WON VICTORIA CROSS IN 1916

Irish Independent 15 April 1975

Won Victoria Cross in 1916

Major John Vincent Holland, V.C., who has died in Hobart, Australia, was a native of Model Farm, Athy, Co. Kildare. He was educated at Clongowes Wood College, served with the Leinster Regiment in the First World War and was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1916.

His eldest son, Major Niall Holland of the Indian Army, was posthumously awarded the Military Cross in Burma in 1944.

Major John Holland was buried with full military honours by the Australian Army. Two hundred marching trops and a military band followed the gun carriage bearing the remains from St. Mary’s Cathedral, Hobart, where Requiem Mass was concelebrated by the Arch-bishop of Hobart, Most Rev. Dr. Gilford Young, and Father B. C. Rogers, formerly of Derry.

He lived for the last 20 years in Australia, where his wife, Frances (nee Grogan, of Cobh), died in 1960. He is survived by his second son, Dr. Norman Holland, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild, all of whom live in Brisbane, Australia.