In 2019 he gave up his regular cartoon slot for the Dominion Post to research and write Searching for Charlie: In Pursuit of the Real Charles Upham VC & Bar.
Scott will visit Dunedin next Wednesday, November 4, to discuss the book with military historian William McKeen, in a public event, from 7pm at Toitu Otago Settlers Museum. Proceeds will go to Dunedin RSA.
Captain Charles Hazlitt Upham is the only combat soldier ever to win the Victoria Cross twice, and his acts of bravery in World War 2 were legendary.
The mystery of how a reserved, modest, slightly built farm valuer from New Zealand, could be so ferocious and fearless in battle has intrigued and fascinated Scott ever since he read about Charles Upham as a schoolboy.
In writing Searching for Charlie, Scott wanted to create something to give his children and grandchildren an appreciation of the sacrifices their grandparents and great-grandparents made and the hardships they endured to rescue the world from a monstrous evil.
Scott travelled extensively and researched exhaustively.
He went on a pilgrimage to Upham’s old battlegrounds in Crete and Egypt, visited Colditz and Weinsberg in Germany, and Modena, Italy where Upham spent time as a prisoner of war.
He also visited Upham’s childhood haunts and learnt about his uncle and namesake, Dr Charles Hazlitt Upham, from whom he gained a powerful moral compass and an abhorrence of bigotry, pretence and prejudice.
Working as a stockman and shepherd in the New Zealand’s rugged high country gave him wiry strength, stamina, made him a crack shot, and gave him a feel for terrain, light and landscapes.
Shy and reluctant to take credit for his actions, Upham deflected all praise on to his soldiers and was described as "distraught" that he had been honoured.
"He didn’t downplay his achievements so much as wish vehemently that they would go away," Scott said.
"Searching for the source of Charlie’s courage was like chasing the end of a rainbow."
Tom Scott is one of New Zealand’s leading writers and illustrators, and is renowned as a cartoonist, playwright, author and scriptwriter.
