Denis Edward “also recorded as D. E.” Wheeler

Private · NZ #038671

What this roll records

Forenames given in full in August 2026 as Denis Edward, where this roll held only “D. E.”. The Auckland War Memorial Museum’s L.R.D.G. Membership Roll of February 1970 gives the full form against the same service number. The old form is kept in the AKA field and stays searchable. The same record gives his service number as 038671, independently confirming the correction made from O’Carroll’s Appendix V. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph, record 135177.

Dodecanese operations, 1943: prisoner of war 22 Nov 1943. Source: Roll of British & Rhodesian PoW and KIA (Appendix V), compiled by Jim Patch, LRDG (UK) Association.

Service number corrected to #038671 per O’Carroll (Appendix V); this Roll previously recorded NZ #38671 (R-1 Patrol).

Aegean/Dodecanese operations, 1943: listed as Private Wheeler, service no. 038671; taken prisoner of war, 22 Nov 1943. Source: Brendan O’Carroll, ‘The Long Range Desert Group in the Aegean’ (Appendix V, Roll of British & Rhodesian PoW and KIA).

Embarkation detail from his Cenotaph record: he embarked as Private, Infantry Reinforcements, 2NZEF Nominal Roll 9 p. 422. This agrees with the rank held on this card. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph, record 135177.

Prisoner of war: his Cenotaph record names the camp this card lacked — Stalag XVII-B at Gneixendorf, near Krems an der Donau, in Austria. It also gives his service number as 038671, independently confirming the correction made from O’Carroll’s Appendix V. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph, record 135177.

Cenotaph record linked. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph.

The prefix NZ has been added to his service number, on the authority of the Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph record already linked on this card — the Museum holds him as a New Zealand service person. The digits are unchanged. This roll formerly left the number unmarked, which made it look like a British number to anyone reading the field rather than the card.

See him in the full roll → In collaboration withThe Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) Preservation SocietyTo add information about this man, or note a correction, please post in the Society’s Facebook Group →

This page is part of the Long Range Desert Group roll of members at lrdgarchive.org. If you hold rights to anything on it and would like it credited differently, or taken down, please see Sources and Copyright. It will be dealt with promptly.

Not By Strength But By Guile