69940: Charles Wheeler - Letters home
Charles Wheeler from Oakley was born on 1 December 1899. He was the the great-uncle of teh contributor. Wheeler left school at 12. He was conscripted on his 18th birthday 1 December 1916 and joined the Machine Gun Corps. He was captured in April 1918 and died 9 July 1918. During his time in the army he sent 127 letters home, including the first letter from training in Dec 1916, first letter from the front, notification of missing 21 March 1918, first letter as POW 10 June 1918, several notifications of death. Among the letters is one about his friend from the same village who won a VC, and letter from his friend about his cause of death. The material was passed on to the participant from his uncle. In addition to the letters, the family has his identity disc and address book and digitized photographs. All material has been transcribed and will be part of an upcoming Soldiers of Oxfordshire (SOFO) exhibition. There are also photographs of the family's pilgrimage to the war grave in Le Quesnoy (France). All key information included in genealogy that is available upon request. (This story and material was shared at the Oxford at War 1914-1918 Roadshow on 12 Nov 2016)