Charles Begg was New Zealand's most decorated member of the Medical Corps during World War I.
Born in Dunedin in September 1879, he went to Kaikorai School and Otago Boys' High School, then the University of Otago Medical School in 1898.
He graduated with distinction from the University of Edinburgh in 1903. He became an MD in 1905 and the following year returned to New Zealand where he went into general practice in Wellington. In December 1909 he married Lillian Treadwell. The couple had two sons.
Appointed commander of the New Zealand Field Ambulance at the outbreak of war, Begg arrived in Egypt in December 1914. The Field Ambulance saw their first action during an Ottoman attack on the Suez Canal in early February 1915, then left for Gallipoli on April 17.
When the Anzacs landed on April 25 casualties were unexpectedly heavy. Begg sent his bearer sections ashore while surgical teams provided treatment on ships. But many did not get the surgery they needed so Begg set up a dressing station on the beach, where surgeons worked under constant fire. In late June, a Turkish shell destroyed the station. Begg, although wounded, relocated his unit further along the beach. By early August this dressing station had treated 15,000 wounded Anzacs.