Remembering Jonathan Wilson

Note: Special thanks to Dr T.E Rogers and Marlborough College for their assistance in writing this article, who provided information beyond the questions I asked when conducting the research below. They also supplied some of the photographs. Equally thanks to those who helped with the translations.

Today is Remembrance Sunday in the UK, and for obvious reasons I was debating putting an article up today. However as Remembrance Sunday is a UK only event, and as we have a global readership I decided to do something fitting with the period and still produce an article.
A couple of years ago when researching a British army tank unit I brought a second hand book on the subject. When the book arrived I was surprised to find a sheaf of papers inside it. These were letters from a Soldiers Mother to a friend of the family. The book also had a dedication glued into the front page. From what I can tell the book, and the letters were gifted to a friend of the family who knew the soldier when he was a boy.
This soldiers story has never been seen in one place before, although parts of the story are known. There is no daring-do in this story, no medals. Just a perfect example of the hundreds of thousands of people from around the world who stopped their lives to fight in histories most destructive conflict, and were never able to carry them on. Many of whom have been forgotten by history. At least in this case I can do something about that. So today I give you Jonathan Wilson's story.

Johnathan Wilson in 1942

Jonathan Wilson was born on the 22nd of February 1924. His parents were the singer Sir Steuart Wilson and Ann Wilson (née Bowles). He had 3 siblings. The marriage however was not to last and in 1931 Ann divorced Sir Wilson, something of note in Britain at the time. In 1933 Sir Adrian Boult became Jonathan Wilson's step father.
In September 1937 he enrolled at Marlborough College, where he became an accomplished poet. So much so Marlborough college published about 20 of his works in a book called False Starts. He was still at college when the Second World war started. In 1942 he Captained the Marlborough 1st Rugby XV. In his final year he was also Prefect and the editor of the school magazine "The Marlburian". However as an 18 year old in the middle of World War Two, there was only one option, and he enlisted.

Jonathan Wilson became an officer, and on the 24th of January 1944 he Joined the 3rd Scots Guards while based at Thoresby Park, as a Second Lieutenant. The 3rd Scots were a regiment in the 6th Guards tank brigade. At this time I've yet to be able to find out what role in the Regiment he served in. However on the 19th of September due to an internal promotion Lt Wilson was put in command of a troop in "S" Squadron, although it appears later on he was transferred to command 14 Troop of "Left Flank". His Churchill was named "SPEY", after the Scottish river.

(It should be noted that the Scots guards have an odd way of naming their squadrons. Squadron one is called "Right Flank", Squadron two "S Squadron" and Squadron three is "Left Flank")

Until the late of October the Scots Guards saw no combat, apart from a bombardment against German bunker position at a range of 4000 yards. However on 24th It was realized the Germans had started falling back from the front, and so an advance was ordered. As part of this deployment the Scots were hurriedly pushed forward to seize the village of Moergestel, and its bridge. When they arrived the Scots found the bridge over the canal demolished. The jubilant Dutch townsfolk upon realizing the problem were led by a local priest. Unbidden by the Guardsmen they began gathering boulders and rubble to construct a ford, so the Scots might continue to pursue the retreating Germans. The exuberance shown in this endeavour caused several of the watching officers to fear for their safety as the work was carried out with extreme haste and little care. After a short while the leading tank commander thought he could make it across. On the far bank the Churchill's legendary hill climbing ability failed, and the tank got stuck. However shortly afterwards a bridge-layer arrived and the regiment continued its advance.
A quick push and the Scots worked their way into the outskirts of Tilburg where they started meeting resistance. At this point it appears Lt Wilson's squadron was stuck trying to get through the celebrating Dutch at Moergestel. By the time that Lt Wilson's troop had cleared the traffic jam Tilburg had fallen.  Tilburg was the first large town the Scots had liberated and a massive celebration was under-way. Lt Wilson's troop was moving up to join in the celebration when, much to his troops annoyance they were diverted to the south. A German counter attack had hit and scattered parts of the US 7th armoured Division, and the Scots guards were required to assist. By the time the Scots Guards reached the front the battle was over, broken up by air and artillery power, and the dogged resistance of some US forces.

6th Guards near Tilburg

After being stopped by a peat bog the Scots held in place for a few days until the gains of the German attack had been recovered, and then with the entire brigade was withdrawn to the town of Helmond by November the 7th, where the brigade managed to find billets for everyone. They even managed to set up a club house for writing and recreation. It was named the Churchill Club. The brigade remained there until 20th Of November when a new attack was launched. At 0530 Lt Wilson was given orders to move at speed to a forming up point near Beringe. Lt Wilson's troop moved with such a pace it soon left the rest of the Squadron behind, and managed to reach its destination, shave and have a second breakfast before the rest of the regiment had caught up. The rest of the battalion upon arriving had some comments to say as they drove past the well fed men of Lt Wilson's troop, much to the amusement of Lt Wilson's commanding officer.

3rd Scots Advancing from Beringe

At Beringe the Scots met up with some Achilles tank destroyers and Churchill AVRE's for the next part of the attack towards Sevenum. At 1115 the Squadron in support of the infantry moved out down an isolated track towards Sevenum. After a mile they started to receive heavy mortar and MG fire, which pinned the Infantry. The Churchill's however, could push forward and smash the German positions. The attack ground forwards until the Churchill's were in the houses of Sevenum. Again MG fire pinned the infantry, and the Churchill's drove up and blasted the German positions with point blank fire. 46 Prisoner's were taken. By late afternoon the village was secured, As the tanks reached the other side of the village, about 1700, dusk started to fall. Suddenly from the woods on the right a self-propelled 75mm opened fire, Seconds later another fired from the left. Caught in the crossfire Lt Wilson's tank was knocked out with Jonathan suffering serious injuries. Despite the best efforts of the medical personnel Jonathan Wilson died at about 2300.

Lt Wilson's resting place at Venray

In a coincidence I've only just noticed, on Remembrance Sunday (10th November) 1946, a memorial service was held at Marlborough College Chapel to commemorate and remember those lost during the war. During this service Lord Bishop of Sodor and Man consecrated the South Aisle of the Chapel chancel in memory of Jonathan Wilson. At that Service was Alice Wilson. She carried the book which he'd dedicated to Jonathan's nanny who also attended the ceremony, and the one I brought 60 years later, still with the Order of Service inside the dust jacket.

The Order of Service from the book

Edit on 14/11/13
It appears I made a mistake. I've been contacted by a member of the Wilson family, who helped me clear up a couple of mistakes I made in the main text.

The main mistake was who wrote the letters. The Letters were written by Mrs Wilson, Jonathan's mother. The book was dedicated to Alice Petter, listing Jonathan's rank and position. Mrs Petter was the families nanny/mothers help during the early 30's and would have known Jonathan as child.