HughAHalliday
12th February 2022, 12:20
CHARLTON, Wilson Hodgson, A/F/L (44837) George Cross - awarded as per London Gazette dated 21 January 1941.
Flight Lieutenant Charlton is responsible for all work in connection with enemy bombs in an area comprising the greater part of two counties. Both by day and night, during recent months, he has dealt with some 200 unexploded bombs. He has successfully undertaken many dangerous missions with undaunted and unfailing courage.
The rather more informative recommendation (Spimk Sales. 12 July 1994) states.
Flight Lieutenant Charlton is responsible for all work in connection with enemy bombs in an area comprising the greater part of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. Both by day and night during recent months, he has dealt with some 200 unexploded bombs, many of which were found to be the delayed action type. The manner in which this Flight Lieutenant carried out his extremely dangerous duties called for personal courage of an exceptional order, including not only the work of demolition, but the examination of new and unfamiliar types of enemy bombs. Flight Lieutenant Charlton has successfully undertaken many dangerous missions with undaunted and unfailing courage.
Squadron Leader Wilson Hodgson Charlton (1907-55) was employed on ‘Special Duty’ for Bomb Disposal and at the height of the Blitz in September and October was credited with de-fusing over 200 bombs on vital airfields and installations – an incredible record. Shortly after the award of the George Cross was announced, Charlton was sent to Singapore to train service personnel and civilians in bomb and mine disposal. When Malaya was overcome by the Japanese, he was evacuated to Java and continued his bomb disposal instruction until the Japanese captured the island and he was made a prisoner of war. One year after his imprisonment, Charlton with about 12 others, escaped into the jungle with the intent of building a boat and sailing to Australia. For over four months they eluded recapture but with most of the party stricken with malaria and other sickness, the boat building operation was painfully slow. Just as the vessel was at plank stage, the group was surprised by a Japanese patrol and was marched back into captivity. Charlton and others assisted the war effort sabotaging Jap lorries by ‘fixing’ them so they broke down. After the liberation of Java, he returned to England and was appointed Bomb Disposal Officer for the whole of Britain. Although Charlton’s George Cross was gazetted in 1941 he was not invested with it until November 1945. Squadron Leader Charlton died in 1952 after 27 ½ years’ service in the Royal Air Force.
Flight Lieutenant Charlton is responsible for all work in connection with enemy bombs in an area comprising the greater part of two counties. Both by day and night, during recent months, he has dealt with some 200 unexploded bombs. He has successfully undertaken many dangerous missions with undaunted and unfailing courage.
The rather more informative recommendation (Spimk Sales. 12 July 1994) states.
Flight Lieutenant Charlton is responsible for all work in connection with enemy bombs in an area comprising the greater part of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. Both by day and night during recent months, he has dealt with some 200 unexploded bombs, many of which were found to be the delayed action type. The manner in which this Flight Lieutenant carried out his extremely dangerous duties called for personal courage of an exceptional order, including not only the work of demolition, but the examination of new and unfamiliar types of enemy bombs. Flight Lieutenant Charlton has successfully undertaken many dangerous missions with undaunted and unfailing courage.
Squadron Leader Wilson Hodgson Charlton (1907-55) was employed on ‘Special Duty’ for Bomb Disposal and at the height of the Blitz in September and October was credited with de-fusing over 200 bombs on vital airfields and installations – an incredible record. Shortly after the award of the George Cross was announced, Charlton was sent to Singapore to train service personnel and civilians in bomb and mine disposal. When Malaya was overcome by the Japanese, he was evacuated to Java and continued his bomb disposal instruction until the Japanese captured the island and he was made a prisoner of war. One year after his imprisonment, Charlton with about 12 others, escaped into the jungle with the intent of building a boat and sailing to Australia. For over four months they eluded recapture but with most of the party stricken with malaria and other sickness, the boat building operation was painfully slow. Just as the vessel was at plank stage, the group was surprised by a Japanese patrol and was marched back into captivity. Charlton and others assisted the war effort sabotaging Jap lorries by ‘fixing’ them so they broke down. After the liberation of Java, he returned to England and was appointed Bomb Disposal Officer for the whole of Britain. Although Charlton’s George Cross was gazetted in 1941 he was not invested with it until November 1945. Squadron Leader Charlton died in 1952 after 27 ½ years’ service in the Royal Air Force.