15 Aug 2020

Tom Scott: In pursuit of the real Charles Upham

From Saturday Morning, 10:06 am on 15 August 2020

Since his schooldays, cartoonist and writer Tom Scott has greatly admired one of our national heroes: Captain Charles Hazlitt Upham, the only combat soldier to win the Victoria Cross twice.

In his new book Searching for Charlie he pursues the man behind the legend.

Before the war a modest, slightly-built, and rather shy farm valuer, Upham's prodigious bravery in battle sometimes seemed to verge on foolhardiness.

Upham fought in Crete and Egypt and was a prisoner of war in Germany and Italy, including at Colditz.

Upham’s courage was first displayed in Crete, Scott says. The New Zealand forces there realised they had to re-take the airport or lose the island.

“A whole bunch of New Zealanders went along the coast in the dark to try and recapture that airport and Charlie showed astonishing courage he crept on to a machine gun post and disabled a German machine gun post single-handedly.”

On the way back from that raid, Upham carried wounded colleagues under heavy fire.

“He kicked in doors and made stretchers and helped carry people out on stretchers.

“The Germans in one village stopped firing they were so amazed at the courage of New Zealanders carrying out their wounded on doors, they were quite honourable and they stopped firing and Charlie’s stretcher party carried an injured guy out.”

[pull-quote] Charlie was trained, better than Hitler youth really, to be a soldier.

Upham could have won 12 military crosses for his actions in Crete alone such was his courage, says Scott.

Further acts of bravery followed in North Africa.

At a battle in Minqar Qa'im he chased after retreating German trucks.

“He destroyed probably half a dozen retreating German trucks and retreating officers cars at Minqar Qa'im.

“He had a righteous fury,” Scott says.

Upham was a reluctant hero and felt his VC was unjustified, Scott says.

“He was upset he’d been singled out, he felt it was unfair he was singled out for mention while men on either side of him died.

“He was very proud of his own men and he was a great leader and had a great team and he just felt it was unfair that he should be the one that should get the credit.”

As a POW at Colditz Upham was constantly goading the guards, he says.

“You could never understand why Charlie wasn’t shot in Colditz he was so provocative.

“A couple of times he leapt on German guards and had physical fights, he slapped one guy in the face and leapt on another and should have been shot for those and he wasn’t.”

Scott reckons Upham’s reputation kept him alive.

“Maybe he had a halo around him he was worth more as a bargaining chip.”

After the war there is evidence Upham suffered a form of PTSD, Scott says.

He went to stay with Upham’s daughter Caroline in Gisborne while researching the book and noticed there were no locks on any bathroom doors and rubber stoppers to stop doors slamming.

She explained Upham couldn’t bear to be locked in a room and loud noises upset him.

When he decided to write the book, some said Upham was a psychopath, he says.

“About half a dozen people said that to me, why are you doing this book about a psychopath, he was a killer.

“That worried me, I wanted to explore that.”

Scott doesn’t believe this was the case.

“They said that Charlie’s courage was down to a form of mental illness. I happen to think he was a highly moral man.”

His South Island childhood and schooling made him what he was, Scott says.

“Charlie was very moral and highly principled and his childhood and the schooling he had was almost trained for war.

“Charlie was trained, better than Hitler youth really, to be a soldier.”   

Upham’s moral compass owed an awful lot to his uncle a GP who treated leprosy patients, Scott says.

“I wanted to try and find out where that moral courage as well as the physical courage came from.”