From a royal acorn, VC's oak tree grows

Reginald Judson's great-great-granddaughter Isabella Judson, 4, with the memorial plaque at Stockade Hill, Howick. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

Reginald Judson never spoke openly about the war, but he made his own dedication to the friends he lost when he planted a lone oak tree in the 1920s.

Yesterday, eight decades later, his daughter-in-law and grandson were at Stockade Hill in Howick to see a plaque unveiled to mark the tree and honour the man who planted it.

It was a fitting tribute to a soldier described as the World War I equivalent of Charles Upham. Reg Judson won the Victoria Cross, the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the Military Medal in a few weeks' fighting in the Bapaume region of the Somme in mid-1918.

Barry Dreyer, from the Howick RSA, said it was believed the tree-planting marked the first Anzac Day remembrance service in Howick.

The acorn came from the grounds of Windsor Castle and was given to Mr Judson by the then Duke of York (the future King George VI) when he was the Duke's official escort on a visit to New Zealand in 1927.

Mr Judson's 96-year-old daughter-in-law Margaret Judson and her son Glyn were at the ceremony yesterday.

Glyn Judson said his grandfather, who died in 1972, did not speak about his war-time experiences.

"I never understood how famous and brave he was until after he died. That's kind of sad, but like most of that generation, I think, that is how he wanted it."

Reg Judson was working as a boilermaker in Auckland when war broke out. He enlisted and went overseas in early 1916, serving with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade and the Auckland Infantry Regiment in France. He received severe abdominal wounds in September 1916 and did not return to the front until May 1918.

During July and August of that year he was involved in actions which resulted in his three medals for bravery. He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for leading an attack on an enemy position at Hebuterne on July 24-25 and the Military Medal for leading a bayonet charge against a machine-gun post on August 16.

Finally, he won the Victoria Cross for a series of hazardous raids on the German trenches on August 26 in the attack against Bapaume. In this attack he mounted a parapet and ordered an enemy machine-gun crew of about 12 men to surrender. When they fired on him he threw a hand grenade in their midst, then single-handedly killed two and captured two machine-guns.

The Victoria Cross citation concluded that "this prompt and gallant action not only saved many lives, but also enabled the advance to be continued unopposed".

After the war Mr Judson served on the Auckland City Council from 1938 to 1947.

Bravery in battle ran in the family - one of his sons, also called Reginald (Glyn Judson's father), won the Military Cross in World War II and later became Mayor of Manurewa.

Reginald Judson's medals won in 1918:

* Distinguished Conduct Medal, for leading an attack on an enemy position at Hebuterne on July 24-25.

* Military Medal, for leading a bayonet charge against a machine-gun post on August 16.

* Victoria Cross, for a series of hazardous raids on the German trenches on August 26.