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Captain Charles Hazlitt Upham, VC & Bar was a New Zealand soldier who received the Victoria Cross (VC) twice during World War II. He was one of only three people to receive the VC twice. He was also the only person to receive two VCs during World War II, and the only combat soldier to have received the award twice.
Captain Upham is regarded as the most highly decorated Commonwealth soldier of WWII.[1]Charles Upham was born in Christchurch, New Zealand on 21 September 1908.
His parents were John Hazlitt Upham, a lawyer, and Agatha Mary Coates.
He went to Waihi School, Winchester, South Canterbury, between 1917 and 1922 and then to Christ's College, Christchurch.
Charles enlisted in the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF) in September 1939, as a private, despite having been in New Zealand's Territorial Army for five years with a rank of sergeant. He was posted to the 20th Canterbury-Otago Battalion.
He was offered a place in an Officer Cadet Training Unit (OCTU), but he refused.
He was then promoted to lance corporal. A few months later, he was promoted to sergeant. In December 1939, he sailed for Egypt.
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In March 1941, Charles was a Second Lieutenant in the 20th NZ Battalion in Crete.
He received his first citation, after he was blown over by a mortar shell; he had a shrapnel wound in his shoulder and a bullet in his foot. Even with these wounds, he managed to destroy a number of enemy posts; he rescued a wounded man while under fire.
He went behind enemy lines where he killed twenty two German soldiers while leading out a platoon.
Charles[2]was trapped while alone by two German soldiers near an olive grove on his way to warn other troops that they were being cut off.[3]
He could be seen by his platoon as he was fired on by the Germans, but they could do nothing to help. If he moved, he would be shot. He pretended he was dead and waited for the German soldiers to approach. With one arm useless and in a sling, he used the crook of a tree to support his rifle and shoot the first German who approached. He then reloaded with one hand and shot the second, the soldier so close to Charles that he fell against the barrel of his rifle.
Captain Charles Upham’s second citation was during the[4]July 1942 attack on Ruweisat Ridge, Egypt.
The New Zealand Division was stranded; they were told armoured support was on the way but it never arrived. The Allied forces were having trouble holding the line.
Charles led his company in an attack on German and Italian strongpoints.
They destroyed a German tank as well as several guns and vehicles with hand grenades. Even after he was shot through the elbow with a machine gun bullet and had his arm shattered, he brought back a number of his men who had become isolated.
He was removed to the aid post, but after his wounds had been dressed, he returned to his men. He held his position despite exhaustion, loss of blood, and the further injuries he had received from artillery and mortar fire, that had all but wiped out most of his company. Charles stayed with the only six remaining members of his company until, now unable to move, he was overrun by the Germans and captured.
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Charles tried to escape many times, before being branded dangerous by the Germans. He was sent to the infamous prison fortress Colditz on 14 October 1944.
On 14 April 1945, the U.S. Army entered the town and freed the prisoners. Charles joined an American unit and wanted to fight the Germans, but was sent to Britain.
He was mentioned in dispatches on 14 November 1946.
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Colditz Castle |
After the Americans freed the prisoners in 1945, military authorities decided that Charles' actions at Minqâr Qaim and Ruweisat Ridge were worthy of the addition of a bar to his VC. Captain Charles Upham VC & Bar, became one of only three people, and the only combatant ever, to win the VC twice.
Charles[5] died[6][7][8][9]on 22 November 1994, in Canterbury, New Zealand.[10]
He was given full military honours. The streets of Christchurch were lined with over 5,000 people.
In November 2006, Charles Upham's VC and Bar were sold by his daughters to the Imperial War Museum for an undisclosed sum. New Zealand legislation prohibits the export of such historic items, the Imperial War Museum agreed to a permanent loan of the medals to the Waiouru Army Museum.[11]On 2 December 2007, Charles Upham's VC was among nine stolen from locked, reinforced glass cabinets at the Museum.On 16 February 2008, the New Zealand Police announced all the medals had been recovered as a result of a NZ$300,000 reward offered.
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Charles Upham's [13]Gravestone |
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See Also:
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New Zealand recipients |
This week's featured connections are Redheads: Charles is 16 degrees from Catherine of Aragón, 24 degrees from Clara Bow, 28 degrees from Julia Gillard, 18 degrees from Nancy Hart, 19 degrees from Rutherford Hayes, 11 degrees from Rita Hayworth, 21 degrees from Leonard Kelly, 12 degrees from Rose Leslie, 17 degrees from Damian Lewis, 25 degrees from Maureen O'Hara, 24 degrees from Jopie Schaft and 35 degrees from Eirik Thorvaldsson on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
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