John Bernard Croak VC (May 18, 1892 – August 8, 1918) was a soldier in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War and posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Ignoring instructions to seek medical treatment for a wound to his arm, he carried out an attack on another machine gun post nearby.

[2][Note 2] The VC, instituted in 1856, was the highest award for valour that could be bestowed on a soldier of the British Empire.

Private Croak, however, seeing an opportunity, dashed forward alone and was almost immediately followed by the remainder of the platoon in a brilliant charge.

[7] His VC, the first to be awarded to a soldier born in Newfoundland,[8] was presented to his mother at Government House in Halifax by MacCallum Grant, the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, on 23 November 1918.

[9] In Glace Bay, where Croak grew up, there is both a school and a Royal Canadian Legion named in his honor.