Vashon James Wheeler
| Vashon James Wheeler | |
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| Nickname(s) | 'Pop' |
| Born |
16 September 1898 Ludlow, Shropshire |
| Died | 23 March 1944 (aged 45) Bad Schwalbach, Germany |
| Buried | British Military Cemetery, Durnbach, Bavaria |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
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Wing Commander Vashon James 'Pop' Wheeler, MC & Bar, DFC & Bar (16 September 1898 – 23 March 1944), was a former British Army and Royal Air Force officer who served as an infantry officer in both the Great War and the North Russia Intervention, and then as a fighter and bomber pilot in the Second World War.
Vashon James Wheeler was born in September 1898 near Ludlow, Shropshire. His father, James Volant Wheeler, a landowner and barrister, named his son Vashon after his great grandfather Admiral Sir James Vashon. His mother was Sybil Grace Wheeler (née Tyrrwhit). Vashon received his early education from a private school in Bournemouth before moving on to the prestigious Eton College. During his time at Eton the young Vashon enrolled in the school Officer Training Corps unit and received his first taste of military life. He evidently enjoyed the military way as following the annual OTC summer camp of 1915, Vashon went missing and was eventually tracked down by his father and housemaster at the Guards Depot Caterham, Surrey. He had lied about his age in order to enlist as a soldier in the British Army, the Guards were soon convinced to release their eager young recruit and return him to his studies. The story goes that a comedic Drill Sergeant dismissed the under age and now ex Guardsman Wheeler from the parade square with the words "Your nanny has come to take you home". Wheelers father, sported at the time, a rather long and goat like beard.
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