hardheadjarhead
Senior Master
A giant of the Corps passed away this week:
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/111951852980540.xml&coll=2
I met him several times.
My father and he had known of each other on Guam in 1944, where my father was a regimental operations officer for 3rd Marine Regiment. Wilson was a company commander, and earned the Medal of Honor there.
Later, when my dad published the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Wilson was a three star commanding FMF Pacific. I first met him then at a cocktail party at Pearl Harbor. I met Admiral McCain, CINCPAC, that day as well, and he told me about his son John's imprisonment in Hanoi. McCain was tough and downright scarey. Wilson was not.
Wilson was six feet, six inches tall with piercing blue eyes. An engaging man who would bend down to talk to me and kept eye contact with me throughout our conversation. His wife was wonderful. His daughter, it turned out, was a senior at my high school (I was a sophomore).
A year later or so I met him again when my dad took me on a trip to Guam for the Guam Liberation anniversary. Wilson was there, and we talked again.
In 1979, when he was the Commandant, I was going through my last six weeks of the Platoon Leaders Class at Quantico. My parents visited him and his wife at the Commandant's home and had dinner with them. When his wife Jane heard from my mother that I was in Quantico she brightened up and said, "Louis, Steve is at Quantico! Why don't we send a car down for him and have him brought up for dinner?"
My dad and the General looked at each other, and General Wilson responded, "My dear, some how I don't think Steve would appreciate that."
Could you imagine...a limo with the Commandant's flag arrives at my squad bay, and the Drill Instructor calls me to the office? I'd never have lived it down.
General Wilson set high standards, but was a humble man. What this article doesn't say is that he was that on Guam he was shot through each thigh twice by a burst from a Japanese machine gun, and after that he ran into a machine gun lane, grabbed his company First Sergeant, and carried him to safety. I learned all this and asked him how he managed to do it, and he replied in all humility that his First Sergeant was not a very large man.
But Wilson was a large man. Larger than life. There are indeed epic heroes in this world, and this was one of them.
Semper Fi,
Steve
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/111951852980540.xml&coll=2
I met him several times.
My father and he had known of each other on Guam in 1944, where my father was a regimental operations officer for 3rd Marine Regiment. Wilson was a company commander, and earned the Medal of Honor there.
Later, when my dad published the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Wilson was a three star commanding FMF Pacific. I first met him then at a cocktail party at Pearl Harbor. I met Admiral McCain, CINCPAC, that day as well, and he told me about his son John's imprisonment in Hanoi. McCain was tough and downright scarey. Wilson was not.
Wilson was six feet, six inches tall with piercing blue eyes. An engaging man who would bend down to talk to me and kept eye contact with me throughout our conversation. His wife was wonderful. His daughter, it turned out, was a senior at my high school (I was a sophomore).
A year later or so I met him again when my dad took me on a trip to Guam for the Guam Liberation anniversary. Wilson was there, and we talked again.
In 1979, when he was the Commandant, I was going through my last six weeks of the Platoon Leaders Class at Quantico. My parents visited him and his wife at the Commandant's home and had dinner with them. When his wife Jane heard from my mother that I was in Quantico she brightened up and said, "Louis, Steve is at Quantico! Why don't we send a car down for him and have him brought up for dinner?"
My dad and the General looked at each other, and General Wilson responded, "My dear, some how I don't think Steve would appreciate that."
Could you imagine...a limo with the Commandant's flag arrives at my squad bay, and the Drill Instructor calls me to the office? I'd never have lived it down.
General Wilson set high standards, but was a humble man. What this article doesn't say is that he was that on Guam he was shot through each thigh twice by a burst from a Japanese machine gun, and after that he ran into a machine gun lane, grabbed his company First Sergeant, and carried him to safety. I learned all this and asked him how he managed to do it, and he replied in all humility that his First Sergeant was not a very large man.
But Wilson was a large man. Larger than life. There are indeed epic heroes in this world, and this was one of them.
Semper Fi,
Steve
