page_title: Rex Whistler
section_title: Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: Rex Whistler / Second World War
caption_attribution_description: Self-Portrait in Welsh Guards Uniform, May 1940
context_page_description: Reginald John "Rex" Whistler was a British painter, designer and illustrator, who was killed in action in the Second World War.
context_section_description: When war broke out, although he was 35, Whistler was eager to join the army. He was commissioned into the Welsh Guards as a Second lieutenant in June 1940. He served in the Guards Armoured Division.
  During the war, he was the burial officer of his regiment, and his soldiers became somewhat suspicious of the 20 crosses he carried on his tank. He decided that just because he was at war, did not mean he could not paint, and he therefore also carried a bucket hanging off the side of his tank for his paintbrushes.
caption: Self-Portrait in Welsh Guards Uniform (1940)
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