Henry Charles Edward Wheeler (29 July 1925 – 22 November 2004) was an English naval signalman during World War II.
Henry Charles Edward Wheeler | |
|---|---|
| Born | 29 July 1925 Bath, England |
| Died | 22 November 2004 (aged 79) Sodbury, England |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service | Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1943–1946 |
| Rank | Signalman |
| Conflict | World War II |
| Other work | Tailor |
Wheeler was born on 29 July 1925 in Bath, England, to Rose (née Snook) and Henry Arthur Wheeler, and was the eldest in a family of six. He was from Vernhan Grove in Bath, where his civilian role was as a tailor's assistant.[2][3]
He joined the Royal Navy in 1943, and undertook his naval training at HMS Impregnable, a shore establishment at Plymouth.[2] He went to France on 7 June 1944, the day after D-Day, and was later stationed in Rotterdam.[2][3] While there, he began a romantic relationship with a Dutch woman, named Dine.[2][3]
Shortly after the war's end, he appeared as a "castaway" on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs, on 24 November 1945,[4][5] at the age of 20.[2][3] He was chosen to appear as he was serving, as part of Naval Party 1745, on an unspecified "small island off the European coast" – the nearest thing available to a real castaway.[2][3][6] His appearance came one week after that of film star Deborah Kerr.[3] One of the recordings he selected was "If You Were the Only Girl (In the World)" sung by Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth,[7] calling it "a song I find myself singing when I think about my girl [Dine]".[3]
He married a Miss Denboer before 1947, outside the UK. They had two sons.[8]
It was later revealed that the island on which Wheeler was serving was Norderney — one of the East Frisian Islands off the north coast of Germany, where the British Forces Network provided the live outside broadcast,[9] via Hamburg.[2][3]
He died on 22 November 2004 in Sodbury, South Gloucestershire.[8] He was cremated at Westerleigh Crematorium.[8]
References
edit- ^ Signalman H.C.E. Wheeler Radio Times entry at the BBC Genome Project
- ^ a b c d e f g Desert Island Discs programme transcript, in BBC written archives
- ^ a b c d e f g h Magee, Sean (2012). Desert Island Discs: 70 Years of Castaways. Transworld Publishers Limited. pp. 41–43. ISBN 9780593070062. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
- ^ "Desert Island Discs – Castaway : Henry Wheeler". BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
- ^ "Notes by the Way". Bath Weekly Chronicle and Herald. 17 November 1945. p. 11.
- ^ "24 November 1945: Light Programme". Radio Times. 89 (1155): 23. 16 November 1945.
- ^ Jean Collen (2006), Sweethearts of Song, p. 23, ISBN 9781411699489
- ^ a b c "Henry Charles Edward Wheeler". Bristol Evening Post. 25 November 2004. Archived from the original on 4 September 2014.
- ^ Alan Grace (1996), This is the British Forces Network, p. 23, ISBN 9780750911054