WAGNER, Charles Arthur
| Service Number: | NX29683 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 10 June 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/18th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 12 August 1916 |
| Home Town: | Woollahra, Woollahra, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Boot Trade |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Liangan, Lanao Province, Mindanao,Philippines, 21 December 1943, aged 27 years |
| Cemetery: |
Sai Wan War Cemetery, Hong Kong Burial reference: - Plot I, Row B, Grave 6. Personal Inscription: - "THE SUPREME SACRIFICE". |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 3 Sep 1939: | Involvement Lieutenant, NX29683 | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Jun 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Lieutenant, NX29683, 2nd/18th Infantry Battalion | |
| 16 Feb 1942: | Imprisoned Malaya/Singapore, Lieutenant Wagner was captured by the Japanese on the capitulation of Singapore he subsequently escaped and was on active service with United States of America military forces in the Philippines at the time of his death. |
Help us honour Charles Arthur Wagner's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Dianne Black
Parents: - Edward Wagner and Annie Eliza Thies.
Wife: - Audrey Thursa Blackburn (married 1936, Woollahra New South Wales) of Woollahra, New South Wales, Australia.
Biography contributed by Faithe Jones
Wagner was born in Sydney in 1916 and enlisted in Paddington in the 8th Division in June 1940. At the time, he was working in the boot trade. His battalion left Australia for Singapore on 1 February 1941, with Wagner serving as an Intelligence Sergeant and Intelligence Officer until the fall of Singapore. On 15 February 1942 he became a Japanese Prisoner of War (POW). As a POW he was taken to Borneo with 500 other Australians in March 1943, where he escaped from an Imperial Japanese Army concentration camp in Berhala Island, with seven other Australian in June 1943. Successfully evading recapture, he joined up with the US 125 Infantry Regiment by July 1943, where he was recommended for distinguished service by the CO 125 Infantry Regiment for successfully leading an ambush on 2 August 1943. He went from Tawi Tawi to Mindanao in October 1943. A US forces in the Philippines file says he was shot by a Japanese sniper on 21 December 1943 at 8am during a Japanese attack which started on 19 December. His death certificate was signed by US Forces in the Philippines – 108 Division.
He was awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal for bravery in the field in Malaya and was also mentioned in dispatches.
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