Major General John Joseph Murray, DSO & Bar, MC, VD (26 April 1892 – 8 September 1951) was an Australian Army officer and businessman.

Following the outbreak of the First World War, Murray was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 6 March 1915.

[1] Despite the action being a decisive victory for the German Army, Murray was cited for his "courage and tenacity" in leading a charge and holding the position he had captured, and was duly awarded the Military Cross.

Finally, under heavy fire, he supervised consolidation of the ground won, and throughout set a fine example of courage and energy to his men.

He returned to his former militia role in the Citizen Military Forces, where his experiences as a commander in the First World Wa proved valuable.

From 1934 until 1938 Murray was the commanding officer of the Australian Army Service Corps, 1st Division, and he continued to draw his civilian business and military interests more closely together.

On 14 April, Rommel tried to press his advantage and take the city, but the 20th Brigade doggedly repelled the Germans, who disastrously suffered heavy casualties.

[6] However, by the end of November General Sir Thomas Blamey visited the besieged garrison, and decided that Murray needed to be withdrawn, feeling his age left him unequal to the demands of modern warfare.

Rather than being given the recruiting desk job that Blamey had earmarked him for, the Australian command placed him in charge of the Newcastle Covering Force, and immediately promoted him to temporary major general.

He then commanded the Northern Territory Force from March 1945 until January 1946, when he stepped down to the Reserve of Officers, and after 35 years of military service, then resigned from the Australian Army.

However the demands of two world wars and an exacting career soon caught up with him, and Murray died of haematemesis associated with cirrhosis of the liver on 8 September 1951 at the Repatriation General Hospital, Concord, Sydney.