Soldier survived war and imprisonment with Upham
Ken Longmore
soldier
b May 15, 1918
d July 18, 2021
The last direct military link to Charles Upham, VC and bar, has been lost with the death of Ken Longmore. Tom Scott, who in 2020 wrote a biography of Charles Upham, Searching For Charlie, interviewed Longmore and says his death, aged 103, closes a significant chapter in New Zealand military history.
Scott believes that Longmore was the last soldier who served with Upham, New Zealand’s most decorated war hero.
Longmore was a POW in Germany with Upham and observed one of his escape attempts. Scott agreed with Longmore’s assessment that Upham was incredibly brave but had a reckless disregard for his own life that placed other prisoners at risk.
Interviewing Longmore was a memorable experience for Scott. ‘‘He was an absolutely lovely man. I remember he had an incredibly strong handshake. He had been playing tennis until he was about 200.’’
Before World War II, Longmore served at Fort Dorset in Seatoun, Wellington, as a junior territorial officer.
Longmore was called up for service on the day war was declared in September 1939. He went overseas with the third echelon in August 1940, as a lieutenant, and first saw action in Greece in 1941.
At the end of the allied retreat in Greece he led a small group of Aussies and Kiwis over the mountains on foot to the southern coast of Greece. When they reached the coast, the group commandeered a fishing boat to escape. Longmore noticed from watching the stars that the skipper had turned around and was trying to take them back to the mainland. The skipper had to be reminded, at gunpoint, that he was supposed to be going to the Greek island of Santorini.
Arriving at Santorini, they were sheltered by locals until they were picked up by an allied warship that took them to Crete.
Eventually he ended up in Maadi Camp, in Egypt, and was briefly a sports officer before returning to action in bitter fighting near Tobruk, Libya, in late 1941.
He also took part, in June 1942, in the famous bayonet breakout, at Minqar Qaim, as Rommel’s 21st Panzer Division threatened to encircle the New Zealanders.
The following month Longmore found himself fighting for his life during the Battle of El Alamein. The battle took a turn for the worst for him, when the vehicle he was in was destroyed by a landmine.
Somehow, he survived but was alone in the desert, and on foot. Another New Zealand vehicle pulled up and stopped long enough for him to put his satchel of maps and documents onboard.
Just as Longmore was about to jump on, it suddenly took off. Years later he would speculate that the driver was probably spooked by the sound of approaching German tanks.
Trying to find his way to safety, Longmore stumbled on a badly wounded New Zealander. Comforting his wounded comrade, he thought both men were about to die when a German tank arrived and pointed its machine-gun at them.
To his great surprise, a head popped out of the turret hatch and in broken English asked if they needed help. The crew worked with Longmore to try and save the wounded Kiwi, and it was only when he died that the tank commander told him he was now a prisoner of war.
Upham was taken prisoner in the same battle, and the pair were eventually transported to a camp in Weinsberg, Germany.
It was there that Upham, with Longmore watching on but keen to stay out of trouble, made one of his famous bids for freedom.
Despite little chance of success, he attempted to jump the razor wire in broad daylight but instead found himself entangled.
Nonchalantly lighting a cigarette, Upham waited to be either shot or untangled by the German guards.
Longmore told Scott that the other prisoners created a diversion to try and draw the attention of the guards away from Upham.
Most of the prisoners were, like Longmore, happy to see Upham sent to Colditz Castle, where the Germans kept serial would-be escapees. ‘‘He certainly admired Charlie, but he did not particularly like him,’’ Scott says. ‘‘Charlie was at war 24/7, while the other prisoners were organising concerts and learning Greek.’’
Kenneth Alfred Longmore was born in Wellington and grew up in Brougham St, Mt Victoria. His mother, Clara (nee Hadfield), was a talented pianist, who travelled to Australia to accompany singers. Alfred, his father, worked as an auctioneer and, like a lot of Wellingtonians, had a bach in Eastbourne.
Spending his weekends in Eastbourne was a happy time for the young Longmore. ‘‘I loved tramping the hills, being on the beach and looking out at Cook Strait,’’ he told an interviewer when he turned 100.
After attending Wellesley College in Days Bay, he started at Scots College in 1931, and was a happy student.
‘‘I fell in love with the place and its traditional features, the brick building, the bell tower and the ivy,’’ he told Stuff in 2016.
A talented sportsman, he captained the first XI cricket team, played first XV rugby and captained the tennis team. The
1935 Scots yearbook predicted he had a bright future in tennis.
After his time as a POW he returned to Wellington to find his father had died and his mother was struggling financially. She was forced her to live in the basement of her Mt Victoria house, so she could rent out the house.
His mother sold the house and moved to their Eastbourne bach. Longmore returned to his pre-war clerical job at the Union Steamship Company, but his real love was sport, particularly tennis.
He met his future wife Beverley Burch at the Muritai Tennis Club, his courtship beginning after they won the mixed doubles.
They married in 1970 and both played tennis until they were well into their 80s. Longmore was club champion in the 1950s and was patron for many years.
In later life, he worked for Steel and Tube and Aulsebrooks, and had a period as a real estate agent in Eastbourne.
In his 1990s, he became a regular at events celebrating the history of Wellesley and Scots colleges. In 2016, he cut the cake with Scots’ youngest pupil, Christian Lobb, aged 5, to celebrate its
100th anniversary.
Although he lived to be one of Wellington’s oldest men, he was always fit and interested in what was happening around him.
When interviewed after turning 103, the interviewer described him as ‘‘a goodlooking and imposing figure, with a ready wit’’, who was still enjoying life.
His daughter, Mary Longmore, described him as a stoic man, who preferred not to talk about the war. ‘‘But he was funny, reliable, strong, stubborn, tough and loyal, particularly devoted to visiting his late wife when she had to go into care due to Alzheimer’s disease.’’
Well known in Eastbourne, he got a lot of pleasure from attending Anzac Day ceremonies and marched until he turned
100.
Scott said it was a delight to interview Longmore, and he was saddened to hear he had died. ‘‘He deserves a good obituary, he was a fine man.’’