Recounting the life of Captain Charles Hazlitt Upham
Charles Hazlitt Upham was a New Zealand soldier who was
awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) twice during the Second
World War for gallantry in Crete in May 1941, and Egypt,
in July 1942. He was the most recent of the three to receive the VC twice during WWII and the only combat soldier to receive it twice, in which he was the only soldier to receive the VC as the other two medalists were surgeons.
Oftentimes, Upham is referred to as the highest decorated Commonwealth soldier of WWII, as the Victoria Cross is the Commonwealth's highest award for gallantry.
Life before the War
Charles Hazlitt Upham was born in Christchurch, New Zealand on 21 September of 1908, the son of John Hazlitt Upham, a lawyer and mother, Agatha Mary Coates. He boarded at Waihi School, South Canterbury, between 1917 and 1922 and at Christ’s College, Christchurch, from 1923 to 1927. From an early age, he was a quiet and unusually determined boy, and occasionally he’d intervened to defend schoolmates who were being bullied.
Upham attended Canterbury Agricultural College (now Lincoln University), where he earned a diploma in agriculture in 1930. He first worked as a sheep
farmer, later as a manager, and then valuing farms for the New Zealand government. In 1937, he joined the Valuation Department as assistant district valuer in Timaru. The following year, he became engaged to Mary Eileen McTamney. In 1939, he returned to Lincoln 1 to complete a diploma in valuation and farm management.
World War II
In September of 1939, Upham enlisted in the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF) at the age of 30 and was posted to the 20th Canterbury-Otago Battalion, part of the New Zealand 2nd Division. Although he already had five years of experience in the New Zealand Army Territorial Force, in which he held the rank of sergeant, he was 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 was finally persuaded to join an Officer Cadet Training Unit.
First Victoria Cross
In March of 1941, Upham’s battalion left for Greece and then withdrew to Crete, and it was here that he became wounded in the action, from 22 to 30 May of 1941, that gained him his first VC. From the official award speech presented to Second Lieutenant Charles Hazlitt Upham “During the operations in Crete this officer performed a series of remarkable exploits, showing outstanding leadership, tactical skill and utter indifference to danger.”
When Upham was first informed of the award, his first response was “It’s meant for the men.”
Upham was awarded his first VC at Buckingham Palace by King George VI on 11 May of 1945.
British Bar Medal to Victoria Cross
Upham was evacuated from Egypt and was promoted to Captain. He received a Bar to his Victoria Cross for his actions in July of 1942, before and during the First Battle of El Alamein. “The Victoria Cross was conferred on Captain Upham for conspicuous bravery during the operations in Crete in May, 1941, and the award was announced in the London Gazette dated 14th October,
1941.”
When the recommendation was made to King George VI to award Upham with a Bar to his VC by Major-General Howard Kippenberger, the king asked “Does he deserve it?” Kippenberger replied, “In my respectful opinion, sir, Upham won the Vc several times over.”
With this award, Upham became the third man of WWII to be awarded a Bar to his VC. The two previous recipients were Lieutenant Colonol Arthur Martin-Leake and Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse, both surgeons serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps. MArtin-Leake received his VC for rescuing wounded under fire in the Second Boer War and the Bar for similar actions in the First World War. Chavasse similarly decorated for two such actions in the First World War, in which he died of wounds received during his second action. Neither of these men were combatants, so Upham remains the only fighting soldier to have been decorated with the VC and Bar.
Prisoner of War
After being taken prisoner of war (POW), he was sent to an Italian hospital where an Italian doctor recommended his wounded arm be amputated in view of their extremely scarce supplies and inability to prevent or treat
gangrene. Upham refused. He knew that the operation would have to be carried out without an anesthetic and he had seen other patients dying in agony under surgery. He later had the wound dressed by an Allied POW doctor.
Upham refused on principle to escape from the hospital but was branded “dangerous” after several later escape attempts.
One attempt occurred when POWs were being transported in open trucks through Italy. Upham jumped from the
truck at a bend and managed to get 370 meters away before being recaptured. He had broken an ankle from jumping out of the moving 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 the barbed wire when he fell down 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 reprinted in a biography, Kenneth Sandford’s Mark of the Lion.
After this incident, Upham was considered “dangerous” and was placed in solitary confinement. He was only allowed to exercise alone, while accompanied by two armed guards and while covered by a machine gun in a tower. Despite these precautions, Upham bolted from his little courtyard, straight through the German barracks and out through the front gate of the camp. The guard in the machine-gun tower later told other prisoners that he
refrained from shooting Upham out of respect, and as he could see German soldiers coming up the road whom he expected to capture Upham. Upham was soon recaptured and sent to the infamous Oflag IV-C (Colditz Castle(German Town)) on
14 October of 1944.
During his transfer on a civilian train while guarded by two Germans, Upham made his final escape attempt. Upham was only allowed to visit the toilet when the train was travelling 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 the even rows of trees and lack of
undergrowth provided poor cover and he was recaptured after 12 hours.
At Colditz, there were few opportunities to escape. Upham and most of his fellow prisoners waited until Colditz was captured by Allied forces.
Liberation
When the Colditz Castle was captured by American forces, most of the inmates made their own way home immediately. Upham joined an American unit, was armed and equipped, and wanted to fight the 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 married at New Milton, Hampshire, on 20 June of 1945.
He returned to New Zealand in early September, and she followed him in December.
Upham was also mentioned in despatches (describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant)on 14 November of 1946.
Life after the War
After the war, Upham returned to New Zealand, and the community
raised £10,000 to buy him a farm. Although, he declined the money and instead it went into 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.
Loose reports suggest that Upham did not allow any German manufactured machinery of any sort to be on his property.
Charles Hazlitt Upham died in Canterbury on 22 November of 1994, surrounded by his wife and daughters. His funeral in the Christchurch Cathedral was conducted with full military honours. The streets of Christchurch were lined with over 5,000 people. Upham is buried in the graveyard of St Paul’s Church, Papanui. His death was also marked by
a memorial service on 5 May of 1995 in London’s St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, attended by representatives for the Royal Family; senior New Zealand government and political figures; senior members of the British and New
Zealand armed forces, the commander of Allied forces in Crete and 7th Governor-General of New Zealand and other VC and George Cross holders.
The selling of Upham's Victoria Cross and Bar
In November of 2006, Upham’s VC and Bar were sold by his daughters to the Imperial War Museum for an undisclosed amount. However, as New Zealand legislation prohibits the export of historic items, the Imperial
War Museum agreed to a permanent loan of the medals to the National Army Museum at Waiouru.
On 2 December of 2007, Upham’s VC was among nine stolen from locked, reinforced glass cabinets at the museum. On 16 February of 2008, the New Zealand Police announced all the medals had been recovered as a result of a
$300,000 NZ reward offered by Michael Ashcroft and Tom Sturgess.
Rest In Peace
Charles Hazlitt Upham will forever be remembered for his extraordinary efforts made in the War and his contributions made to his community and the C. H. Upham Scholarship for children of ex-servicemen. May God save the Queen and forever watch over such souls who devoted their lives to protecting others from facing such atrocities as all servicemen faced.
