Current Information:

Age-34

66, Ewart Road, Forest Hill

On 1st July, 1916, when all eyes were firmly fixed on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, 20th Royal Fusiliers of 19 Brigade, 33rd Division were in support trenches near Givenchy some 30 miles further north, near Bethune. At least two men from the battalion were killed in action on this day one of them being Charles Wheeler but, as yet, there is no information about the circumstances of how he was killed. The attrition rate among British soldiers on the Western Front was on average 300 each day and 60% of these were as a result of shellfire. When not involved in an actual battle it was either shell fire or a sniper’s bullet that caused the vast majority of deaths and injuries.