John Gildroy Grant, VC (26 August 1889 – 25 November 1970) was a soldier in the New Zealand Military Forces during the First World War.

Born in Hāwera, Grant was a builder when he volunteered in June 1915 to serve in the First World War with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF).

John Grant was born on 26 August 1889 in Hāwera,[1] a small town in the Taranaki region of New Zealand.

[2] At the time of Grant's enlistment, the main contingent of the NZEF, which had formed the New Zealand and Australian Division, was engaged in the Gallipoli Campaign.

[5] He joined the 1st Battalion, Wellington Regiment of the New Zealand Division, then being formed in Egypt in the aftermath of the evacuation from the Gallipoli Peninsula.

[11] It missed the First Battle of Passchendaele that followed a few days afterward and avoided the heavy casualties that befell the units involved.

On 1 September, near Bancourt, the lead elements of the 1st Battalion came under heavy fire from a series of German machine-gun posts, which threatened their advance.

[1] Together with three other New Zealanders who had been awarded the VC,[Note 1] he received his medal from King George V in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on 27 February 1919.

[1] His home town of Hāwera gave him a formal welcome on his return on 29 October and he was presented with an inscribed gold watch.

[20] Grant remained involved with military life, serving in the Territorial Force until 1929, by which time he had reached the rank of lieutenant.

[2][5] In 1937, Grant, along with several other VC recipients, was awarded the coronation medal to commemorate the ascension of King George VI to the British throne.

Due to his health at the time, the latter event required public donations to pay for his flights and medical care.

On 16 February 2008, New Zealand Police announced all the medals had been recovered as a result of a NZ$300,000 reward offered by Michael Ashcroft and Tom Sturgess.