Charles Hazlitt Upham VC & Bar (1908 - 1994)

Ancestors

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Extract from Wikipedia 1.2 Medal [12]entitlement of Captain Charles Hazlitt UPHAM 20th Bn ( Canterbury Regiment ) 2nd NZEF 2 Sources

Biography

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.

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.

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.

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.

Extract from Wikipedia

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.

Medal ^[12]entitlement of Captain Charles Hazlitt UPHAM 20th Bn ( Canterbury Regiment ) 2nd NZEF

• Victoria Cross & Bar
• 1939 - 45 Star
• Africa Star
• Defence Medal ( 1939-45 )
• War Medal ( 1939-45 ) + MiD Oakleaf
• New Zealand War Service Medal ( 1939-45 )
• Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal ( 1953 )
• Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal ( 1977 )
• New Zealand Commemorative Medal ( 1990 )

We Will Remember - Lest We Forget

Charles Upham's [13]Gravestone

Sources

1. ↑ Victoria University of Wellington- 20 Battalion and Armoured Regiment - Appendix I VICTORIA CROSS CITATIONS The official citations for the Victoria Crosses won by Captain C. H. Upham and Sergeant J. D. Hinton are as follows
2. ↑ NZ History - Charles Upham VC and Bar
3. ↑ The Gazette.co.uk - The 10th October 1941
4. ↑ The Gazette.co.uk - The 25th September 1945
5. ↑ Telegraph.co.uk - Captain Charles Upham, who has died aged 86, twice won the Victoria Cross.
6. ↑ * Memorial: Find a Grave (has image)
   Find A Grave: Memorial #8017274 (accessed 17 July 2024)
   Memorial page for Charles Hazlitt Upham (21 Sep 1908-22 Nov 1994), citing St Paul's Anglican Church Cemetery, Papanui, Christchurch City, Canterbury, New Zealand; Maintained by Find a Grave.
7. ↑ * Memorial: "Billion Graves"
   Lyttelton Anglican Cemetery, 64 Canterbury Street, Lyttelton Canterbury, New Zealand
   BillionGraves memorial (accessed 17 July 2024)
   Memorial page for Charles Hazlitt Upham (d 31 July 1950); Transcribed by coffeeking, Dec 30, 2016; Photographed by WisperHawk, Dec 16, 2016.
8. ↑ * Memorial: "Billion Graves"
   Saint Paul's Anglican Church Graveyard, Christchurch, 1 Harewood Road, Christchurch Canterbury 8053, New Zealand
   BillionGraves memorial (accessed 17 July 2024)
   Memorial page for Capt. Charles Hazlitt Upham (21 September 1908-22 November 1994); Transcribed by Norm, Nov 28, 2020; Photographed by FionaNZ, Jun 19, 2014.
9. ↑ BillionGraves Index," database, FamilySearch : 24 June 2015, Charles Hazlitt Upham, died 22 Nov 1994; citing BillionGraves billiongraves.com : 2012, Burial at Saint Paul Anglican Church Cemetery, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand. familysearch.org
10. ↑ www.Gov.nz - Captain Charles Upham VC and Bar 1908 - 1994
11. ↑ New Zealand Herald - Army medal theft insult to our nation's heritage
12. ↑ Victoria Cross.org.uk - Medal entitlement of:Captain Charles Hazlitt UPHAM 20th Bn (Canterbury Regiment ) 2nd NZEF
13. ↑ Find a Grave -Burial - Saint Paul's Churchyard,Papanui,Christchurch City,Canterbury, New Zealand Find A Grave Memorial# 8017274

See Also:

• Charles Upham - Mark of the Lion on YouTube

New Zealand recipients

• New Zealand Herald - The 50 coolest Kiwis ever +photos
• Wikipedia - Charles Upham
• NZ on Screen - This is Your Life - Charles Upham Television, 1985 (Documentary, Popular Factual, War)
• Hurunui.govt.nz - Charles Upham VC and Bar
• 'UPHAM, Charles Hazlitt', from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand Charles Hazlitt Upham (accessed 02 Jun 2019)