DEATH OF GALLANT OFFICER

Southland Times, Issue 24597, 20 November 1941, Page 7

DEATH OF GALLANT OFFICER

FORMER RESIDENT OF GORE

The gallantry of a New Zealand officer, the late Captain Clifford Wilson, of Dunedin, and formerly of Gore, during the campaigns in Greece ana Crete, is recorded in letters received by his widow from his commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Kippenberger, D.S.O. lie states that Captain Wilson, who was killed in Crete, was repeatedly put in vital positions during the Greek campaign, and in Crete he was sent with half a dozen non-com-missioned officers to train and conimand a Greek battalion, which he inspired.

“His headquarters were surrounded, but the fight went on, the Greeks being inspired by Cliff,” the letter says. “He was shot through the heart and died without a word. Four of the men who were captured obtained permission from the Germans and they made a cross, carried it through Galatos, and out through the famous Prison Valley to where he was buried. They erected the cross, and they saw a Greek woman living near who promised to look after the grave during the war.”

A letter has also been received from Dr R. Kirk, formerly of Dunedin, paying a tribute to Captain Wilson’s gallantry. He says that when Captain Wilson was killed, the rest of the men surrendered, and on being taken prisoner were asked by a German officer’ who had led them so well. When the German found that it was Captain Wilson and he was dead, he gave instructions for him to have a separate grave.

The posthumous award of the Greek Military Cross was made to Captain Wilson.