[Index]
William Wrixon BOYLSON (1918 - 1944)
DFC & bar - a Pathfinder in Bomber Command
Children Self + Spouses Parents Grandparents Greatgrandparents
Living
William Wrixon BOYLSON (1918 - 1944)

+

Joyce M FAWCETT
Joseph Patrick BOYLSON (1881 - 1937) James BOYLSON (1847 - 1911) Michael BOYLSON (1813 - 1878)
Catherine (BOYLSON) (1817 - 1891)
Mary Anne MOLLOY Mathew Francis MOLLOY


Gertrude Alice WILLIAMSON (1880 - 1957) John Thomas WILLIAMSON John WILLIAMSON


Cecilia LARGE (1848 - 1932) William James LARGE (1806 - 1881)
Mary Ann (Marianne) Caroline WRIXON (1819 - 1888)

b. 06 Oct 1918 at Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia
m. abt Dec 1943 Joyce M FAWCETT at Surrey South Western, Surrey, England
d. 25 Jun 1944 at Flatow, Oberhavel, Brandenburg, Germany aged 25
Parents:
Joseph Patrick BOYLSON (1881 - 1937)
Gertrude Alice WILLIAMSON (1880 - 1957)
Siblings (2):
Jack Wrixon BOYLSON (1911 - 1988)
Jean Gertrude BOYLSON (1912 - 2001)
Children (1):
Events in William Wrixon BOYLSON (1918 - 1944)'s life
Date Age Event Place Notes Src
06 Oct 1918 William Wrixon BOYLSON was born Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia 18
05 Mar 1937 18 Death of father Joseph Patrick BOYLSON (aged 55) Orange, New South Wales, Australia 2451/1937
abt Dec 1943 25 Married Joyce M FAWCETT Surrey South Western, Surrey, England
25 Jun 1944 25 William Wrixon BOYLSON died Flatow, Oberhavel, Brandenburg, Germany Note 1 18
Note 1: Missing in action. Presumed killed. Mosquito KB329 T/o at 23:24 hrs on the night of 24.June 1944 from RAF Upwood in company with nine other aircraft of the Squadron to carry out an attack on Berlin. The aircraft was not seen or heard of again.
Personal Notes:
Service Record
Name BOYLSON, WILLIAM WRIXON
Service Royal Australian Air Force
Service Number 404623
Date of Birth 6 Oct 1918
Place of Birth WAGGA WAGGA, NSW
Date of Enlistment 11 Oct 1940
Locality on Enlistment Unknown
Place of Enlistment BRISBANE, QLD
Next of Kin DUNLOP, J
Date of Death 25 Jun 1944
Rank Flight Lieutenant
Posting on Death 643 Squadron
WW2 Honours and Gallantry Distinguished Flying Cross and bar
Prisoner of War No
Roll of Honour FORBES NSW

