Letter from Highly Decorated Soldier

A two page hand-written letter by 'Lieut. C.H. Upham'. 'C.' Coy. 20 BN. 4 Inf Bde. N.Z.E.F. Thurs. 23 Oct./41', ink on lined paper, to a fellow soldier, Rewa' Including: 'Many thanks for your letter. I was very pleased to hear that you are alive and well, my word you have seen action on a few fronts' and 'The bloody V.C. business is all balls, as you well know'. Note; Captain Charles Hazlitt Upham, VC & Bar (21 September 1908 – 22 November 1994) was a New Zealand soldier who earned the Victoria Cross (VC) twice during the Second World War: in Crete in May 1941, and at Ruweisat Ridge, Egypt, in July 1942. He was the last of only three people to receive the VC twice, the only one to receive two VCs during the Second World War and the only combat soldier to receive the award twice.[4] 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 gallantry in the face of the enemy. This letter dated 23.Oct / 41 was written between the awarding of the two VC's. When the Second award was announced in September 1945 he reacted quietly, telling a reporter: 'Naturally I feel some pride in this distinction, but hundreds of others have done more than I did. They could have given it to one of them'. He found the intense public and media attention difficult to deal with.