A builder from Hawera, John Grant joined the 1st Battalion, Wellington Regiment in Egypt just before it was sent to France in April 1916. He received the VC for his conduct on 1 September 1918 as the New Zealand Division advanced near Bapaume. When his battalion attacked German machine-gun positions on Bancourt Ridge, Grant and another soldier rushed the guns, leaping into the machine-gun post in the centre of the defences to destroy it. He then eliminated a nearby position in a similar fashion.