Wilson, John

Date of birth:: November 12th, 1918 (Greenock/Inverclyde, Scotland)
Date of death:: November 15th, 1944 (Sint Anthonis/North Brabant, Netherlands)
Buried on:: Commonwealth War Graves Sint Anthonis
Grave: 2.
Service number:: 149792
Nationality:: British

Biography

Lieutenant John Wilson, Royal Artillery, was attached to the 659th A.O.P. Squadron, Royal Air Force.

On 24 August 1939, John was called up for military service under Section 13(2)(b) of the Reserve Forces Act 1907 and on the same date he was recalled as an engineer in Group A Class III.
On 2 May 1940, he was posted to 123rd OCTU in Catterick and on 2 September 1940, he was given emergency duty with the Royal Artillery.
He joined 304 (City of Dundee) Battery 127 (Highland) Field Regiment RA as Gun Position Officer.

On 16 June 1942, the unit left the United Kingdom. Several ships departed from Greenock and sailed via South Africa to North Africa, where they left Durban on 16 July and disembarked at the entrance to the Suez Canal in Port Tewfik on 14 August 1942.
At the end of August, the division entered the Nile Delta via Khatatba. Here they took up positions to defend the western approaches to Cairo. At that time, the enemy was no more than 50 miles to the west in the El Alamein area and to the south of it. Montgomery launched his attack at Alamein on 30 August. After El Alamein, the unit was also involved in actions at Medenine, Mareth and Wadi Akarit.
Casualty records show that John was wounded on 22 March 1943, but the severity of the wound is not recorded.

The unit left Egypt for Algeria on 15 May 1943 and John enjoyed a period of rest and relaxation in the port of Bougie in Algeria.
On 3 September 1943, John's unit was involved in the invasion of Sicily.
He returned to the UK on 28 November 1943 when the division had to prepare for the invasion of Europe.
He joined No. 35 AOP course on 3 May 1944, where he first completed the Elementary Flying Training School and then the Operational Training Unit (OTU) on 20 July 1944.
After training, John was assigned to 659 Sqn RAF and left the United Kingdom on 2 November.
On 15 November, John was undergoing further training when his Auster stalled and crashed, killing him.

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