Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Private Wilfred Athol Wilson (Service No:VX48609) enlisted in the AIF on 1 August 1940 with the AAMC (Dental Clerk Orderly) and was attached to Dental Units at Echuca, Bendigo, Darley and Bonegilla. On 30 August 1941 Private Wilson embarked for Singapore with 2/13th Australian General Hospital (AGH) on board HMS Wanganella. On 10 April 1942 he was reported Missing and confirmed as a PoW of the Japanese on 2 November 1943. Private Wilson was recovered from the Japanese at Changi PoW Camp  on 3 September 1945 and embarked from Singapore for Sydney on board the Largs Bay on 31 September 1945. Private Wilson was attached to 33 Dental Unit at Discharge on 9 January 1946.

Third of five children, Wilfred was born at Cape Bridgewater via Portland, Victoria in 1913 to William Gilmore Wilson (b1880 at Cape Bridgewater via Portland, Victoria) and Lillian Maude Lightbody (b1885 at Cape Bridgewater via Portland, Victoria). William was a Farmer at Cape Bridgewater in 1910 when he and Lillian married in Portland. They settled at Cape Bridgewater where William was a Farmer until Lillian's death in 1922. William remarried later that year in Melbourne to Annie Naomi Grant (b1896 in Coolgardie, WA - Annie was working in Melbourne as a Tailoress. William and Annie settled at Sea Lake, Victoria where William worked as a Carpenter. William served in WWI (Bombardier; Service No:33173) and WWII (Private; Service No:V360534).

Wilfred worked as a Farm Labourer at Sea Lake in the 1930's and was a Truck Driver and Carpenter in Melbourne in 1940 when he enlisted in the Army. He was in Melbourne, Victoria in 1946 when he married Enid Isobel Frost (b1925 in Melbourne, Victoria). Wilfred and Enid lived in Portland where Wilfed worked as a Painter before settling in Melbourne in the early 1950s. Wilfred worked as a Painter and Maintenance Man in Melbourne before retiring to Torquay in the mid 1970s. Wilfred died in 1997 and Enid in 2001.