Reginald Stanley Judson, (29 September 1881 – 26 August 1972) was a New Zealand recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

(VC), the highest military award for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" given to British and Commonwealth forces. He was awarded the VC for his actions in the

Second Battle of Bapaume The Second Battle of Bapaume was a battle of the First World War that took place at Bapaume in France, from 21 August 1918 to 3 September 1918. It was a continuation of the Battle of Albert and is also referred to as the second phase of that ba ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Born in Wharehine, Judson was a boiler maker when he enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force for service in the First World War. He was severely wounded in September 1916 during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. After two years of medical treatment and recovery, he returned to active duty in France in June 1918. Prior to the Second Battle of Bapaume, he had already received the

Distinguished Conduct Medal The Distinguished Conduct Medal was a decoration established in 1854 by Queen Victoria for gallantry in the field by other ranks of the British Army. It is the oldest British award for gallantry and was a second level military decoration, ranki ...

and the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land. The award ...

, with all three medals being earned in a four-week period between July and August 1918. After the war he joined the

New Zealand Staff Corps The New Zealand Staff Corps was a corps of professional officers in the regular New Zealand Military Forces which, in peacetime, administered the Territorial Force. During the First and Second World Wars, many members of the corps commanded b ...

as a commissioned officer. He retired in 1937 and performed secretarial work as well as becoming involved in local body politics. He returned to the military during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and served on the home front. After retiring from the military for a second time in 1946, he took up farming at Mangonui in Northland. He died in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

in 1972, at the age of 90.

Early life

Reginald Stanley Judson was born into a farming family at Wharehine, north of

, in New Zealand, on 29 September 1881, the son of Emma Frances Judson ( Holmden) and Edgar William Judson. After being educated at Port Albert and completing a mechanical engineering apprenticeship, he worked as a boilermaker and engineer in Auckland, living in the suburb of Ponsonby. In 1905 he married Ethel Grice and the union resulted in four children.

First World War

Judson enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) in October 1915 and embarked for the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

in January 1916 as a reinforcement with the

New Zealand Rifle Brigade The New Zealand Rifle Brigade (Earl of Liverpool's Own), affectionately known as The Dinks, was formed on 1 May 1915 as the third brigade of the New Zealand Division, part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. During the First World War it foug ...

. In February, shortly after arriving in Egypt where the

New Zealand Division The New Zealand Division was an infantry division of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force raised for service in the First World War. It was formed in Egypt in early 1916 when the New Zealand and Australian Division was renamed after the detachmen ...

was in the process of being formed, he was transferred to 1st Battalion, Auckland Infantry Regiment. Two months later, the division was transferred to the Western Front. Promoted to

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...

, he participated in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on 15 September 1916, where he was seriously wounded. He was evacuated to England and spent several months recovering from his injuries. Once his health permitted, he performed training duties and then spent a period of time in charge of a Royal Engineers depot in

Codford Codford is a civil parish south of Salisbury Plain in the Wylye Valley in Wiltshire, England. Its settlements are the adjacent villages of Codford St Peter and Codford St Mary, which lie some southeast of Warminster. The two villages are on th ...

. In June 1918, Judson, now a sergeant, returned to his battalion which, along with the rest of the New Zealand Division, was engaged in fighting on the Somme in France. Late the following month, he rescued six of his fellow soldiers during a German counterattack near Hebuterne. For this action, he was recommended for the

(DCM). On 16 August, he was at the forefront of a bayonet charge at Bucquoy that earned him the

(MM). Ten days later, Judson participated in the

, an early engagement of the Hundred Days Offensive. The actions which led to Judson being awarded the

(VC), the DCM and the MM took place over a period of just four weeks. The citation for Judson's VC was published in the same edition of the '' London Gazette'' as the citation for his DCM. His VC citation read as follows: In September, Judson was a victim of a gas attack and returned to England to recover his health. He then attended an officer training school, first at Cambridge and then at Aldershot. By this time the war had ended and it was not until February 1919 that Judson was commissioned as a second lieutenant.

Interwar period

Before departing England, Judson, along with three other New Zealanders who had been awarded the VC, received his medal from

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on 27 February 1919. After an extended stay in hospital, he left for New Zealand in June 1919. Discharged from the NZEF in October 1919 and having decided on a career as a professional soldier, Judson joined the

. He served in posts in Auckland and then New Plymouth, where he was the area officer. Due to his war wounds (eight fragments of shrapnel remained in his chest and abdomen) and the aftereffects of his gassing, his health was fragile, and he had two periods of extended sick leave in 1924 and 1934. Despite being regarded as a reliable and conscientious officer, promotion opportunities in the postwar Staff Corps were limited, and when he retired in 1937, it was with the rank of captain. Judson's marriage to Ethel had ended in divorce in 1920. Eight years later he married Kate Lewis, a war widow, and had a fifth child. On his retirement, Judson's pension was insufficient to support him and his children. Unable to return to his civilian trade of engineering due to poor health, he found employment as a secretary at a school in Auckland. A year later, he was voted onto

Auckland City Council Auckland City Council was the local government authority for Auckland City, New Zealand, from 1871 to 1 November 2010, when it and Auckland's six other city and district councils were amalgamated to form the Auckland Council. It was an elected b ...

for the Citizens and Ratepayers Association and served for nine years. He was one of six candidates who stood for selection for the electorate by the National Party for the , but Harry Merritt was chosen instead.

Later life

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Judson volunteered for military service. To be eligible, he deceived the authorities about his age. He served on the home front for the duration of the war, commanding the Guards Vital Points Battalion in Auckland. He retired from the military in September 1946 with the rank of major. Judson moved to Mangonui in Northland and took up farming. He was also community minded, and served as a justice of the peace as well as being a coroner. He retired in the late 1950s, and returned to Auckland where he died on 26 August 1972. He was buried at

Waikumete Cemetery Waikumete Cemetery, originally Waikomiti Cemetery, is New Zealand's largest cemetery. It occupies a site of 108 hectares in Glen Eden, Auckland, and also contains a crematorium in the south-west corner of the cemetery. History Waikumete Cemetery ...

, survived by his wife and four children. One of his sons, Reginald, served in the Second World War with the 24th Battalion as a chaplain and won the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC ...

during the Italian Campaign.

Medal

Judson's Victoria Cross was displayed at the QEII Army Memorial Museum, Waiouru. On 2 December 2007 it was one of nine Victoria Crosses that were among a hundred medals stolen from the museum. On 16 February 2008, New Zealand Police announced all the medals had been recovered as a result of a

NZ$ The New Zealand dollar ( mi, tāra o Aotearoa; sign: $, NZ$; code: NZD) is the official currency and legal tender of New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Ross Dependency, Tokelau, and a British territory, the Pitcairn Islands. Within New ...

300,000 reward offered by

Michael Ashcroft Michael Anthony Ashcroft, Baron Ashcroft, (born 4 March 1946) is a British-Belizean businessman, pollster and politician. He is a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. Ashcroft founded Michael A. Ashcroft Associates in 1972 and is ...

and Tom Sturgess.

Notes

Footnotes

Citations

References

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External links

*
Portrait of R.S. Judson and short biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Judson, Reginald Stanley 1881 births 1972 deaths New Zealand Army personnel New Zealand military personnel of World War II New Zealand World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross New Zealand recipients of the Distinguished Conduct Medal New Zealand recipients of the Military Medal Burials at Waikumete Cemetery People from the Auckland Region Auckland City Councillors