Sergeant Observer Wilson Paxton

Sergeant Observer Wilson Paxton, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He died of wounds received on an Air Operation over Italy, aged 23, on 1st October 1941 whilst serving with 99 Squadron Royal Air Force. He  had been born at Rumbleton, Gordon and was the son of Helen Paxton of Old Linhead and of Kelso and is buried in Cockburnspath Churchyard where his Headstone is inscribed ” Thy Will Be Done”. Before enlisting in 1939 he was working with the Bank of Scotland in Crieff. He was the first local in the District to fall in combat. 99 Squadron ( Madras Presidency ) flew the Vickers Wellington medium bomber from R.A.F. Waterbeach as part of 3 Group Bomber Command in operations over occupied Europe. His aircraft was returning from a raid on Frankfurt  when it crashed near Bury St. Edmunds on the 29th September. ( His mother had lost four brothers in the Great War ).