Chester Wilmot

Reginald William Winchester Wilmot (21 June 1911 – 10 January 1954) was an Australian war correspondent who reported for the BBC and the ABC during the Second World War. After the war he continued to work as a broadcast reporter, and wrote a well-appreciated book about the liberation of Europe. He was killed in the crash of a BOAC Comet over the Elba island.

Early life Wilmot was born in Brighton, a suburb of Melbourne; he was the son of Reginald Wilmot, a sports journalist, and grandson of surveyor JGW Wilmot. He attended Melbourne Grammar School which he captained in 1930. He then took an arts degree at the University of Melbourne, majoring in history and politics under Sir Ernest Scott (BA 1935), followed by a law degree (LLB 1936). He resided at Trinity College and represented the university in debating in 1932–33 and 1935.

Wilmot was selected to write a volume on the Siege of Tobruk and Battle of El Alamein for the Australian official history of the war, but was killed in the Comet crash; see Australia in the War of 1939–1945.

Broadcaster

Wilmot was part of the television commentary team for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. For Christmas 1953, Wilmot was sent by the BBC to Australia to participate in a round-the-world broadcast on Christmas Day, where he narrated The Queen's Journey, telling the story of recent royal visits. The Queen herself was in New Zealand for Christmas.

Death Wilmot was en route back to Britain from that assignment on BOAC Flight 781 when his plane, a Comet 1, broke up following explosive decompression over the Mediterranean Sea; all aboard were killed. He had first boarded the flight in Rangoon.

Books Tobruk 1941, Capture - Siege - Relief, Angus & Robertson Ltd, 1945. The Struggle For Europe, 1952. Reissue: Wordsworth Editions Ltd, Ware, Hertfordshire, 1997. .