1142
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE
[No. 80

ADMINISTRATIVE AND SPECIAL DUTIES BRANCH

Transfer

Pilot Officer George Wilbur FERGUSON is transferred from the General Duties Branch to the Administrative and Special Duties Branch in his present rank and seniority. Dated 29th August, 1944.

MEDICAL BRANCH

Relinquishment

Squadron Leader (Acting Wing Commander) Gordon Alexander IRWIN, M.B., Ch.B., is permitted to relinquish his temporary commission. Dated 6th July, 1944.

NEW ZEALAND WOMEN’S AUXILIARY AIR FORCE

Relinquishments

Section Officer Dorothy Louise EDMONDS is permitted to relinquish her temporary commission. Dated 24th September, 1944.

The undermentioned Assistant Section Officers are permitted to relinquish their temporary commissions:—

Dated 15th September, 1944—
Bessie Chambers HARRIS.
Beatrice Ellen TYSON.
Loys Lena PEEBLES.
Gilda St. Clair BEZAR.
Mary Mainwaring BOOTH.
Marjorie June BROWN.
Jean Helen MORAN.

Margot FINN.
Beverley Joan PHILLIPS.
Margaret Alicia GARDNER.
Rosalind Leonora Page SHERRIFF.
Marie Annette QUIRK.

Dated 24th September, 1944—
Peggy Lenore HUNTER.
Isobel Beatrice Stuart KING.

Dated 11th October, 1944: Jane Russell DEANS.

ADMINISTRATIVE AND SPECIAL DUTIES BRANCH, SECTION II (A.T.C.)

Appointment

William Winter WOOD is granted an Air Training Corps Commission in the rank of Pilot Officer. Dated 1st August, 1944.

F. JONES, Minister of Defence.

Awards approved by His Majesty the King

Office of the Minister of Defence,
Wellington, 11th September, 1944.

THE following awards to personnel of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force, which have been approved by His Majesty the King since the 3rd September, 1939, and published from time to time in the London Gazette, have not previously appeared in the New Zealand Gazette:—

The King has been graciously pleased to approve of awards of the Victoria Cross to the undermentioned:—

2nd Lieutenant Charles Hazlett Upham (8077), New Zealand Military Forces.

During the operations in Crete this officer performed a series of remarkable exploits, showing outstanding leadership, tactical skill, and utter indifference to danger. He commanded a forward platoon in the attack on Maleme on 22nd May and fought his way forward for over three thousand yards unsupported by any other arms and against a defence strongly organized in depth. During this operation his platoon destroyed numerous enemy posts, but on three occasions sections were temporarily held up.

In the first case, under a heavy fire from a machine-gun nest, he advanced to close quarters with pistol and grenades, so demoralizing the occupants that his section was able to “mop up” with ease.

Another of his sections was then held up by two machine guns in a house. He went in and placed a grenade through a window, destroying the crew of one machine gun and several others, the other machine gun being silenced by the fire of his sections.

In the third case he crawled to within fifteen yards of a machine-gun post and killed the gunners with a grenade.

When his company withdrew from Maleme he helped to carry a wounded man out under fire, and, together with another officer, rallied more men together to carry other wounded men out. He was then sent to bring in a company which had become isolated. With a corporal he went through enemy territory over six hundred yards, killing two Germans on the way, found the company, and brought it back to the battalion’s new position. But for this action it would have been completely cut off.

During the following two days his platoon occupied an exposed position on forward slopes and was continuously under fire. 2nd Lieutenant Upham was blown over by one mortar shell, and painfully wounded by a piece of shrapnel behind the left shoulder by another. He disregarded this wound and remained on duty. He also received a bullet in the foot which he had later removed in Egypt.

At Galatos on 25th May his platoon was heavily engaged and came under severe mortar and machine gun fire. While his platoon stopped under cover of a ridge

2nd Lieutenant Upham went forward, observed the enemy, and brought the platoon forward when the Germans advanced. They killed over forty with fire and grenades and forced the remainder to fall back.

