Wing Commander Vashon James "PK" Wheeler, (16 September 1898 – 23 March 1944) was a British Army and Royal Air Force officer who served as an infantry officer in both the First World War and the North Russia intervention, and then as a fighter and bomber pilot in the Second World War. Early life Vashon James Wheeler was born in September 1898 near Ludlow, Shropshire. His father, James Volant Wheeler, a landowner and barrister, named his son Vashon after his great grandfather Admiral Sir James Vashon. His mother was Sybil Grace Wheeler (née Tyrrwhit). Vashon received his early education from a private school in Bournemouth before moving on to the prestigious Eton College. During his time at Eton, the young Wheeler enrolled in the school Officer Training Corps unit and received his first taste of military life. He evidently enjoyed the military way as following the annual OTC summer camp of 1915, Wheeler went missing and was eventually tracked down by his father and housemaster at the Guards Depot Caterham, Surrey. He had lied about his age in order to enlist as a soldier in the British Army. He was soon discharged in order to resume his studies. First World War Wheeler did not have to wait long to come of age and soon left Eton for Sandhurst, where due to the expediencies of war, he completed a much shortened course of officer training. He was subsequently commissioned as a second lieutenant in The Rifle Brigade on 16 August 1916 and shipped out to the Western Front where he served with the 1st Battalion as part of the 11th Brigade, 4th Division. Wheeler was wounded on three separate occasions, although not seriously. At the time of the armistice he had been promoted to captain. North Russia intervention Following the armistice Wheeler decided to remain in the army but reverted to his substantive rank of lieutenant. He transferred to The Royal Fusiliers and became a platoon commander in the 45th Battalion. This unit was sent to Russia to support the anti communist White Movement in the Russian Civil War. Wheeler landed at Arkhangelsk with his battalion on 6 June 1916 and was soon in action. The 45th Battalion war diary records 230 enemy killed, 350 enemy wounded and 1200 enemy captured for the loss of only 2 officers and 5 men from the unit between June and the end of August.