WILSON, William Robert Eric
| Service Number: | 401201 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 4 January 1941 |
| Last Rank: | Flight Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | No. 7 Operational Training Unit RAAF Tocumwal |
| Born: | Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, 13 July 1912 |
| Home Town: | Rochester, Campaspe, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Insurance Representative |
| Died: | Deniliquin, New South Wales, Australia, 22 August 1997, aged 85 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
The Victorian Garden Of Remembrance, Victoria |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 4 Jan 1941: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Lieutenant, 401201 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Nov 1941: | Embarked Royal Australian Air Force, Leading Aircraftman, 401201, HQ Transport Command, embarked Sydney for Middle East | |
| 25 Apr 1945: | Promoted Royal Australian Air Force, Acting Flight Lieutenant, No. 7 Operational Training Unit RAAF Tocumwal | |
| 24 Oct 1945: | Discharged Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Lieutenant, 401201 |
Help us honour William Robert Eric Wilson's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Flight Lieutenant William Robert Eric Wilson (Service No:401201) enlisted in the RAAF at No 1 Recruiting Centre Melbourne as an Aircraftman I and was posted to No 1 Initial Training School (ITS) Somers. During 1941 ACI Wilson was attached to No 1 Air Observers' School Cootamundra, No 1 Bombing and Air Gunnery School (BAGS) Evans Head, No 1 Air Navigation School (ANS) Parkes, No 1 Embarkation Depot and in November was with Transport Command when he embarked from Sydney for the Middle East, attached to the RAF 103 Maintenance Unit. Promoted to Flying Officer in 1943, he returned to Sydney 10 September 1944 and was attached to General Reconnaissance School (GRS) Point Cook and Radar School Maryborough. On 25 April 1945 he was promoted to Flight Lieutenant, and was attached to 7 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at Discharge on 24 October 1945.
Eric was born in Ballarat in 1910 (BDM Vic Registration No:16323, although in his Attestation Papers he gave his DoB as 1912), eldest of five children of William Gilmore Wilson (b1880 at Cape Bridgewater via Portland, Victoria) and Lillian Maude Lightbody (b1885 at Cape Bridgewater via Portland, Victoria). William (a Farmer) and Lillian married in 1910 in Portland, Victoria and settled in Bridgewater where they raised their family and William was a Farmer and Carpenter. Following Lillian's death in 1922, William remarried second wife Annie Naomi Grant (b1896 in Coolgardie, WA) in 1922 in Melbourne - Annie was working in as a Tailoress. William and Annie settled at Sea Lake, Victoria where they raised their family and William was a Painter. William served in WWI (Bombardier; Service No:33173) and WWII (Private; Service No:V360534).
Eric worked as a Law Clerk in Sea Lake until his marriage in 1939 to Agnes (Bessie) Elizabeth Wood (b1914 in Rochester, Victoria) - Bessie was a Saleswoman in Sea Lake. Eric and Bessie were living in Rochester where Eric worked as an Insurance Representative when he enlisted in the RAAF. Following his Discharge, Eric and Bessie were living in Balranald in the Riverina District in NSW in 1949, where Eric was Proprietor of the Wacool Hotel in Kyalite. In the 1950s the couple settled at Deniliquin, NSW where Eric worked as an Assurance Representative. Bessie died in 1990 and Eric in 1997.
Click images to start slideshow.