Staff Sergeant Sydney Augustus Wilkinson

Staff Sergeant Wilkinson, son of Frederick Augustus and Marian Edith Wilkinson, was an Australian recruited into 13 Flight, D-Squadron, No 1 Wing, The Glider Pilot Regiment.

He took part in 'Operation Mallard', the main glider lift on the 6th June 1944, Normandy, to support the 6th Airborne Division. His take-off airfield was R.A.F. Keevil, flying a platoon of the 2nd Battalion The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry to L.Z. 'W' supported by his second pilot, Sergeant. B. Dolling.

Deployed to Arnhem, he was on the 1st Lift, Sunday 17th September 1944. He flew to Landing Zone 'Z' from R.A.F. Keevil in a Horsa glider carrying support troops for the 1st Parachute Brigade. Along with the other pilots from D-Squadron he moved to the main 1st Airborne Divisional R.V. on the eastern side of the LZ near the mental asylum. His main task, along with the rest of D-Squadron, is likely to have been the defence of Divisional Headquarters. It is likely he remained with Divisional HQ until it finally ended up at the Hartenstein Hotel on the Tuesday 19th until the Monday 25th September, when he was killed. 

He died of wounds on 25 September 1944 whilst sheltering in a slit trench close to the Hartenstein Hotel, Oosterbeek.