Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

Vietnam (1962-1975)

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

25/04/1948

Place of Birth

Sydney NSW

Address (at enlistment)

51 Raymond Street, Ainslie ACT

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

Son of Roy and Enid Wheeler of 51 Raymond Street, Ainslie ACT

Burial Place

Norwood Park Crematorium, Mitchell ACT

Service Number

235407

Final Rank

Lieutenant

Final Unit

3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment

Died 2 March 1971 aged 22 years, killed in action Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam

AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 5, Canberra ACT
Roll of Honour, Parade Ground, Royal Military College, Duntroon
Norwood Park Crematorium (ACT), Ex Service Wall - Row 3 - No 2
Memorial Plaque at Lyneham High School, Goodwin Street, Lyneham

John Wheeler was the grandson of an original Anzac, represented the ACT in schoolboy rugby and graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1969. After training at RMC Duntroon he spent a year at the army base at Woodside in the Adelaide Hills. He served in Vietnam from 12 February 1971 with the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment but was killed by a grenade during a nine hour night contact in Phuoc Tuy Province in March 1971. He is commemorated at Norwood Park in Canberra and by Wheeler Avenue in the Adelaide suburb of Pooraka.

AWM Roll of Honour Database
The Weekend Australian - 3, 4 October 1992
Louise Lyon (ed.), 'Voices of Old Ainslie', 1995
John Cope, 'Between the First Forty Lynes: A History of Lyneham High School 1959-1999', Canberra 1999
Nominal Roll of Vietnam Veterans http://www.vietnamroll.gov.au
The Canberra Times - 24 January 1963
Images and information provided courtesy of the Wheeler family