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12-17-2011, 07:59 PM
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 My Rank: LANCE CORPORAL Poster Rank:3489 Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 100 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 9 Post(s)
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Four of New Zealand's Greatest Soldiers
New Zealand has the image of a tree hugging utopia with no major military achievements apart from the destruction of Saramon's evil forces in Lord of The Rings. Here are a few Kiwi's who shit all over that idea: John Daniel Hinton VC - 1941; Kalamai, Greece  Jack Hinton was with the 20th battalion deployed to Greece to support the Greek resistance to Italian and German invasion, seeing action at Thermopylae before falling back. On 29 April 1941 the unit was preparing to withdraw by sea when the New Zealand troops heading for the port of Kalamata to await evacuation were attacked by enemy machine-gun fire and self-propelled 6-inch guns. While organising a counter-attack Hinton was ordered to retreat and evacuate from the port. He dismissed the order with the words; "Fuck that, who's coming with me". He later explained his action as being because "I didn't like the way things were going". However it should be stated he met up with and had the full support of his immediate commanding officer for most of the action. Sergeant Hinton rushed forward to the nearest gun and, hurling two grenades, killed the crew. He continued towards the quay, clearing out two light machine-gun nests and a mortar with grenades, then dealt with the garrison of a house where some of the enemy were sheltering. He then assisted in the capture of an artillery piece, but shortly after was shot in the stomach, immobilised and captured. While a prisoner of war Hinton twice escaped, and made several other attempts. He was told he had been awarded the VC as he lay in hospital recovering from a beating given after one of these attempts. Jack Hinton received his Victoria Cross from King George VI on May 11, 1945, at Buckingham Palace Donald Forrester Brown VC - 1916; High Wood, France  Donald Forrester Brown was 26 years old, and a sergeant in the 2nd Battalion , Otago Infantry Regiment, New Zealand Expeditionary Force fighting in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette during the Somme Offensive of the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. On 15 September 1916 south-east of High Wood, France, when his company had suffered very heavy casualties from machine-gun fire, Sergeant Brown, with another man, advanced to a point within 30 yards of an enemy gun, killing four of the crew and capturing the gun. When the advance of the company was again held up, Sergeant Brown and his comrade rushed another gun and killed the crew. On a third occasion the sergeant attacked single-handed a machine-gun, killed the crew and captured the gun. He was later killed in action near Eaucourt L'Abbaye, France, on 1 October 1916. James Allen Ward VC - 1941; Munster, Germany   On 7 July 1941 after an attack on Münster, Germany the Wellington (AA-R) in which Sergeant Ward was second pilot was attacked by a German night-fighter. The attack opened a fuel tank in the starboard wing and caused a fire at the back of the starboard engine. The skipper of the aircraft having told him to try to put out the fire, the sergeant crawled out through the narrow astro-hatch on the end of a rope from the aircraft's emergency dinghy. He kicked or tore holes in the aircraft's fabric to give himself hand and foot-holes. By this means he got to the engine and smothered the flames with a canvas cover. Although the fuel continued to leak with the fire out the plane was now safe. His crawl back over the wing in which he had previously torn , was more dangerous than the outward journey, but he managed it with the help of the aircraft's navigator. Instead of the crew having to bail out, the aircraft made an emergency landing at Newmarket. He was killed in action, Hamburg, Germany, on 15 September 1941. Charles Hazlitt Upham Double VC - 1941; Crete, Greece and 1942; Ruweisat Ridge, Egypt  Captain Charles Hazlitt Upham VC and Bar (21 September 1908 – 22 November 1994) 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 only the third person 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.[5] As a result, Upham is often described as the most highly decorated Commonwealth soldier of that war, as the VC is the Commonwealth's highest award for extreme gallantry in the face of the enemy. He was renowned for combining controlled courage with quick-thinking resourcefulness. While most medals for bravery are awarded for a single act, Upham's first citation was for nine days of skill, leadership and evident heroism. In March 1941, he was a Second Lieutenant in the 20th NZ Battalion in Crete. His display of courage included destroying numerous enemy posts, rescuing a wounded man under fire and penetrating deep behind German lines, killing twenty-two German soldiers on the way to leading out an isolated platoon - all after being blown over by a mortar shell, painfully wounded in the shoulder by shrapnel and with a bullet in his foot. The incident that typified Upham's deeds was when two German soldiers trapped him alone on the fringes of an olive grove. Upham (on his way to warning other troops that they were being cut off) was watched by his platoon, a helpless distance away on the other side of the clearing, as he was fired on by the German soldiers. With any movement potentially fatal, he feigned dead and with calculated coolness waited for the enemy soldiers to approach. With one arm lame in a sling, he used the crook of a tree to support his rifle and shoot the first assailant, reload with one hand, and shoot the second who was so close as to fall against the barrel of Upham's rifle. Captain Upham's second citation was for his part in the July 1942 attack on Ruweisat Ridge, Egypt, where the New Zealand Division was stranded when promised armoured support never came through. As the Allied forces struggled to hold the line, Upham led his company on what was described as a savage attack on German and Italian strongpoints. Upham himself was responsible for destroying a German tank and several guns and vehicles with hand grenades and, though he was shot through the elbow with a machine gun bullet and had his arm shattered, he went on again to a forward position and brought back some of his men who had become isolated. He was removed to the regimental aid post, but immediately after his wounds had been dressed he returned to his men. He consolidated and held his position and despite exhaustion, loss of blood and further injuries (as a result of artillery and mortar fire that decimated most of his company) he stayed with the only six remaining members until, now unable to move, he was eventually overrun by the superior weight of the enemy forces and captured. Typifying his character and nickname 'Pug', he attempted to escape numerous times before being branded "dangerous" by the Germans and incarcerated in the infamous prison fortress Colditz. On May 11 1945 King George VI pinned an official Victoria Cross onto Charles Upham's uniform. He returned to New Zealand in September 1945 and ceased expeditionary service in November 1945. In April 1946 he was an official member of the New Zealand Victory Contingent. Epitomising a certain strain of Kiwi modesty, Charles Upham was embarrassed by the accolades he received and attempted to avoid international media attention. When the people of Canterbury collected and offered him 10,000 pounds to purchase a farm in recognition of his gallantry, Upham refused and instead insisted the money be put towards an educational scholarship for children of returned soldiers. At the conclusion of the war he returned to New Zealand to resume life as a sheep farmer in Hundalee, an isolated area north of Christchurch. It was rumoured that Charlie Upham never allowed a German-made car or machine onto the farm. He died in 1994. When King George VI enquired to Major-General Kippenberger whether Upham deserved a Bar to the Cross, Kippenberger replied, "In my respectful opinion, sir, Upham has won the VC several times over." The Complete Australian and New Zealand Victoria Cross Reference affirms that "without doubt Upham remains one of the most courageous leaders of any modern conflict". Charles Upham was unassumingly a true edge warrior. · · · · · |
