Arthur Wesley Wheen

Arthur Wesley Wheen, (9 February 1897 – 15 March 1971) was an Australian soldier, translator and museum librarian. He is best known for translating the works of Erich Maria Remarque into English, beginning with the classic war novel All Quiet on the Western Front in 1929.

Early life and education He was the son of Clara and Harold Wheen, who was a Wesleyan Minister. His father was transferred to Sydney in 1910, where young Arthur attended Gordon Public School and Sydney Boys High School. In 1915, he won admission to Sydney Teachers College and later attended the University of Sydney, where he studied the fine arts.

First World War Wheen was eighteen years and eight months old when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 15 October 1915. Two months later, he embarked as a reinforcement for the 1st Australian Battalion and arrived in Egypt when the Australian Army in Egypt was being expanded from two to four divisions. He was transferred to the newly formed 54th Battalion of the 5th Australian Division where he served as a signaller. The battalion trained at a military base near Tel-el-Kebir before moving with the rest of the division to France in June 1916. Later, two bars would be added to his medal, one at Beaulencourt in 1917 and the second at Villers-Bretonneux in 1918. He was one of only fifteen Australians to receive three Military Medals.

His only original work was a novella, Two Masters, first published in the London Mercury in November 1924.

A biography, The other side of no man's land: Arthur Wheen World War I hero; scholar and pacifist by John Ramsland was published in 2015.