"For most conspicuous gallantry on active service in Somaliland. Captain
Wilson was in command of machine-gun posts manned by Somali soldiers in
the key position of Observation Hill, a defended post in the defensive organization of the Tug Argan Gap in British Somaliland. The enemy
attacked Observation Hill on 11 August 1940. Captain Wilson and Somali
gunners under his command beat off the attack and opened fire on the
enemy troops attacking Mill Hill, another post within his range. He
inflicted such heavy casualties that the enemy, determined to put his
guns out of action, brought up a pack battery to within seven hundred
yards, and scored two direct hits through the loopholes of his defenses,
which, bursting within the post, wounded Captain Wilson severely in the
right shoulder and in the left eye, several of his team being also
wounded. His guns were blown off their stands but he repaired and
replaced them and, regardless of his wounds, carried on, whilst his
Somali sergeant was killed beside him. On 12 and 14 August the enemy
again concentrated field artillery fire on Captain Wilson's guns, but he
continued, with his wounds untended, to man them. On 15 August two of
his machine-gun posts were blown to pieces, yet Captain Wilson, now
suffering from malaria in addition to wounds, still kept his own post in
action. The enemy finally over-ran the post at 5 p.m. on 15 August when
Captain Wilson, fighting to the last, was killed."
From Capt. Wilson's Victoria Cross citation, awarded in October of 1940.
May you be at peace,
Brian
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