Australian Football

The son of Melbourne's Richard Pirrie Senior, Dick Pirrie played seconds football at his father's club before moving to Hawthorn where he made his VFL debut in the last home and away round of the 1940 season. Despite being lauded in The Argus for a "fine first appearance", Pirrie did not get a second chance at senior VFL footy until Round 8 of the following year. Pirrie's name was not mentioned in dispatches after that second game, a 40-point loss against his father's old team, and he was forced to bide his time once more before earning a third senior match, again in a final-round match.

By the time the 1942 season began, Dick Pirrie was on the other side of the world. He had enlisted in the Australian Navy in September 1941, just days after his third and final match. Posted to the HMAS Cerberus, Pirrie saw action in various countries before earning a promotion to the rank of Lieutenant. On June 6, 1944, Pirrie commanded a Landing Craft Support (M) 44 as part of Operation Overlord during the invasion of Normandy. 

As part of the first wave to approach Juno Beach, Pirrie was in a small boat sent from the HMAS Invicta when he sustained a direct hit from an 88 mm shell. He was killed instantly. Pirrie was the first Australian to lose his life in the D-Day Normandy landings. It was his 24th birthday.

Author - Andrew Gigacz