- Alfred Hulme
Alfred Clive Hulme VC (24 January 1911-2 September 1982) was a
New Zealand recipient of theVictoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.Details
He was 30 years old and a
Sergeant in the 23rd Battalion, (The Canterbury Regiment) 5th Brigade, 2nd Division,2NZEF during theSecond World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.During the period 20/28 May 1941 in
Crete ,Greece , Sergeant Hulme displayed outstanding leadership and courage. At Maleme he led a party against the enemy who were attacking with rifles, machine-guns and mortars. At Galatos he drove the enemy away from a school building with hand grenades. At Suda Bay he killed five snipers and at Styles he wiped out a mortar crew and accounted for three more snipers.In 2006, law professor Bill Hodge argued that Hulme's act was "prima facie a war crime", having broken the rules of war by wearing German uniform when killing the five snipers [http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3632915a11,00.html] .
Further information
Hulme was born in
Dunedin, New Zealand and worked as a farm labourer before he enlisted in the 23rd Battalion as asergeant . He stalked and killed 33 Germansniper s. Hulme once disguised himself as a Germanparatrooper and killed a number of enemies on the outskirts ofGalatos .His son
Denny Hulme won theFormula One World Drivers' Championship in 1967.Clive Hulme died at
Te Puke on 2 September 1982, and was buried at Dudley-Vercoe Cemetery, Dudley-Vercoe Drive, Te Puke (20 miles from Tauranga), New Zealand, civilian section.
Front row, Sg. J.D. Hinton, Lt.K. Elliott , Cpt.C.H. Upham , Sg.A.C. Hulme , Cpt.S. Frickleton , Lt.J.G. Grant ]The medal
His Victoria Cross was displayed at the
QEII Army Memorial Museum , Waiouru, New Zealand. On Sunday 2 December 2007 it was one of nine Victoria Crosses that were among a hundred medals stolen from the museum. [cite web|author=Derek Cheng|title=Army medal theft 'insult' to our nation's heritage |publisher=nzherald|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10479634|date=December 2007|accessdate=2007-12-02] On 16 February 2008 New Zealand Police announced all the medals had been recovered as a result of a NZ$300,000 reward offered byMichael Ashcroft and Tom Sturgess. [ [http://police.govt.nz/news/release/3701.html Stolen War Medals Recovered] ]References
References
*Todd Skilton
External links
* [http://www.ozemail.com.au/~vcweb/winners/nz_winners/hulme.htm Hulme A.C.]
* [http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Park/7572/nzvcross.txt New Zealand Troops who have won the Victoria Cross] "(brief biography details)"External links
*http://www.chapter-one.com/vc/award.asp?vc=607
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