Nelson Evening Mail THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1941 THEY ARE HEROES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 16 October 1941, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1941 THEY ARE HEROES

PERSONAL bravery worthy to rank with that displayed by the heroes of our race has been recognised in the King's award of the Victoria Cross to Sergeant A. C. Hulmc, of I Nelson, and Second-Lieutenant C. H. Uphani, of Christchurch. They j have brought honour to themselves, j their families, their military units, and the nation under whose flag they j have been proud to fight. Added , to this is the distinction of having j won the first two V.C.’s awarded j to men of the Second New Zealand i Expeditionary Force. Lieutenant Upham is the first New Zealand j officer to gain the Crdss in this or the last war. This coveted decoration is the highest which the Empire can, bestow on its warriors. It is given only after the most searching en-. quiries into the deeds reported and j always the first consideration is the j quality of the personal acts in the circumstances in which the individual found himself placed. Judged by these tests the actions of the two recipients are of the highest order. Theirs were not isolated feats of daring. In both instances they found themselves fighting under desperate conditions—as did all the defenders of Crete. The situation called forth the best that is in brave men. not once but several times. For over a week Sergeant Hulmc fought like a hero out of the story books in historic ' Crete, his Victoria Cross being given i specifically for conspicuous service , at various scenes of the fiercest fighti ing between 27th and 28th May. In these actions his leadership and personal courage were outstanding. His specialised achievement seems to have been stalking German snipers and in this he owed his success as much to native ability as to gallantry. He must have been a perfect terror to them. Not content with killing thirty-three Sergeant Hulme went through the enemy lines after a troublesome mortar, killed its crew of four and put the gun out of action. I When severely wounded he refused to stay out of battle altogether, taking on the task of organising stragglers and directing the traffic. As commander of a forward platoon in the attack on Malemi Lieutenant Upham displayed outstanding leadership, tactical skill and utter indifference to personal danger. His example was an inspiration. It is a remarkable feat to lead a platoon forward for nearly two miles against a defence such as the Germans organise, when unsupported by any other than the platoon’s own weapons. His resource here was matched by that shown in piercing the enemy’s line and rescuing a company, in holding slopes under withering fire, in stemming the enemy, in tricking them and in killing Germans who were out to kill him. During some of these exploits he was wounded and during all of j them lie was suffering from dysentery ! and had practically nothing to eat. j His coolness, resource and personal j example would be hard to surpass, i The men who did these things are I civilian soldiers born and reared in New Zealand. Both had been mern- ! bers of the Territorials, it is true, but the stuff of which they are made was nurtured and developed in the free and open life of our young Dominion. It was tested when defending civilisation in one of the most ancient corners of the world. Perhaps it is no wonder that Crete produced heroes. The contest was so unequal. Our men were robbed j of much of the mechanised help of : modern war. Against a relentless 1 enemy they had little else on which , to fall back except their own magni- ! licent courage and cold steel. How | well they used them both in some I of the bloodiest hand-to-hand fighti ing of the war. The V.C. winners ■ and those who gained other decor- ; ations in Crete will be the first to i say that many brave men fought and died there who received no official award but whose deeds will shine out in our brief military history as brightly as those of the legendary figures immortalised in poem, song and story. Perhaps we live too close j to the day day chronicle of stirring events to be fully conscious of the truth that actions like those oJ Hulme, Upham and Ward, the V.C, airman, have never been surpassec

in any age. Men like these are among the finest who ever stood to arms and when their valour is publicly recognised wc should not l)i' diffident about showing and expressing our pride. If (he hearts of Nelsonians beat a brave soldiers came from amongst them it is a pardonable pride which we all feel and would like to express to the family and fellow soldiers of Clive Hulme and to him publicly if opportunity should offer. His mates in the Middle East are delighted to hear of his success. He is our first V.C. Returning among us from the fields of Crete with one arm in a sling he bore himself modestly. He did casualty remark that they were thinking about a decoration for him but nobody except those closest to him could have known what this soldier had experienced. It is typical of his fighting spirit that his main desire should be to get well again and go back and face the Germans once more. As the war goes on fresh deeds of valour will be performed by our own men and those who fight beside them, but to-day is the day of our two New Zealand V.C.’s from Crete.