World War II Victoria Cross Recipient. He was born at Medindie, an inner northern suburb of Adelaide, and attended Sturt Street Public School and Le Fevre Peninsula School before leaving school at age 14. He moved to the Berri area on the Murray River and worked at a vineyard from 1931 until he enlisted. Following the fall of France, Derrick enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in July 1940 and was allotted to the 2/48th Australian Infantry Battalion. The unit embarked for the Middle East in November 1940 and was under siege at Tobruk from April to October 1941. At Tel el Eisa, Egypt, on July 10-11, 1942 Derrick was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for destroying three machine-gun posts and capturing over a hundred prisoners. During the Battle of El Alamein in late October he was slightly wounded but was with his battalion when the 9th Division returned to Australia in February 1943. In September 1943, the 9th Division landed from the sea east of Lae in the Australian Mandated Territory of New Guinea (now Papua New Guinea) and by November 24 was attacking the heights of Sattelberg, overlooking Finschhafen. The Australians faced an almost vertical slope of thick jungle and then an open patch stretching 100 yards towards the crest. Late that afternoon, Derrick leading his platoon, confronted the enemy posts with grenades and his rifle. He cleared ten machine-gun posts and as dusk fell the Australians were just below the crest. The Japanese withdrew during the night and the Australians entered Sattelberg next morning with Derrick hoisting the Australian flag over the village at 10 am. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallantry and a year later was commissioned lieutenant. Derrick died of wounds on Tarakan Island in the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia) on May 24, 1945. His widow accepted his award from the Governor General of Australia in Adelaide in May 1947. A biography, "Derrick VC" by Murray Farquhar, was published in 1982.

See actual burial in Labuan War Cemetery here in Labuan, Malaysia.