Born in Āpiti, near Kimbolton, New Zealand in the Manawatū, Elliott was a farm manager when the Second World War began.

[1] Elliott tried to enlist in the New Zealand Military Forces on hearing of the outbreak of the Second World War but was initially declined due to the poor state of his teeth.

He was posted to 22nd Battalion, commanded by a Victoria Cross winner of the First World War, Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Andrew.

[3] In early 1941, the Second Echelon was redesignated the 5th Infantry Brigade, 2nd New Zealand Division, and was sent to Greece as part of an Allied contingent set to counter a likely invasion by the Germans.

His battalion was positioned at the Olympus Pass, and shortly after the invasion commenced, engaged advancing German tanks.

On 27 November, he, along with 700 other men, were captured when the headquarters was overrun by elements of Generalleutnant (Lieutenant General) Erwin Rommel's Afrika Corps, which had outflanked the Allies.

He rejoined the 2nd New Zealand Division which was refitting in Syria, but then contracted malaria and missed out on its hasty recall to Egypt and the subsequent fighting at Minqar Qaim.

The battalion was short of commissioned officers, and he found himself acting platoon commander for the forthcoming operation to capture Ruweisat Ridge.

Elliott spotted the tanks when they began advancing towards the 22nd Battalion's position at dawn and notified the commanders of nearby platoons.

[6] The citation for his VC read: At dawn on 15 July 1942 the battalion to which Sergeant Elliot belonged was attacked on three flanks by tanks.

Under heavy tank, machine-gun and shell fire, Sergeant Elliott led the platoon he was commanding to the cover of a ridge three hundred yards away, during which he sustained a chest wound.

Here he re-formed his men and led them to a dominating ridge a further five hundred yards away, where they came under heavy enemy machine-gun and mortar fire.

Owing to Sergeant Elliott's quick grasp of the situation, great personal courage and leadership, nineteen men, who were the only survivors of B Company of his battalion, captured and destroyed five machine-guns, one anti-tank gun, killed a great number of the enemy and captured one hundred and thirty prisoners.

It is likely that this was due to the desire of military authorities to keep him out of harm's way following the recent capture of the division's other VC winner, Charles Upham, at Ruweisat.

[1] He was present at the unveiling of the Alamein Memorial in Egypt in 1954,[11] and two years later attended VC centenary celebrations in London.

[14] On 16 February 2008, the 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.