The Victoria Cross is Britain’s highest award for military valor, and only three people have received it twice. One was so incredible, in fact, he earned the respect of a Nazi soldier.
Charles Hazlitt Upham was born on September 21, 1908, in Christchurch, New Zealand, He obtained a degree in agriculture, became a sheep farmer, and later worked for the government by valuing farms.
In 1938, he became engaged to Mary Eileen McTamney; neither realizing she was a portent of things to come. McTamney was related to Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse – the second man to twice receive a VC.
The following year, Upham returned to college to study valuation and farm management. He had served in the New Zealand Territorial Army (NZTA) for five years, so when WWII broke out, he enlisted in the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF) as a private.
His superiors were upset as he had held the rank of sergeant with the NZTA. They wanted him to go into the Officer Cadet Training Unit (OCTU), but Upham refused. He wanted to get overseas ASAP – not because of his fiancée, but because he wanted to get the war over with.
He was given the position of lance corporal in December 1939 and sent to Egypt with the advance party of the 1st Echelon. In July 1940, he finally agreed to go through OCTU where he became a sergeant. By November, he was a second lieutenant in charge of the 20th Battalion.