Wadlow Burns was the son of Robert Nelson and Ada May Burns (nee Marchant) of Brown's Bay, Auckland.

He was one of those evacuated from Tobruk in what turned into a disaster. Hospitals in the Tobruk area were overcrowded as a consequence of the unexpectedly long and bitter fighting and it became a matter of urgency to move the wounded to less congested hospitals for treatment. During the first few days of December this became a priority and as there was no indication of when the land route eastwards would be opened the few hospital ships available were packed to capacity. The SS Chakdina sailed on its return voyage to Alexandria on the afternoon of 5 December 1941 with 600 men, 120 of them New Zealanders. Shortly after 9 pm an aerial torpedo struck and exploded in an after hold and in three and a half minutes the ship sank in a strong swell. Eighty New Zealanders were drowned, most of them survivors of the fighting at Sidi Rezegh and Belhamed. AWMM