Eric Wilson

Bank: National Provincial Bank

Place of work: Ashburton branch

Died: 16 October 1943

Eric Leslie Wilson was born on 29 March 1921, the son of George Ernest and Evelyn Grace Wilson. He was educated at Totnes Grammar School.

In March 1938 Wilson joined the staff of National Provincial Bank as a probationer at its Ashburton branch. He was promoted to clerk in July 1940.

In July 1941 Wilson left his job at the bank to join the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and was sent to train in Rhodesia. He was back in the UK in 1942 and in February 1943 he married his fiancée, Sheila. Later that year, when he was stationed in Italy, Flight Sergeant Eric Wilson was reported missing from air reconnaissance over the Tyrrhenian Sea. It was later confirmed that he had died of his wounds in an Italian hospital on 16 October 1943, a month after being reported missing. He was 22 years old and left his widow, Sheila.