Mark of the Lion: the Story of Charles Upham VC & Bar
By (Author) Kenneth Sandford
Penguin Group (NZ)
Penguin Books (NZ)
5th June 2003
New Zealand
General
Non Fiction
Military history
Second World War
Modern warfare
993.03092
Paperback
320
Width 129mm, Height 199mm, Spine 26mm
284g
Charles Upham was the great New Zealand war hero. He was one of the few people in history to have won the Victoria Cross twice, setting new standards of personal heroism during World War II. A quietly spoken sheep farmer from Canterbury, at the front in Crete and North Africa, he destroyed enemy machine-gun posts single-handed and led a frontal assault on enemy guns. He then spent the rest of the war in prisoner-of-war camps, including the famous Colditz Castle, where he made life a misery for the German guards, constantly trying to escape.
A part-time author, Kenneth Sandford was Crown Prosecutor in Hamilton for 22 years before moving to Wellington to become the first Chairman of the Accident Compensation Corporation in 1973, which established New Zealand's unique form of no-fault accident insurance. In 1981 he returned to the Law and was awarded the Companion of the Order fo St Michael and St George for public service. Kenneth died in 2005 aged 91.