[12] According to biographer David Horner, Wilton's "first taste of excitement" was in April 1935, when he joined the hunt for a rogue tiger and shot the animal as it attacked and mauled one of his companions.

[7][14] After eight months extended leave in 1936, and a posting to the Indian Army Ordnance Corps, Wilton briefly returned to Australia to marry Helen Marshall on 9 July 1938 at St. Andrew's Church in Summer Hill, New South Wales.

[2][7] His service with the British Army in India and Burma had afforded him regimental experience that he could never have gained in Australia, as well as an understanding of mountainous and tropical conditions that would benefit him in years to come.

"[21] Appointed the division's brigade major Royal Artillery on 19 March 1941, Wilton served under Brigadier Frank Berryman in the Syrian campaign, and was responsible for coordinating operations during the Battle of Merdjayoun in June.

[36] On Blamey's recommendation, Wilton was honoured for the "particularly high standard" of his work on the general staff with appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), promulgated on 6 March 1947.

[37][38] Wilton was still only a substantive captain at the end of hostilities, but was considered by the Military Board to be among those "promising officers who have forced their way to the top during the war" and hence to deserve retention of their wartime rank.

[42] On a visit to Singapore in February–March 1951 as part of a joint planning team, he urged his British counterparts to maintain their presence in Malaya as the basis of a combined force, without which Australia would be reluctant to commit any troops for the region's security.

[44] The 28th was described in the official history of Australia's involvement in the Korean War as "the most nationally diverse" brigade in the 1st Commonwealth Division, consisting of Australian, British, Indian and New Zealand units, yet also "an outstandingly well-knit formation".

[45] After operating on the eastern side of the Jamestown Line from April, the 28th was transferred westward to relieve the 29th Brigade at the Hook, the Commonwealth Division's most vulnerable position, on 9–10 July.

[47] The brigade's last action took place over the next three days, when it used artillery, mortar, machine-gun and rifle fire to repulse a heavy assault by Chinese troops, inflicting as many as 3,000 casualties.

[50] Having succeeded in maintaining his command's discipline and morale during a potentially problematic time at the end of the conflict and the beginning of peace, he handed over the 28th to Brigadier Ian Murdoch on 19 February 1954.

[54] Although not strongly religious, Wilton considered himself responsible for the spiritual and moral development of younger cadets; he made a point of attending church parade regularly, and in 1959 personally launched an appeal for public funds to build the college's Anzac Memorial Chapel, which would open in 1966.

[55][56] His chief goal, though, was academic: concerned that graduates were at risk of falling behind their increasingly tertiary-qualified peers in industry and public service, he worked assiduously to make the college a degree-granting institution; this was realised in 1967.

[60] His position allowed him to closely observe the deteriorating situation in Laos, which threatened to spill over into Thailand, and the Western Powers' growing focus on South Vietnam.

[68] Wilton was keen to mitigate any prejudices the national servicemen might have against the regular soldiery, and vice versa; when he found a memo from an Army committee asserting that "it must be recognised that the NS man was likely to be a reluctant soldier", he wrote on it "This assumption not justified".

[70][71] By mid-1964, Australia had already sent a small team of military advisors, as well as a flight of newly acquired DHC-4 Caribou transports, to aid the South Vietnamese government in its fight against the Viet Cong.

[76][77] Wilton supported the RAAF's request that the deputy commander of Australian Forces Vietnam be an air officer, despite the misgivings of some senior Army personnel and the fact that an appointment of this level was not commensurate with the services' relative commitments to the conflict.

[78] Following the Federal government's decision in March 1966 to despatch a task force of two battalions to Vietnam, Wilton negotiated with US and South Vietnamese commanders a self-contained area of operations for the Australians, in Phuoc Tuy Province, where they could function with a reasonable degree of independence.

[2][79] He also approved Nui Dat, in the centre of the province forward of the major population areas, as the task force's main base, despite its distance from support units in Vung Tau and the extra effort required to defend it.

[80] Wilton rejected a mobile role for the Australians that would have placed them under the control of a US division because, he believed, "their operations became a bit of a meat grinder" with "tremendous casualties".

[85][86] Cautious about expanding Australia's involvement, he advocated deploying a Centurion tank squadron rather than a third infantry battalion when calls came to increase the strength of the task force in Vietnam, but in the end the Federal government announced both commitments in October 1967.

[87] Wilton also advised the government to reject any requests from the US command in Vietnam to rotate the Australian task force out of Phuoc Tuy and display its capabilities in a wider operational arena, reasoning that it was more important for the troops to remain in the countryside they knew and continue to build relations with the local people.

[86] He nevertheless strongly backed the Australian task force commander, Brigadier Ronald Hughes, when the latter was criticised at home for conducting "American style operations" outside the immediate vicinity of Phuoc Tuy, such as the set-piece battles of Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral in mid-1968.

[89] On 22 August, the Federal government announced that Wilton would be promoted to general, effective 1 September, in recognition of his "outstanding contribution to the Commonwealth in his present appointment".

As Australia's senior soldier, Wilton refused to comment on the situation; Robert reported that he and his father respected one another's viewpoints, and relations within the family remained amicable.

When confronted with the increasing casualties among Australian troops from mines evidently lifted from the area by the Viet Cong, he pointed out that the South Vietnamese, who had been expected to patrol the minefield, were not playing their part.

Wilton further believed that the barrier minefield was an innovative solution to the problems facing the task force and that the commander's decision to implement it was "better than sitting on his backside and not trying anything".

[2][83] He subsequently worked on the Kerr Committee that reviewed pay and conditions in the armed forces, visiting several overseas bases including Nui Dat and Vung Tau.

[2][108] Survived by his wife and children, Wilton was accorded a military funeral at Duntroon, in the Anzac Memorial Chapel he helped found, and cremated at Norwood Park Crematorium, Canberra.

[113] From an early age Wilton was considered cerebral and introspective; his colleagues in adulthood found him to have an incisive mind, high standards, and little inclination or capacity for small talk.