WICKHAM, Charles Robert

WICKHAM, Charles Robert – A Southern Downs Veteran

CONFLICT : WWII
SERVICE NO : Q226794
RANK : Private
UNIT : 8th Battalion Volunteer Defence Corps
ENLISTMENT DATE : 9/05/1942
AGE : 25
PLACE OF ENLISTMENT : Karara, Queensland
PLACE OF BIRTH : Warwick, Queensland
RELIGION : Church of England
OCCUPATION : Farm Hand/Shearer
DATE OF DEATH : 30/04/1996
PLACE OF BURIAL : Warwick, Queensland

MEMORIALS : Karara and District Honour Roll 1914-1918 and 1939-1945

View this person’s Service File : WICKHAM, Charles Robert

NOTES : Charles was the son of Charles Wesley and Ivy Irene Wickham.

He married Gwendolyn Andree Wickham (nee Harrison) in Warwick at St Mark’s Anglican Church on December 4, 1939 and was living on their property at Karara at the time of his enlistment.

During the Second World War he served as a Private with 4 Platoon, A Company, 8 Battalion Volunteer Defence Corps.

Later in life Charles established a merino sheep stud, did contract dozer work and harvesting of grain crops.

After his death, the Australian Government granted on 25 November 2019, the Australian Service Medal 1939-45 which was instituted in 1949 and made retrospective to 1939. His son Edwin Charles Wickham applied for and received the medal which his late father had been entitled to receive.

Other members of Charles family to serve in the Australian Defence Force were Gilbert Percy Wickham 3752 WWI and Q226793 WWII, Hector Reginald Wickham 414114 Killed in Action, John Walter Wickham Q7290 and his son Edwin Charles Wickham 1203032.

Read about Southern Downs Military History here.