Leslie Athol “Bill” Willcox

Trooper · NZ #1290 · R Patrol · MM

What this roll records

HE CAME FROM KAI IWI, AND HIS OWN DISTRICT’S PAPER IS THE ONLY ONE THAT SAYS SO. The same Cairo despatch of 13 February 1941 ran in at least five New Zealand papers naming him and Lieutenant Sutherland as the first two men of the 2NZEF to win military decorations. Four of them print the bare name. The Wanganui Chronicle of 15 February 1941, printing in his own district, gives “Trooper Willcox (KAI IWI, WANGANUI)” — the only place of origin this roll holds for him. THE ACTION IS UWEINAT: the patrol “attacked a garrison living among huge boulders at the foot of a mountain”, and the two men “displayed exceptional initiative and courage in the operation which drove the enemy force up the hillside”. THE INITIALS ARE PRINTED BOTH WAYS. The Bay of Plenty Beacon and the Ellesmere Guardian have L. A. Willcox, which is right for Leslie Athol; the Te Puke Times transposes them to A. L. Both are left as set and the roll stands. Sources: Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 39, 15 February 1941, page 6; Southland Times, Issue 24361, same date; Bay of Plenty Beacon, 10 March 1941; Ellesmere Guardian, 11 March 1941; Te Puke Times, 18 March 1941 — all via Papers Past (National Library of New Zealand).

MM per W.B. Kennedy Shaw, "Long Range Desert Group" appendices. (listed as "Wilcox, Tpr. L.A."; sheet spelling Willcox).

On original LRP Roll (5 Dec 1940): R — Gnr R Patrol; Sgt R2 Patrol; returned unit. Source: LRP Roll (Original LRP Nominal Roll as at 5 Dec 1940, Capt L H Browne).

On the R Patrol Nominal Roll, 31 March 1941: Trooper Willcox L.A., 1290 (M.M.). Source: Brendan O'Carroll, 'R Patrol, Long Range Desert Group' (R Patrol Nominal Roll, 31 March 1941).

M.M. recorded on the R Patrol Nominal Roll (31 Mar 1941). Source: Brendan O'Carroll, 'R Patrol, Long Range Desert Group' (R Patrol Nominal Roll, 31 March 1941).

Born 25 August 1918 at Hawera. Sawmill hand in civilian life. Sgt L. A. Willcox, MM, of Wanganui; wounded 19 Sep 1942. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph.

The Kiwi Scorpions (Brendan O'Carroll): Sgt L. A. Willcox, MM — sawmill hand, Wanganui; born Hawera, 25 Aug 1918; wounded 19 Sep 1942.

The Kiwi Scorpions (Brendan O'Carroll): Of New Plymouth, 2nd Cavalry Regiment; awarded the Military Medal (reported in the New Zealand Weekly News decorations alongside Lt J. H. Sutherland, MC).

Serving with R2 patrol near Gialo (September 1942); wounded in the air attacks of 19 September and again injured when a truck crashed over a sand dune on the way back to Kufra. Source: ‘Raids Behind the Enemy Lines’, Episodes & Studies Vol. 1 (NZ official war history).

At Ain Dua, Uweinat (November 1940), twice crawled forward with his Lewis gun to rescue Lieutenant Sutherland — once standing up to kill a gun crew of four at twenty yards. Awarded the first MM won by the 2nd NZEF. Source: ‘Long Range Desert Group in Libya, 1940–41’, Episodes & Studies Vol. 1 (NZ official war history).

Sawmill hand, of Wanganui; born Hawera, 25 Aug 1918. MM (the first won by the 2nd NZEF). Wounded 19 Sep 1942. Source: Episodes & Studies Vol. 1 (biographical notes).

Sgt L. A. Willcox, MM; sawmill hand, of Wanganui; born Hawera, 25 Aug 1918; wounded 19 Sep 1942. Source: Divisional Cavalry (NZ official war history).

Trooper Leslie Athol Willcox, of R Patrol, won the Military Medal — the first MM awarded to the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force — for his part in the action at Ain Dua, below Jebel Uweinat, in November 1940. Manning a Lewis gun, he twice crawled forward under fire to silence enemy positions. His action is remembered on this site’s Guns & Weapons page, in the account of the Lewis gun.

His Military Medal was announced on 31 January 1941 — the day of the Gebel Sherif action, and the same date as James Henderson Sutherland’s Military Cross. The recommendation survives at The National Archives, Kew, in series WO 373 (War Office, Military Secretary’s Department: Recommendations for Honours and Awards for Gallantry), reference WO 373/17/27, with Sutherland at /25 in the same piece. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph.

Sawmill hand in civilian life. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph.

Embarkation detail from his Cenotaph record: he embarked as Trooper. This agrees with the rank held on this card. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph, record C142932.

THE FIRST TWO MEMBERS OF THE 2ND N.Z.E.F. TO EARN DECORATIONS, AND BOTH WERE OF THIS GROUP. The Taranaki Daily News of 8 March 1941, under “FIRST DECORATION - NEW PLYMOUTH SOLDIER - DESERT PATROL GROUP - INITIATIVE AND COURAGE”, reporting a despatch from the New Zealand official war correspondent in Cairo: “Trooper L. A. Willcox, New Plymouth, and Lieutenant J. H. Sutherland were the first two members of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force to earn decorations.” It places the action at UWEINAT, where their patrol attacked a garrison living among huge boulders at the foot of a mountain and “the two cavalrymen displayed exceptional initiative and courage in the operation that drove the enemy force up the hillside.” CORROBORATED FROM INSIDE THE PATROL: Sergeant R. O. Spotswood, also of this roll, wrote home in a letter printed on 27 March 1941 that “out of this particular scrap, one of our officers received the M.C. and one of the chaps the M.M. I believe they are about the first two New Zealanders to be decorated in the field this war.” Source: Taranaki Daily News, 8 March 1941, and Central Hawke’s Bay Press, 27 March 1941, both via Papers Past (National Library of New Zealand).

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Where this comes from

• Missing info added from the LRDG Preservation Society’s Troopers roll.
• AKA added from the LRDG Preservation Society’s Troopers roll (missing information).
• Honours & campaign medals from Online Cenotaph: MM, War Medal 1939-45, NZ War Service Medal. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph.
• LRDG Nominal Roll, 28 Dec 1940 – Jan 1941 (courtesy Tarek el Mahdy)
• Additional sources (AWMM Online Cenotaph). Nominal Roll 2NZEF No. 1, p.196. Unit history: Loughnan, R. (1963). Divisional Cavalry. External links: London Gazette, 31 January 1941, p.614 (Military Medal): http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/35059/supplements/614; The National Archives, Recommendation for Award (WO 373/17/27): http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D7357481

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