Charles Upham: Singular Recipient of the Victoria Cross

 

The Victoria Cross (VC) is the British Commonwealth’s highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy. Only three people have received the VC twice, and Charles Hazlitt Upham, a New Zealander, was the only the only combat soldier to do so and the only one in during World War II to do so. 

 

Upham hailed from central Christchurch, the son a lawyer. From an early age he was a quiet and determined boy, and on more than one occasion he intervened to defend schoolmates from bullies. Upham attended Canterbury Agricultural College (now known as Lincoln University), where he earned a diploma in agriculture in 1930. He worked first as a sheep farmer, later as manager, and then valuing farms for the New Zealand government. 

 

In September 1939, Upham enlisted in the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF) at age 30 and was posted to the 20th Canterbury-Otago Battalion, part of the New Zealand 2nd Division. He was of average height, with a wiry build, flashing blue eyes and great powers of endurance. From the beginning of his military service he displayed tactical flair and an intense desire to master the practical skills of the soldier’s craft. Although he already had five years’ experience in the New Zealand Army Territorial Force, in which he held the rank of sergeant, he signed on as a private. He was soon 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 finally joined an OCTU. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant on November 2 and given command of a platoon in 20th Battalion

 

Serving in Greece in March 1941, he was evacuated to Crete the following month. During the night counter-attack on Maleme airfield by the 20th and the 28th (Māori) Battalion on May 22, Upham led his platoon in an advance of more than 3,000 yards over heavily defended ground. Three times when his platoon was held up by enemy fire he made skillful use of available cover and destroyed machine-gun posts with his favorite weapon, the hand grenade. After the attack failed, he helped evacuate wounded soldiers and later penetrated 600 yards into German-held territory to bring out an isolated New Zealand company. Already weakened by dysentery, he was wounded in the shoulder by mortar fire. At Galatos on May 25, Upham deployed his platoon to smash a German attack. Hit in the foot by a spent bullet, he removed it two weeks later. On May 30, he led his men up a steep hill to outflank and help destroy an enemy force threatening the Allied headquarters at Sphakia. Much against his wishes he was evacuated to Egypt. Later, Upham was captured by the Germans.

 

He was sent to an Italian hospital, where a doctor recommended his wounded arm be amputated in view of their scarce supplies and inability to prevent or treat gangrene. Upham refused. He knew that the operation would have to be carried out without anesthetic, and he had seen other patients die in agony under surgery. Instead, he had the wound dressed by an Allied POW doctor. 

 

Upham tried to escape when he and other POWs were being transported in open trucks through Italy. He jumped from the truck at a bend and managed to get 370 meters away before being recaptured. He had broken an ankle in jumping from the truck. By the summer of 1943, Upham was a POW at Campo PG47, near Modena, in the River Po Valley.

 

On another occasion, he tried to escape a camp by climbing its fences in broad daylight. He became entangled in barbed wire as he fell between the two fences. When a guard pointed a pistol at his head and threatened to shoot, Upham calmly ignored him and lit a cigarette. This scene was photographed by the Germans as “evidence” and later recounted in a biography by Kenneth Sandford, Mark of the Lion.

 

After this, Upham was considered dangerous and placed in solitary confinement. He could only exercise alone, accompanied by two armed guards and while covered by a machine gun in a tower. Despite these precautions, Upham bolted from the courtyard, straight through the German barracks and the front gate of the camp. Upham was soon recaptured and sent to the infamous Oflag IV-C (Colditz) in October 1944.

 

During his transfer on a civilian train while guarded by two Germans, Upham made his final escape attempt. He was only allowed to use the toilet when the train was traveling at high speed to prevent him from jumping through a window. Nevertheless, Upham pried open the toilet window and jumped onto the tracks, knocking himself unconscious. After awakening, he escaped into a nearby orchard, but he was recaptured after 12 hours.

 

When U.S. forces captured the camp, most of the inmates headed home immediately. But Upham joined an American unit, was armed and equipped, and wanted to fight the Germans. Though he wanted to see action, he was instead sent to Britain where he was reunited with his fiancée Molly McTamney, who served as a nurse. They were married at New Milton, Hampshire, in 1945. He returned to New Zealand in early September, and she followed him in December.

 

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

 

He obtained a war rehabilitation loan and bought a farm on Conway Flat, Hundalee, North Canterbury. 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 Upham's poor health forced them to retire to Christchurch.

 

He died in Canterbury on November 22, 1994, surrounded by his wife and daughters. The streets of Christchurch lined by more than 5,000 people for his funeral in the Christchurch Cathedral, it was conducted with full military honors. 

 

Upham’s first VC resulted from his outstanding gallantry and leadership in Crete, and his bar was awarded at Ruweisat Ridge, Egypt, in July 1942. King George VI had invested Upham with his first Victoria Cross at Buckingham Palace on May 11, 1945. When the recommendation was made for a second VC, the king remarked to Major General Howard Kippenberger that a bar to the cross would be “very unusual indeed,” asking, “Does he deserve it?” Kippenberger replied, “In my respectful opinion, sir, Upham won the VC several times over.”