Friday 24 April 2015

Wilson, Robert - Lance Corporal

Lnce Cpl Robert Wilson
295 Field Company, Royal Engineers
Died 12 August 1944
Age 26

Lance Corporal Robert Wilson died in a military hospital in Bayeux, Normandy, from wounds sustained in the heavy fighting in the campaign. Bayeux was the first French town of any size and importance to be liberated after the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, although there was little actual fighting in the town Robert had taken part in the North African campaign, and had also fought in Sicily and Italy. He had been wounded four times before

Robert was the son of Joseph and Hettie Wilson. He was aged 26.  He had attended St.James' Church and School, and was employed in the Haslingden area in the building trade. N.B. Robert's brother, George, was killed on 21 September 1944.

Robert lies in Bayeux War Cemetery, France. The town of Bayeux is 24 kilometres northwest of Caen and the cemetery is on the outskirts of the town. It is the largest Commonwealth cemetery of the 1939-1945 War in France and contains burials brought in from the surrounding area and the hospitals that were located nearby. There are 4,144 war graves, of which there are 338 of men who could not be identified. Robert's grave is in Plot 1, Row D, Grave 21.




(Click over to enlarge)


                               Hettie Wilson (Robert's mother at the Cenetaph)