Charles Upham is probably New Zealand’s most famous soldier. His actions during the Second World War led to him becoming one of only three people – and the only combat soldier – to have won the Victoria Cross twice. Upham earned his first VC in Crete in May 1941, and his Bar at Ruweisat Ridge, Egypt, in July 1942. After being severely wounded in the latter engagement, Upham was captured by the Germans. Numerous escape attempts, including an audacious attempt to scale his camp’s barbed-wire fences in broad daylight, saw Upham become the only New Zealand combat officer sent to the infamous Colditz camp in 1944.