Wilfred Cyril Russ was born in 1924 in the District of Winchester, Hampshire. His parents were William and Olive Russ and he was the grandson of William and Alice Russ of Hartley Wintney. He was a Royal Marine and served in HMS Gosling, a shore-based Fleet Air Arm training establishment at Risley in Cheshire. He died on the 18th November 1942, aged only 18, and is buried at St Mary's old church in Hartley Wintney.  He is also remembered on the war memorial in front of St. John's Church in Hartley Wintney.