Field Marshal John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort VC, GCB, CBE, DSO & Two Bars, MVO, MC (10 July 1886 – 31 March 1946) was a British and Anglo-Irish soldier. As a young officer in World War I he was decorated with the Victoria Cross for his actions during the Battle of the Canal du Nord. During the 1930s he served as Chief of the Imperial General Staff (professional head of the Army). He is most famous for commanding the British Expeditionary Force sent to France in the first year of World War II, which was evacuated from Dunkirk. Gort later served as Governors of Gibraltar and Malta, and High Commissioner for Palestine.