Hugh Paul Seagrim, GC, DSO, MBE (24 March 1909 – 22 September 1944), nicknamed "Grandfather Longlegs", was a British Indian Army officer notable for his leadership of Karen rebels in fighting Japanese invaders in Burma during the Second World War.
Seagrim's brother was Derek Seagrim, a recipient of the Victoria Cross. He and his brother have the distinction of being the only siblings awarded the Victoria Cross and the George Cross, both posthumously.
Major Seagrim was the leader of a party which included two other British and one Karen officer working in the Karen Hills of Burma. By the end of 1943 the Japanese had learned of this party who then commenced a campaign of arrests and torture to determine their whereabouts.
The Japanese then arrested 270 Karens and tortured and killed many of them but still they continued to support Major Seagrim. To end further suffering to the Karens, Seagrim surrendered himself to the Japanese on 15th March 1944.
He was taken to Rangoon and together with eight others he was sentenced to death. He pleaded that the others were following his orders and as such they should be spared, but they were determined to die with him and were all executed.
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