John Wilton (general)

Sir John Wilton
Colonel John Wilton in Morotai, September 1945
Nickname(s)	"Happy Jack"; "Smiling John"; "Sir Jovial"
Born	(1910-11-22)22 November 1910 Sydney
Died	10 May 1981(1981-05-10) (aged 70) Canberra
Allegiance	Australia
Service / branch	Australian Army British Army
Years of service	1927–1970
Rank	General
Service number	216 (NX12337) [1]
Commands	28th Commonwealth Brigade (1953–54) Royal Military College, Duntroon (1957–60) Chief of the General Staff (1963–66) CCOSC (1966–70)
Battles / wars	World War II Middle East theatre Syrian campaign Battle of Merdjayoun South West Pacific theatre Salamaua-Lae campaign Korean War Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation Vietnam War
Awards	Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companion of the Order of the Bath Distinguished Service Order Mentioned in Despatches Legion of Merit (US)
Other work	Diplomat

General Sir John Gordon Noel Wilton, KBE, CB, DSO (22 November 1910 – 10 May 1981) was a senior commander in the Australian Army. He served as Chief of the General Staff (CGS), the Army's professional head, from 1963 until 1966, and as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CCOSC), forerunner of the role of Australia's Chief of the Defence Force, from 1966 until 1970. His eight-year tenure as senior officer of first the Army and then the Australian military spanned almost the entire period of the nation's involvement in the Vietnam War.

Born in Sydney, Wilton entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1927. Owing to lack of opportunity in the Australian military at the time, he took a commission in the British Army following his graduation in 1930. He spent most of the remainder of the decade with the Royal Artillery in India. Wilton returned to Australia on the eve of World War II and was commissioned into the Royal Australian Artillery. He saw action with the 7th Division in Syria and the 3rd Division in New Guinea, earning a mention in despatches in the former campaign and the Distinguished Service Order in the latter. Finishing the war a temporary colonel, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1947. Wilton was posted to Korea in 1953 to take command of the 28th Commonwealth Brigade, leading it in its final action of the war in July. He was raised to Commander of the Order of the British Empire and awarded the US Legion of Merit for his performance in Korea.

Wilton was promoted to major general in 1957 and became Commandant of Duntroon. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1962 and made CGS the following January, with the rank of lieutenant general. As CGS he oversaw a reorganisation of the Army's divisional structure, the reintroduction of conscription, and deployments during the Indonesia–Malaysia Konfrontasi and the Vietnam War. Knighted in 1964, he handed over the position of CGS in May 1966 and was appointed CCOSC. In this role he had overall responsibility for Australia's forces in Vietnam, and worked to achieve an integrated defence organisation, including a tri-services academy, a joint intelligence group, and the amalgamation of separate government departments for the Army, Navy and Air Force. Wilton was promoted to general in September 1968, and retired from the military in November 1970. He served as Consul-General in New York City from 1973 to 1975, and died in 1981, aged seventy.