Forbes Advocate 30 June 1944
MISSING OVER
GERMANY
Report Concerning Ex-
Forbes Boy
Flight-Lieut. W. W.
Boylson
In February of last year it was our pleasing duty to record that Pilot-Officer William Wrixon Boylson, an ex-Forbes boy and brother of Mrs. F. L Stitt, of "Werai," Forbes, had been awarded the D.F.C. for onspicuous bravery and courage as a member of the Bomber Command operating around the coast of Great Britain. Later, he gained a bar to this award and was promoted to the rank of Flight-Lieutenant. Now comes the sad news that he is missing from air operations over Germany, and the wish of his many old Forbes friends and those of the family generally is that more reassuring news concerning his safety will be heard in the very near future.
On Wednesday his sister, Mrs. Stitt, received the following communication from, the Air Board, Melbourne: —
"Flight-Lieut. W. W. Boylson, D.F.C. and bar, missing. Dear Madam: I regret to inform you that your brother, Flight-Lieut. William Wrixon Boylson, D.F.C. and bar, is missing as a result of air operations on June 25, 1914,
Known details are that he was a member of a crew of Mosquito aircraft detailed to attack enemy target in Germany which failed to return to its base. Your brother's wife in England has been informed by the Air Ministry. The Minister for Air joins with the Air Board in expressing sincere sympathy in your anxiety. When any further information is received it will be conveyed to you immediately."
Flight-.Lieut. Boylson was married last October to an English girl. He is the youngest son of the late
J. P. Boylson, former Crown Lands Agent at Forbes, and of Mrs. S. G. Boylson, of Murwillumbah, and in addition to his only sister (Mrs. Stitt), has one brother, Flying-Officer Jack Boylson, who is in the R.A.A.F. serving at an Australian station. Flight-Lieut. Boylson enlisted at Ballina in 1939 while a member of the staff of the Bank of Australasia there.
HOW HE WON THE ORIGINAL DECORATION
When we reported the granting of the Distinguished Flying Cross to Ft./Lieut. Boylson in February, 1943, we stated that mention was not made of any specific incident having prompted the award, which was made in recognition of his general efficiency and courage. He spent his early period of training in Australia and after advanced training in Canada he arrived in England to add further lustre to the R.A.A.F. in that sphere of action and relieve those gallant Englishmen, whose heroic exploits in the air saved De-
mocracy from the heel of the Hun, of some of their man-sized duties.
In a raid over Nuremberg in August, 1942, Bill's Stirling bomber was badly holed by flack, and it was with
difficulty that he got it back to England to make a forced landing, in which he received a leg injury that laid him up for some time.
Bill then belonged to that crack company of Australian pilots, navigators and air-gunners of the Bomber Command's super squadrons known as The Pathfinders, whose insignia is a small albatross worn on the right breast pocket.
They are all veterans of many raids, whose skill and bravery have repeatedly been proved. The physical fitness they must possess can be judged from the fact that they must have taken part in about 45 raids, which means about 300 flying hours.
The Pathfinders, Bomber Command's most decorated airmen have been trained and equipped for a single purpose, namely, paving the way for the main attack. They must find and indicate the objective; on the fires they start often depends the success of an operation.
In the town where he spent part of his school life the hope is general that word of Bill's safety will shortly be received.
Source References:
18. Type: E-mail Message, Abbr: e-mails general pool, Title: e-mails general pool
- Reference = David Boylson 16 Oct 2019 (Birth)
- Reference = David Boylson 16 Oct 2019 (Death)

This public tree has about 60,100 people. Every person in the tree is related by birth or marriage to at least one other person in the tree - no strays. The people in the tree come mainly from four projects.
  1. My family tree. The original project begun about 1998. ID numbers less than about 6,000
  2. Canberra and Queanbeyan Pioneers. The next 30,000 begun about 2004. Sourced almost entirely from HAGSOC's excellent 'Biographical Register of Canberra and Queanbeyan'. The project began when I decided to add siblings, spouses and parents for a relation with an entry in the Register. 12 years work.
  3. Wagga Pioneers. I moved to Wagga and thought I would extend the Queanbeyan project by adding people from Wagga Wagga & District Family History Society's 'Pioneers of Wagga Wagga and District'. About 10,300 people added over about a year.
  4. Tumut Valley Pioneers. During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, I decided to extend the above projects by adding pioneers of the Tumut Valley. Initial sources were Snowden's 'Pioneers of the Tumut Valley' and 'Relict of ... Lives of Pioneering Women of Tumut and District'. Excellent references published by Tumut Family History Group. I've also added material from newspapers of the time - especially, death records, obituaries and weddings from 'Tumut and Adelong Times'. This project is in its early stage and might take a few years. I plan to extend to the upper Monaro (Adaminaby, Kiandra, Cooma, Jindabyne).
I upload new information to this website about every 3 months. My motivation for these projects is to provide public information for people seeking to trace ancestors and what became of them. Much of the information I provide can be difficult to find.
If you find errors - anything incorrect (dates, places, wrong parents, wrong children), and you have evidence, I would love to fix them. Or, if you have information that would extend my projects, do not hestiate to contact me on the email link below. I do not publish information on living people - which means I'm not much interested in people born after about 1920, and I usually distrust material from before about 1770 without extremely good sources.
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