When his platoon was ordered to retire he sent it back under the platoon sergeant, and he went back to warn other troops that they were being cut off. When he came out himself he was fired on by two Germans. He fell and shammed dead, then crawled into a position and, having the use of only one arm, rested his rifle in the fork of a tree and as the Germans came forward he killed them both. The second to fall actually hit the muzzle of the rifle as he fell.

On 13th May at Sphakia his platoon was ordered to deal with a party of the enemy which had advanced down a ravine to near Force Headquarters. Though in an exhausted condition he climbed the steep hill to the west of the ravine, placed his men in positions on the slope overlooking the ravine and himself went to the top with a Bren gun and two riflemen. By clever tactics he induced the enemy party to expose itself, and then at a range of five hundred yards shot twenty-two and caused the remainder to disperse in panic.

During the whole of the operations he suffered from dysentery and was able to eat very little, in addition to being wounded and bruised.

He showed superb coolness, great skill and dash, and complete disregard of danger. His conduct and leadership inspired his whole platoon to fight magnificently throughout, and, in fact, was an inspiration to the battalion.

No. 10725. Sergeant Alfred Clive Hulme, New Zealand Military Forces.

Sergeant Hulme exhibited most outstanding and inspiring qualities of leadership, initiative, skill, endurance, and most conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty from the commencement of the heavy fighting in Crete on 20th May, 1941, until he was wounded in action 28th May, 1941. On ground overlooking Maleme Aerodrome on 20th and 21st May he personally led parties of his men from the area held by the forward position and destroyed enemy organized parties who had established themselves out in front of our position; from which they brought heavy rifle, machine gun, and mortar fire to bear on our defensive posts. Numerous snipers in this area were dealt with by Sergeant Hulme personally; one hundred and thirty dead were counted here. On 22nd, 23rd, and 24th May, Sergeant Hulme was continuously going out alone or with one or two men and destroying enemy snipers. On 25th May, when Sergeant Hulme had rejoined his battalion, this unit counter-attacked Galatos Village. The attack was partially held up by a large party of the enemy holding the school, from which they were inflicting heavy casualties on our troops. Sergeant Hulme went forward alone, threw grenades into the school, and so disorganized the defence that the counter-attack was able to proceed successfully.

On Tuesday, 27th May, when our troops were holding a defensive line at Suda Bay during the final retirement, five enemy snipers had worked into position on the hillside overlooking the flank of the battalion line. Sergeant Hulme volunteered to deal with the situation, and stalked and killed the snipers in turn. He continued similar work successfully through the day.

On 28th May at Stilos, when an enemy heavy mortar was severely bombing a very important ridge held by the battalion rearguard troops, inflicting severe casualties, Sergeant Hulme, on his own initiative, penetrated the enemy lines, killed the mortar crew of four, put the mortar out of action, and thus very materially assisted the withdrawal of the main body through Stilos. From the enemy mortar position he then worked to the left flank and killed three snipers who were causing concern to the rearguard. This made his score of enemy snipers thirty-three stalked and shot. Shortly afterwards Sergeant Hulme was severely wounded in the shoulder whilst stalking another sniper. When ordered to the rear, in spite of his wound, he directed traffic under fire and organized stragglers of various units into section groups.

2nd Lieutenant Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu (39784), New Zealand Military Forces.

During the action at the Tebaga Gap on the 26th March, 1943, 2nd Lieutenant Ngarimu commanded a platoon in an attack upon the vital hill feature Point 209. He was given the task of attacking and capturing an underfeature forward of Point 209 itself and held in considerable strength by the enemy. He led his men with great determination straight up the face of the hill, undeterred by the intense mortar and machine gun fire, which caused considerable casualties. Displaying courage and leadership of the highest order, he was himself first on the hill crest, personally annihilating at least two enemy machine-gun posts. In the face of such a determined attack the remainder of the enemy fled, but further advance was impossible as the reverse slope was swept by machine gun fire from Point 209 itself.

Under cover of a most intense mortar barrage the enemy counter-attacked, and 2nd Lieutenant Ngarimu ordered his men to stand up and engage the enemy man for man. This they did with such good effect that the