British Army Colonel Tropical Mess Jacket : WWII Veteran : D-DAY : PARA RE (C)

Description: 1940s / !950s Tropical Mess Jacket Belonged to Royal Engineers Officer Dimensions:Shoulder 14 cm.Sleeves 56 cm.Chest 102 cm.Back 49 cm. Clean overall. Please ask questions before bidding, happy to help. Very careful packing & secure, tracked shipping. More details on Colonel Wilson: From 'The Herald', Feb 1998Colonel Ian Wilson, MC, army officer; COLONEL Ian Wilson.., Won a Military Cross as a platoon commander in the Royal Engineer Assault Squadron which landed on the Normandy beaches ahead of the main force on D-Day (June 6, 1944) to clear a path through the mines and other hazards so that tanks and infantry could move inland without sustaining heavy casualties. Each of the Royal Engineers carried 24lbs of high explosives. Their task, while they were exposed to the full force of enemy fire, was to destroy various fortifications by attaching demolition charges, and also to locate and defuse mines, some of which were attached to stakes known as ''Rommel's asparagus''. As it was impossible to take cover while working they made an easy target for enemy snipers and machine gunners. Speed was essential, for the incoming tide would cover some of the obstacles if they were not defused and the effect on incoming landing craft would be catastrophic. Inevitably they suffered heavy casualties, but this did not deter them.Born in India on July 2, 1924, Ian Thomas Candelent Wilson was the son of a Royal Engineers Officer whose family came from Perthshire. After education at the Imperial Services College, Windsor, he enlisted in the army in 1942 and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1943. He was wounded in Normandy in 1944, but not badly, and was able to take part in the whole of the north-west Europe campaign, finishing on the Baltic coast. His squadron was engaged in bridge building and built the bridges over the large rivers: the Seine, Maas, Rhine, and Elb, as well as many lesser ones.At the end of the war in Europe he was posted to Palestine on Internal Security Duties, and then returned to Britain to take a degree at the Military College of Science, Shrivenham, and subsequently attend the Staff College, Camberley. A tour of duty as a Staff Officer at HQ, 6th Armoured Division in Germany, was followed by a return to his regiment in Cyprus where he was engaged in counter-terrorist duties and was mentioned in dispatches. He was then made secretary of the Cyprus Working Party, negotiating the defence requirements for the Cyprus Treaty of Establishment, and was awarded the MBE in 1960. His next posting was CO of 9 Independent Parachute Squadron, Royal Engineers, which soon afterwards was involved in the 1963 crisis in Kuwait. Then followed two years in the US as British Airborne Liaison Officer at Fort Bragg. During this time he was involved in the original tests for the Chinook helicopter and was also engaged in Halo (High Altitude Low Opening) parachuting with American Airborne and Special Forces. After returning to Europe he served with his regiment in Germany for a short period before becoming CO of the Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal Unit. His last posting was Defence Attache in Bangkok. After retirement he worked as a preparatory schoolmaster and was particularly active in local social work in Hampshire.An excellent all-round sportsman, particularly at rugby, skiing, sailing, freefall parachuting, and diving, he took up windsurfing and gliding in his sixties and on his 70th birthday made one final parachute jump.

Price: 35 GBP

Location: Tunbridge Wells

End Time: 2024-12-20T22:10:49.000Z

Shipping Cost: 31.27 GBP