Charles Upham

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Captain Charles Hazlitt Upham VC and bar ( September 21 , 1908 – November 22 , 1994 ) was a New Zealand soldier who won the Victoria Cross twice during the Second World War : in Crete in May 1941, and at Ruweisat Ridge, Egypt , in July 1942. He is only the third person to receive the Victoria Cross twice, the only to receive two VCs during the Second World War and the only combat soldier to receive the award twice. (The others are Arthur Martin-Leake and Noel Godfrey Chavasse who both served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in the First World War). In late 2006 it was announced that a film protraying the life of Upham was to be made.

Contents

1 Early life 2 First Victoria Cross3 Second Victoria Cross 4 Post war 5 External links

[ edit ] Early life

Charles Hazlitt Upham was born in Christchurch on 21 September 1908, the son of John Hazlitt Upham, a lawyer, and his wife, Agatha Mary Coates. He boarded at Waihi School, Winchester, South Canterbury, between 1917 and 1922 and at Christ's College , Christchurch, from 1923 until 1927. He attended Canterbury Agricultural College where he earned a diploma in agriculture in 1930.

He worked first as a sheep farmer, later as manager, and then as farm valuer for the government of New Zealand. In 1937 he joined the Valuation Department as assistant district valuer in Timaru, and the following year he became engaged to Mary (Molly) Eileen McTamney (a distant relative of N.G Chavasse VC and bar, MC RAMC.) In 1939 he returned to Lincoln to complete a diploma in valuation and farm management.

Upham enlisted in the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF) in September 1939 and was posted to the 20th Canterbury–Otago Battalion. He was promoted to temporary lance corporal, but initially declined a place in an Officer Cadet Training Unit (OCTU). In December he was promoted to sergeant and a week later sailed for Egypt. In July 1940 he was finally persuaded to join an OCTU.

[ edit ] First Victoria Cross

In March 1941 his battalion left for Greece and then withdrew to Crete , and it was here that he was wounded in the action — from May 22-30 1941 — that gained him his first Victoria Cross.

The award citation says he displayed outstanding gallantry in close-quarter fighting, and was twice hit by mortar fire and badly wounded. In spite of this and an attack of dysentery which reduced him to a skeletal appearance, he refused hospital treatment and carried a badly wounded man to safety when forced to retire. Eight days later he fended off an attack at Sphakia, 22 Germans falling to his fire.

[ edit ] Second Victoria Cross

Upham was evacuated to Egypt, now promoted to captain. He received the bar for his actions on July 14 and 15, 1942.

When leading his company attacking an enemy-held ridge overlooking the El Alamein battlefield, he was wounded twice but took the objective after fierce fighting. He destroyed a German tank, several guns and vehicles with grenades. A machinegun bullet through the elbow shattered Upham's arm, but he went on again to a forward position and brought back some of his men who had become isolated.

After his wounds were dressed, he returned to his men but was again severely wounded and unable to move. He was eventually overrun by the superior weight of the enemy forces and taken prisoner.

After capture, he was sent to an Italian hospital to recuperate but attempted to escape numerous times before being branded "dangerous" by the Germans and incarcerated in the infamous Oflag IV-C (Colditz) on October 14 1944.

One attempted escape occurred when a group of POWs were being transported in open trucks through Italy. Upham jumped from the truck at a bend and managed to get four hundred yards away before being recaptured. He had broken an ankle in jumping from the moving truck.

When Colditz was liberated by American forces most of the inmates made their own way home immediately. Upham broke into a German armoury, helped himself to weaponry, and went out hunting Germans. Upham was keen to see action again, but was instead sent to Britain where he was reunited with Molly McTamney, who was then serving as a nurse. They were married at New Milton, Hampshire, on 20 June 1945. He returned to New Zealand in early September, and Molly followed after him in December.

When King George VI inquired of Major-General Howard Kippenberger whether Upham deserved a bar to the cross, Kippenberger replied: "In my respectful opinion, sir, Upham has won the VC several times over."

[ edit ] Post war

After the war Charles Upham returned to New Zealand, and the local community raised £10,000 to buy him a farm. However, he declined and the money went into the C. H. Upham Scholarship for children of ex-servicemen to study at Lincoln College or the University of Canterbury.

He obtained a war rehabilitation loan and bought a farm on Conway Flat, Hundalee , North Canterbury. It is said that for the remainder of his life, Upham would allow no German car on to his property.

Although somewhat hampered by his injuries, he became a successful farmer and served on the board of governors of Christ’s College for nearly 20 years. He and Molly had three daughters, and lived on their farm until January 1994, when Charles’s poor health forced them to retire to Christchurch. He died there on 22 November that year, survived by Molly and his daughters. His funeral was conducted with full military honours and he was buried in the graveyard of St Paul's Church Papanui .

A bronze statue of him now stands outside the Hurunui District Council buildings in Amberley , North Canterbury depicting Charles Upham ‘the observer’. [1]

His VC and bar is on display at the Army Museum Waiouru . [2] In November 2006 the medals were sold by Upham's daughters to the Imperial War Museum for an undisclosed sum. However, as New Zealand legislation prohibits the export of such historic items, the Imperial War Museum has agreed to a 999 year loan of the medals to the Waiouru Army Museum. [3]

A house in Macleans College is named after him.