Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An emotive Second World War campaign group of five awarded to Corporal C. W. F. Wheeler, Duke of Edinburgh’s Own Rifles, who died on the occasion the S.S. Nova Scotia was torpedoed and sunk off Lourenco Marques in November 1942 - thereby causing the greatest loss of life to occur in South African waters in the War

1939-45 Star; Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45; Africa Service Medal 1939-45, these four officially inscribed ‘14324 C. W. F. Wheeler’; Efficiency Medal, G.VI.R., 1st issue, Union of South Africa (No. 14324 Cpl. C. W. F. Wheeler, D.E.O.R.), extremely fine (5) £300-350

Charles Walter Frederick Wheeler, who was born in Cape Town in September 1909, was a commercial artist by profession, and a pre-war member of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Regiment. Volunteering for the Union Defence Force in April 1940, he was embarked for the Middle East in June 1941 and saw action in North Africa before joining the ill-fated S.S. Nova Scotia at Suez in November 1942.

A transport ship of 6,796 tons, the Nova Scotia was bound for South Africa carrying around 1000 passengers and crew - namely 765 Italian P.O.Ws, 130 South African troops, a number of women and children, including nurses, and her crew. However, on 29 November 1942, she was spotted by the German U-177 to the south-east of Lourenço Marques and, believing the unescorted ship to be an auxiliary cruiser, the U-Boat attacked. Hit by three torpedoes in quick succession, she went down by the bow within 10 minutes. The U-Boat commander, Robert Gysae, on learning the true identity of the ship by questioning the survivors, immediately reported the action to Berlin, who in turn passed on the information to the Portuguese who sent the frigate Alfonso de Albuquerque from Lourenço Marques to search for survivors. The Portuguese vessel managed to rescue around 180 people, among them 43 South Africans and 100 Italian P.O.Ws, and of these some 50 were injured, suffering for the most part from oil burns - the Portuguese sailors described having to beat off sharks with boat hooks as they set about the rescue; see Survivors of Africa’s Oceans, by Ian Uys, for the full story.

Wheeler has no known grave and is commemorated on the Alamein Memorial; sold with copied service record and medal application forms completed by his widow.