led the Invasion", The (Melbourne) Advocate, (Wednesday, 26 July 1944), p.13. which landed part of the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade at "Juno Beach", near Courseulles-sur-Mer. Pirrie was killed when Invicta received a direct hit from a German shore battery. He was the first member of the RAN to be killed in action on D-Day.Roll of Honor, The Age, (Saturday, 24 June 1944), p.4.Deaths: On Active Service: Pirrie, The Argus, (Friday 7 July 1944), p.2.News of the Day: Death on Birthday, The Age, (Thursday, 14 June 1945), p.2. He was mentioned in dispatches (MiD):Hawthorn Naval Man Honored, The (Melbourne) Herald, (Wednesday, 39 August 1944), p.5. "For gallantry, skill and determination and undaunted devotion to duty during the initial landing of Allied Forces on the coast of Normandy".Royal Australian Navy: Mention in Despatches (Posthumous), Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, No.206, (Thursday, 19 October 1944), p.2338.
See also List of Victorian Football League players who died on active service List of Australian rules football families
Footnotes
References Holmesby, Russell & Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.
External links