File:Charles Upham (14071197975).jpg

On May 11 1945 Charles Upham was presented with his first Victoria Cross medal. Captain Charles Hazlitt Upham, VC was a New Zealand soldier who earned the Victoria Cross twice during the Second World War: in Crete in May 1941, and at Ruweisat Ridge, Egypt, in July 1942. He was the third of only three people to receive the VC twice, the only person to receive two VCs during the Second World War and the only combat soldier to receive the award twice.

Upham was born at 32 Gloucester Street in Central Christchurch on 21 September 1908. He attended Canterbury Agricultural College (presently known as Lincoln University) where he earned a diploma in agriculture in 1930. In September 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 Division. Despite the fact that he already had five years experience in New Zealand's Territorial Army, in which he held the rank of sergeant, he 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 OCTU. In March 1941, Upham's battalion left for Greece and then withdrew to Crete, and it was here that he was wounded in the action, from 22 to 30 May 1941. Upham earned the VC for outstanding gallantry and leadership in Crete in May 1941. After being severely wounded in the latter engagement, Upham was captured by the Germans.

Upham was presented with his first VC at Buckingham Palace on 11 May 1945

Further information on Charles Upham can be found on New Zealand History Online - www.nzhistory.net.nz/people/charles-upham

This image is from the War Art Collection held by Archives New Zealand. It comes from the extensive collection of War Art at Archives New Zealand, which includes around 1,500 original artworks. Further work by Peter McIntyre can be viewed on our online collection of war art: warart.archives.govt.nz/taxonomy/term/184/

Ref: AAAC 898 NCWA 72

Peter McIntyre was born in Dunedin on 4 July 1910. McIntyre attended the University of Otago in 1930, studying for a BA with the intention of becoming a journalist. However in 1931 he left his studies to travel to England, where from 1931 he studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, London. McIntyre graduated in 1934 with prizes in composition and figure drawing.

From 1935 until 1939 he worked as a free-lance commercial artist in Britain, while also exhibiting contemporary art works, influenced by the English avant-garde and French cubism. Following the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, McIntyre enlisted with the 34th Anti-tank Battery, a New Zealand unit formed in London, and was sent as a gunner to Egypt. In Egypt he provided illustrations for the war magazine Parade as well as doing advertisements he sketched members of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF). In January 1941, McIntyre was appointed New Zealand’s official war artist and promoted to the rank of captain by Major General Bernard Freyberg. His work in this role covered the campaigns in Greece, Crete, the Western Desert, Tripolitani, Tunisia and Italy. He was promoted to the rank of Major at Cassino in Italy.

Exhibitions of McIntyre’s artworks toured New Zealand both during and after the Second World War. Immediately following the war he worked as an artist in Dunedin, producing portraits and landscapes. In the decades following the war McIntyre won a number of art awards, and published eight books. He was awarded an OBE in 1970, and died in Wellington on 11 September 1995.

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