SECOND LIEUTENANT HUMPHREY HAMILTON WILSON
ROYAL FLYING CORPS
19TH FEBRUARY 1918 AGE 18
BURIED: EPEHY WOOD FARM CEMETERY, EPEHY, FRANCE
Humphrey Wilson joined the army in March 1917, when he was still only 17, and immediately transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. He got his wings in June that year and the following month was posted to France. He served there until 19 February 1918 when his plane crashed in No Man's Land.
According to his Captain, "He was one of the stoutest and best pilots we had in the squadron. He never came down unless his job was finished, and he was always keen to go up. He had done some wonderful work, especially taking photographs. This squadron has been congratulated on its photographs, and this was mainly due to his work"
The Royal Flying Corp's motto, 'Per ardua ad astra', through rough ways to the stars, became the motto of the Royal Air Force when it was established on 1 April 1918. Humphrey's parents developed the motto to its logical conclusion for their son's inscription - 'He followed the stars to eternity'.
Gunner William Wilson, Humphrey's brother, had been killed exactly 5 months earlier, on 19 September 1917. Both brothers are commemorated on a memorial in the Foreigners' Cemetery, Motomachi, Yokohama, Japan where their father had been working when Humphrey was born.