Reginald Stanley Judson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

Reginald Stanley Judson VC, DCM, MM (29 September 1881 - 26 August 1972) was a New Zealander recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

He was 36 years old, and a sergeant in the 1st Battalion, Auckland Infantry Regiment, New Zealand Expeditionary Force during the First World War, and had already been awarded the DCM and MM in the space of three weeks between July and August 1918, when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 26 August 1918 south of Bapaume, France, during an attack, Sergeant Judson led a small bombing party under heavy fire and captured an enemy machine-gun. He then proceeded up the sap alone, bombing three machine-gun crews. Jumping out of the trench he then ran ahead of the enemy and, standing on a parapet, ordered a group of two officers and 10 men to surrender. They immediately opened fire and he threw a bomb and jumped amongst them, killing two and putting the rest to flight, and so captured two machine-guns.

Judson's grave.

He later achieved the rank of major. 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.^[1] On 16 February 2008 New Zealand Police announced all the medals had been recovered as a result of a NZ$300,000 reward offered by Michael Ashcroft and Tom Sturgess.^[2]