Clive Hulme

Photo by Terry Macdonald

Alfred Clive Hulme VC (24 January 1911-2 September 1982) was a New Zealand recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

He was the father of champion Formula One racing driver Denny Hulme.

Citation

The Victoria Cross

He was 30 years old and a sergeant in the 23rd Battalion, (The Canterbury Regiment) 5th Brigade, 2nd Division, 2NZEF during the Second World War when the actions took place during the Battle of Crete for which he was awarded the VC.

The citation from the London Gazette dated 10 October 1941 reads:

"Sergeant Hulme exhibited most outstanding and inspiring qualities of leasership, initiative, skill, endurance, and most conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty from the commencement of the heavy fighting in Crete on 20 May 1941, until he was wounded in action 28 May 1941. On ground overlooking Malene Aerodrome on 20 and 21 May he personally led parties of his men from the area held by the forward position and destroyed enemy organised parties who had established themselves out in front of our position, from which they brought heavy rifle, machine-gun and mortar fire to bear on our defensive posts. Numerous snipers in the area were dealt with by Sergeant Hulme personally; one hundred and thirty dead were counted here. On 22, 23 and 24 May, Sergeant Hulme was continuously going out alone or with one or two men and destroying enemy snipers. On 25 May, when Sergeant Hulme had rejoined his battalion, this unit counter-attacked Galatas Village. The attack was partially held up by a large party of the enemy holding the school, from which they were inflicting heavy casualties on our troops. Sergeant Hulme went forward alone, threw grenades into the school, and so disorganised the defence that the counter-attack was able to proceed successfully.

On Tuesday, 27 May, when our troops were holding a defensive line in Suda Bay during the final retirement, five enemy snipers had worked into position on the hillside overlooking the flank of the battalion line. Sergeant Hulme volunteered to deal with the situation and stalked and killed the snipers in turn. He continued similar work successfully through the day.

On 28 May at Stylos, when an enemy heavy mortar was bombing a very important ridge held by the battalion rearguard troops, inflicting severe casualties, Sergeant Hulme, on his own initiative, penetrated the enemy lines, killed the mortar crew of four, put the mortar out of action, and thus very materially assisted the withdrawal of the main body through Stylos. From the enemy mortar position he then worked onto the left flank and killed three snipers who were causing concern to the rearguard. This made his score of enemy snipers thirty three stalked and shot. Shortly afterwards Sergeant Hulme was severely wounded in the shoulder while stalking another sniper. When ordered to the rear, in spite of his wound, he directed traffic under fire and organised stragglers of various units into section groups."^[1]

Further details

Clive Hulme's brother Harold Charles ("Blondie") Hulme, was killed while also fighting in Crete.^[2]

Hulmes use of an acquired German parachutists' smock during some of his stalking has occasionally been criticised.^[3]

His Victoria Cross was one of nine stolen from the QEII Army Memorial Museum in 2007.^[4] Along with all the others, it was recovered in February 2008 as a result of a reward offered by Michael Ashcroft and Tom Sturgess.^[5]

Personal life

Hulme was born in Dunedin, New Zealand and worked as a farm labourer before he enlisted in the 23rd Battalion. After the war he lived at Pongakawa, near Te Puke, running a cartage company and involved with water divining and oil prospecting.^[6]

His son Denny Hulme won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1967.

Clive Hulme died at Te Puke on 2 September 1982, and was buried in the civilian section of the Dudley-Vercoe Cemetery in the town.

Back row, Left to Right: Col. L.W. Andrew, Maj. R.S. Judson, Pte. J.D. Crichton, Lt. H.J. Laurent, Lt. C.R.G. Bassett
Front row, Sg. J.D. Hinton, Lt. K. Elliott, Cpt. C.H. Upham, Sg. A.C. Hulme, Cpt. S. Frickleton, Lt. J.G. Grant

References

1. ^ "10725, Sergeant CLIVE ALFRED HULME", Birkenhead RSA (Inc) website
2. ^ "23 Battalion, Battle of Crete, www.nzetc.org
3. ^ "Fury over attack on father's war service", Bay of plenty Times
4. ^ Derek Cheng (December 2007). "Army medal theft 'insult' to our nation's heritage". nzherald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10479634. Retrieved 2007-12-02. 
5. ^ Stolen War Medals Recovered
6. ^ Hulme, Alfred Clive 1911 - 1982", Soldier, transport operator, prospector. Dictionary of New Zealand Biography

References

• Todd Skilton

External links

• "Alfred (Clive) HULME, VC", www.armymuseum.co.nz
• "Hulme, Alfred Clive", Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand
• Archived (brief biography details)

Persondata
Name	Hulme, Alfred
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1911
Place of birth
Date of death	1982
Place of death