A very low act indeed. New Zealanders - what’s the feeling about this? I think there’d be outrage if it happened here.
Yes, outrage and heartache.
Relatives of those honoured are appealing for the return of the medals.
Members of Charles Upham’s local RSA were interviewed tonight on TV3 – including one of his best mates. Much talk of hopefully being able to catch up with the ratbags who did this and give them a good hiding.
I’m not one for memorials of war all that much – but I’ve seen the museum at Waiouru, think it’s a great place and a real gem in terms of passing on history and social history about our military past to the following generations. Whoever did this are, as I said, ratbags. Hopefully, they’re caught and their loot returned.
Bastards. :mad:
How do you steal a VC? If each is identifiable as to its winner, and the winner (or his family) reported it stolen, wouldn’t it make it difficult to pawn/sell/get rid of for profit such things?
That being said, anybody who steals an awarded VC with intent to profit from its sale is scum, IMHO. A VC is more than a hunk of Sevastopolian cannon–it’s a piece of history. I’ve seen one, in a museum, but never known anyone who has earned one. (My Dad has, however.)
Note to Americans who don’t know: A VC is just as difficult or harder to achieve than a Congressional Medal of Honor.
It’s believed that the medals were either stolen to specific order, or just destined for overseas markets and folk who aren’t so concerned about how the medal gets to them as long as they alone can know they own them.
In the case of the Charles Upham medals, they belong to the Imperial War Museum in Britain, loaned for a term of 999 years to the Waiouru Museum. Upham’s three daughters were about to sell the medals in British auctions when the Imperial War Museum stepped in with a deal.
I read Upham’s biography Mark of the Lion as a ten-year-old, or possibly nine. Anyone who wants a VC should do what he had to do to get his - either of them (and the citation for his Bar covered two separate actions which were both pretty damned deserving individually, never mind collectively). Gits.
No true NZer would do such a thing.
Yeah, I can’t see the point of stealing them either. I mean, the new “owner” would have to keep them locked away. It’s the story that makes the medal valuable, and if you can’t tell the story, then it’s worthless.
Cartoon fron Mondays paper Corporal Apiata (SAS) got his VC earlier this year for action in Afghanistan.